Understanding the Changes at the Office of Recovery Services

We know many in our community have heard about proposed changes to the Office of Recovery Services (ORS) at the Virginia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services (DBHDS), and there’s been a great deal of uncertainty and concern.

To ensure we’re sharing accurate and timely information, Vocal Virginia reached out to Heather Norton, Deputy Commissioner for Community Services at DBHDS, to ask for clarification. Below are her responses to the three questions we asked regarding what’s changing, whether recovery services or funding will be affected, and what she believes our members should understand about the reorganization.

1) What changes are being proposed or implemented?

"From the Commissioner's message [yesterday] morning:

When DBHDS created the Office of Recovery Services over 10 years ago, it was a new concept to have an office solely focused on recovery. The office has done tremendous work, particularly around peer services. Similarly, the Office of Behavioral Health Wellness has done incredible work around prevention and programs with direct impact on Virginians. But we need to give even more voice to recover and greater emphasis on prevention than they are getting as siloed, standalone offices. The next step to ensure the concepts of recovery and prevention are woven throughout community services is to integrate these offices into the larger offices of adult mental health and substance use services. By doing so, we will better support service delivery across the continuum of care and elevate recovery and prevention in all our programs and services. There are no positions eliminated by taking these actions. In fact, the good work of these offices will be elevated by ensuring they are at the table for discussions across adult mental health and substance use disorders. You can see where both recovery and prevention are represented, along with treatment, in both adult behavioral health and SUDs in the organization chart below of the behavioral health area of the Community Services Division:"

Proposed New DBHDS Organizational Chart

2) Does this shift represent a reduction in recovery services and/or funding?

"No, this does not result in a reduction in anything."

3) What else should our members understand about the reorganization?

"I think the most important thing from my perspective is the elevation of recovery and prevention in this reorganization through the infusion of them throughout the continuum of care.  Our vision is to elevate the voice of the person with lived experience throughout the continuum of care.  When offices are siloed, they focus on their own work. True and meaningful integration is having the person’s voice involved at all junctures of services and supports."

We recognize that change, especially when it impacts something as vital as recovery services, can bring up strong emotions and valid concerns.

If you have questions, thoughts, or concerns about the proposed changes, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us at network@vocalvirginia.org. We’ll continue to be in communication with DBHDS and are committed to passing along your questions and sharing any new updates as they come.

Together, we’ll continue advocating to ensure that recovery and the voices of those with lived experience are not just included but truly centered in our behavioral health system.