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FAVOR Greenville

A recovery community organization in Greenville, SC creating a face and voice for recovery, providing recovery support services, and using peers to support interventions

Officially begun in 2004 with permanent physical site established in 2013, Faces and Voices of Recovery (FAVOR) Greenville is a recovery community organization (RCO) that exemplifies the core strategies of this type of organization: public education and awareness, policy advocacy, and providing peer-based and other recovery support services to the community.

Recovery support services may include:

  • mutual support meetings
  • recovery coaching
  • programs to navigate addressing social determinants of health such as employment and housing
  • recovery-oriented activities

At FAVOR, as with any RCO, multiple pathways of recovery are recognized. Some of the mutual support meetings that represent these pathways include:

  • Alcoholics Anonymous
  • Narcotics Anonymous
  • Al-Anon
  • Refuge Recovery
  • SMART Recovery
  • All-Recovery
  • family groups

Programs and services, which are considered non-clinical, are offered at no cost to individuals and families with no forms to fill out or criteria to be met.

FAVOR utilizes a peer recovery coaching model, where people with at least two years of recovery can be trained and credentialed. These peer recovery coaches become the primary workforce in this community-based model. Recently, these recovery coaches have begun working out in the community, such as emergency departments, to bridge people to services. Peer recovery coaches at FAVOR and other RCOs have been trained through FORCE (FAVOR Overdose Recovery Coaching Evaluation), which is currently being evaluated. 

Preliminary evaluation of a pilot where FAVOR recovery coaches were used to link hospitalized patients with substance use disorders to treatment showed promising results for engagement in treatment and recovery services after six months. 

Individuals in the recovery coaching intervention report better physical health and reduced substance use compared with the control group.

Continuum of Care
Treatment
Recovery
Type of Evidence
Peer-reviewed
Response Approach
Comprehensive services
Educational
Family Support
Housing, Education, and Employment
Outreach
Post-overdose response
Recovery coaching
Peer-reviewed Article
Inpatient link to peer recovery coaching: Results from a pilot randomized control trial
Related Resources
Recovery Coaches in Opioid Use Disorder Care
Recovery Community Organization Toolkit
Lived Experience in New Models of Care for Substance Use Disorder: A Systematic Review of Peer Recovery Support Services and Recovery Coaching
The Use of Peers and Recovery Specialists in Child Welfare Settings
Partnering with Jails to Improve Reentry: A Guidebook for Community-Based Organizations
The Opioid Epidemic Practical Toolkit: Helping Faith-based and Community Leaders Bring Hope and Healing to Our Communities
Peer Recovery Support for Individuals With Substance Use Disorders: Assessing the Evidence
The Ripple Effect: The Impact of the Opioid Epidemic on Children and Families

Evidence of Program Effectiveness

According to their own data, FAVOR Greenville reports over 30,000 individuals with substance use disorder (SUD) and family members engaged in programming since 2013, with family members representing 45% of those served. Over 40,000 hours of recovery coaching has been provided since 2013 and FAVOR is involved in 25 outreach programs in the community.

The RCO is part of an ongoing clinical trial that studies the intervention of adding a peer recovery coach after a nonfatal opioid overdose in the emergency department compared to standard of care, hypothesizing that there will be a higher degree of engagement from the patients who have access to a peer recovery coach and could serve as an important opportunity to get them into treatment. Preliminary evidence from this trial is promising.

Since beginning data collection in May 2018, the research team has begun to see individuals in the recovery coaching intervention report better physical health and reduced substance use than the control group.

Results from a pilot randomized control trial of using FAVOR recovery coaches to link hospitalized patients with SUD to treatment compared with standard of care: "Engagement rate over the six-month post-discharge time period was higher for participants in the recovery coaching intervention (84%) compared to the standard of care control condition (34%). No overall group differences in substance use frequency, self-reported physical, or mental health were observed." (Byrne et al., 2020)