Many people with substance use disorders experience crises that result in use of Emergency Department services, making the Emergency Department an important opportunity for helping people enter treatment and recovery services.  Nationally, however, estimates are that only 10% of persons with substance use disorders who are served in Emergency Departments engage in ongoing treatment and recovery services.  The use of Recovery Coaches in Emergency Departments is one approach that shows promise to increase the number of persons who engage in community-based treatment post discharge from Emergency Department care.

In 2017, Dartmouth-Hitchcock's Emergency Department, with support from the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Population/Community Health department, began offering Recovery Coach services to patients in its Emergency Department who request support for substance use disorders.  An initial pilot during early 2017 closed in June 2017.  The serivce was re-initiated in fall 2018, and now includes one lead Recovery Coach who provides immediate and follow up services to patients, as well as on-call Recovery Coaches who can respond to patients during evening and overnight hours.  

Recovery Coaches have specialized training to engage people in discussing their substance use; provide motivational listening and encouragement to patient to help them consider seeking treatment and recovery resources; and follow-up with patients after their discharge from the Emergency Department to help patients successfully enroll in community-based substance use treatment and peer recovery services.