Recovery Services
The Mayor’s Office of Recovery Services supports substance use disorder and addiction recovery strategies in the City.
We work to give more people access to the support they need. We also build key partnerships with City, State, and community partners. Our office is the first municipal recovery office in the United States.
Contact
Are you an individual, friend, or family member seeking support? Do you have questions? Please call 311 or 617-635-4500.
In 2015, Mayor Martin J. Walsh created the Mayor’s Office of Recovery Services. We’re focused on substance use disorder and addiction issues in Boston. We work closely with Boston Public Health Commission’s Bureau of Recovery Services.
To build and support local recovery services, we partner with:
- City of Boston departments
- state and federal agencies
- local service providers, and
- community network.
What we’ve done so far
In 2014, Mayor Walsh and the City partnered with the Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts Foundation. Together, we analyzed Boston's substance use addiction problem. As part of our work, we set up an Addiction Recovery Advisory Group made up of:
- addiction experts
- community leaders, and
- researchers.
The group created the Addiction and Recovery Services Blueprint. This plan identifies strategies the City should use with the nation's first Office of Recovery Services.
Our office recently partnered with 311, the City’s constituent service hotline. Through this effort, we’ve created an easy way for residents to get access to recovery services and resources.
We’ve more than doubled the staff and extended the hours at the PAATHS program, the City’s access to care program.
Public health tactics are now a part in the City’s public safety work, thanks to our partnerships with:
- Boston Police and Boston Fire
- Emergency Medical Services, and
- the Suffolk County Sheriff's Department.
These efforts include diversion for low-level drug offenses, overdose prevention and follow-up, and reentry supports.
We helped secure four full-time street outreach positions. This helps us work with the most at-risk members of the community.
We also supported Mayor Walsh in his role as the Chair of the US Conference of Mayors’ first-ever Substance Use, Prevention, and Recovery Services Task Force.
