Maggie Dickson is a counselor at Washoe County’s jail, working with inmates battling drug and alcohol addiction with the help of medication-assisted treatment (MAT). She said she was nervous Tuesday when she presented details of the program to members of Washoe’s Board of County Commissioners.
However, when she delivered details on the MAT program results, the commissioners said the program was changing lives and part of an “incredible vision.” More than one commissioner called Dickson a rockstar.
“You’ve changed lives,” Commissioner Clara Andriola said. “You all should know how appreciative we all are of really making an impact to truly changing someone’s life. Your dedication and support of the Sheriff and everyone has nothing but huge accolades and our state is better for it.”
The MAT program Dickson helps lead started in 2019 as the first jail-based licensed opioid treatment program in the state. Four years later, it’s still the only one.
The MAT program aims to help those incarcerated, who are experiencing opioid or alcohol addiction, stabilize through the use of medication such as naloxone or methadone so they can fully engage in behavioral counseling. The counseling part of the program—which includes weekly substance use groups and regular individual counseling—helps individuals to address the underlying reasons for their substance abuse and build coping and life skills for long-term recovery.
Those incarcerated must request to participate in the MAT program and undergo an evaluation to ensure they fit with the program.
Based on the data, the Washoe jail’s MAT program is working.
Of the 570 incacerated persons who have participated in the program since 2019, only 205 have recidivated—about 36%. The national average for similar programs is 44%.
Program participation has grown steadily year over year, Dickson said. Many of the participants come into the jail already using community-based MAT programs, so they’re able to continue treatment despite their arrest.
Dickson said she is working to help the incarcerated continue their treatment once they leave Washoe’s jail as well. For those who are returning to the community, a network of support has been created that involves the county’s specialty courts, Parole and Probation, the Department of Alternative Sentencing and Northern Nevada HOPES.
A peer mentoring program in partnership with the Center for the Application of Substance Abuse Technologies (CASAT) at University of Nevada, Reno is also in the works.
For those going to prison, the option to continue MAT isn’t yet available. Dickson said for those individuals, her team works on tapering their medication before their transfer.
That may not be the case for too much longer, however. Dickson has been working for several years with Nevada Department of Corrections (NDOC) to get MAT in the state’s correctional facilities. A pilot was launched this year with a female transferred in March to the Florence McClure Women’s Correctional Center in Las Vegas. She’s been able to continue her treatment and Dickson said she’s doing well.
Nevada’s legislature this year also passed Assembly Bill 156 which requires NDOC and jails throughout the state to study how MAT could be done in their facilities.
Dickson has even more plans for the MAT program in Washoe’s jail, including a housing unit dedicated to MAT treatment. She said the unit could provide round-the-clock support to program participants with clinicians and peer support in the unit daily.
“It gives them a structured therapy community,” she said. “It improves the outcome of their services.”
She’s also working to have the jail become an approved supervision site for substance use counselors in training.
“This will give our underserved population resources and counseling services at a lower cost, but also expose clinicians who are not used to that environment,” Dickson said.
Commissioner Mariluz Garcia said she was happy to see Washoe County as a leader in the state with the MAT program.
“It’s one thing to offer services to the folks that we have in our care, in our custody,” Garcia said. “But for you to think outside the box and to look at the alignment with other facilities throughout the transfer process is an incredible vision.”
Commissioner Andriola said she hoped to see legislation during the 2025 session mandating MAT programs in all of the state’s jail and prison facilities.
“I’m not sure where you got this vision, but it’s paid off,” she said.
Correction: This story has been updated. Washoe’s MAT program is developing a partnership with UNR’s CASAT, not JTNN.
