WILMINGTON, MA — The Town of Wilmington is on the verge of taking another significant step in its efforts to battle substance abuse within the community.
At Monday night’s Board of Selectmen Meeting, Town Manager Jeff Hull announced that the town has posted a Request For Proposal (RFP) for addiction and family counseling services. (The RFP can be read HERE.)
“The proponent will be expected to provide clinical assessment, referral and case management services to community members engaged in, or at risk for, substance abuse and their impacted family members,” explained Hull in a memo written to the Selectmen. “Various town departments will be involved in identifying persons and families in need of services based upon information provided, or contact made in the process of providing municipal public safety, education, veterans, elder, and public health services.”
“Clinical services will include assessment and referral, individual, group and family treatment, consultation, linkage to family substance use screenings or other services, family sessions, and appropriate therapy,” continued Hull. “The clinician will coordinate interventions with providers delivering services to the individual and/or the family. Other clinical services will include parental and family guidance, inclusion in transition/discharge planning, follow-up consultation, linkage to other services and supports, education, and instructional modeling.”
According to the RFP, the service provider’s work and focus will be directed by the Wilmington Police Department and include the following:
- Conduct outreach attempts to 100% of those referred and at least one family member of a referred individual to offer services and/or support within 2 business days of the referral including weekends and holidays. This may include accompanying emergency personnel on medical or law enforcement calls.
- Develop an assessment with treatment recommendations for referred individuals within three (3) business days of outreach.
- Arrange for access to care and services for referred individuals and family members.
- Monitor the referred individual and/or family members during their period of medical intervention and for ninety (90) days following the conclusion of their medical intervention.
- Provide ongoing evaluation of care programs and services to establish a network of referrals with track records of effective treatment.
- Provide weekly reports to the Police Chief or their designee documenting services provided, response and service delivery timelines, ongoing case load updates and outcomes.
- Develop metrics in consultation with the Police Chief or their designee that will serve as a means to gauge the impact of the Contractor’s efforts on the substance abuse problems in Wilmington.
- Work with Police Chief or his designee to assess the range of needs associated with substance abuse and develops a written plan which provides direction on the focus of substance abuse efforts; recommends the level of financial and other resources to direct towards these efforts and identifies grants and other resources that may be available to the Town. The development of this plan shall be presented to the Substance Abuse Coalition for comment and feedback. This document shall serve as a “work plan” which will guide ongoing efforts to address substance abuse in Wilmington.
- Coordinate and communicate frequently with Town departments and partner services to ensure referred individuals and families are receiving services and support in the community.
Selectman Mike Champoux asked Town Manager Hull if the town would eventually consider hiring staff to provide these services, rather than contract them out.
“From my perspective, I think we ought to go the route of contracting for these services initially,” responded Hull. “A year from now, when we’re in a better position to really finetune the services we need to provide, we may decide it’s appropriate to have a staff person on board. It’s a lot easier to go to from a contracted service to an individual than the other way.”
The RFP was posted on March 2 on the Town’s Website, in Town Hall, in the Town Crier, and on COMMBUYS, the state’s online market center for providing notices about requests for goods and services. Proposals are due on Thursday, March 30 at 10am.
A proposal review committee, consisting of Veterans Services Director Lou Cimaglia, Health Director Shelly Newhouse, and Police Chief Michael Begonis, will evaluate the proposals and provide the Town Manager with a recommendation.
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