SB371: SB371 Mental Health and Penal Institutions; grant program to create peer support programs in hospitals; establish

Georgia currently has no dedicated grant program to help hospitals and community addiction centers set up peer support services for people with substance use disorders, and no requirement that jails and prisons run peer mentor programs led by people with lived experience of recovery. This bill would change both. It directs the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities to award grants, subject to money the General Assembly appropriates, to hospitals or local addiction recovery support centers that want to start peer support programs staffed by certified peer specialists. The department must report annually to state leaders on who applied and who got funded, and must hire an outside evaluator to study the programs' effectiveness and cost impact, with quarterly reports on results. Separately, the bill requires the Department of Corrections and the Department of Community Supervision to set up forensic peer mentor programs, led by certified peer specialists, in every state prison, county jail, and municipal jail, and to coordinate with courts, probation programs, and other agencies to expand these peer mentor services.

• Creates a new grant program letting hospitals and local addiction recovery support centers apply for state funding to build peer support programs, subject to legislative appropriations.
• Defines 'certified peer specialist' and related credentials (mental health, addictive disease, youth, parent, and forensic peer mentor) that the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities must recognize and train.
• Requires all peer specialists working in department services to be certified, and adds required continuing education on hospital settings and job readiness.
• Requires the department to contract annually with an outside technical assistance provider and an independent evaluator to assess and improve the peer support grant program.
• Requires the Department of Corrections and the Department of Community Supervision to establish forensic peer mentor programs, led by certified peer specialists, in every state prison, county jail, and municipal jail.
• Requires those two departments to coordinate with courts, probation programs, and other agencies to expand forensic peer mentor programs to people on parole or probation.

Hospitals and local addiction recovery support centers seeking grant funding, certified peer specialists and trainees, the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities, the Department of Corrections, the Department of Community Supervision, and people who are incarcerated, on parole, on probation, or receiving substance use treatment.

People with substance use disorders in hospitals and people cycling through jails, prisons, probation, or parole could gain access to peer mentors with personal recovery experience. Hospitals and recovery centers could receive new state funding, while corrections agencies face a new statewide mandate to build these programs.

• Section 1 amends O.C.G.A. § 37-1-20 to require the department to support training programs for certified peer specialists, including a new maternal mental health designation.
• Section 2 creates a new Chapter 8 in Title 37 defining terms like 'certified peer specialist' and 'addiction recovery support center' and requiring department certification for peer specialists.
• O.C.G.A. § 37-8-3 establishes the hospital and addiction recovery support center grant program, funded subject to legislative appropriations, considering geographic diversity among grantees.
• O.C.G.A. § 37-8-3(d) requires an annual report to the Governor, legislative leaders, and relevant committees on grant applicants, awards, and amounts disbursed.
• O.C.G.A. § 37-8-5 requires an independent evaluator to assess program effectiveness, cost impact, and outcomes before funding begins, with quarterly reports to state officials.
• Section 3 adds Article 7 to Chapter 3 of Title 42, requiring the Department of Corrections and Department of Community Supervision to create forensic peer mentor programs in every state prison, county jail, and municipal jail.
• O.C.G.A. § 42-3-121 requires coordination with courts, probation programs, accountability courts, and other agencies to extend forensic peer mentor programs to people on probation or parole.

1. 2025-04-02Senate Read and Referred (Senate)
2. 2025-04-02Senate Hopper (Senate)

• Brian Strickland (R, SD-042)Primary sponsor

• mental health
• substance use treatment
• peer support programs
• prisons and jails
• hospital funding