MEDIA CONTACTS:
Dean Dauphinais, Communications Manager, Face Addiction Now (FAN) 586.909.5750 dean@familiesagainstnarcotics.org
Isabella Nowak, Project Manager & Public Relations, Police Assisted Addiction & Recovery Initiative (PAARI) isabella@paariusa.org
Clinton Township, MI: Face Addiction Now (FAN, formerly Families Against Narcotics) and the Police Assisted Addiction & Recovery Initiative (PAARI) are excited to announce their renewed partnership and continued dedication to providing pathways to treatment and recovery for individuals with substance use disorder (SUD).
By collaborating to implement and enhance deflection and diversion programs, FAN, PAARI, law enforcement, and their many community partners decrease the addiction-related incarceration rate while helping more people find recovery. In addition, they help break the stigma associated with SUD by treating it as a disease instead of crime.
Since launching as a grassroots organization in 2007, Face Addiction Now—which is headquartered in Macomb County, Michigan—has grown into a statewide nonprofit that provides free support and services to individuals and families in Michigan who have been affected by SUD. Meanwhile, PAARI provides essential training, strategic guidance, support, and resources to help law enforcement agencies nationwide develop and implement deflection and diversion programs.
Their partnership is making a huge difference.
“FAN has enjoyed a long relationship with PAARI,” Face Addiction Now Executive Director Linda Davis stated. “By working together, we have shared ideas and strengthened each other’s programs. PAARI is a true partner in doing this important work and we have learned that we can do so much more if we work together.” Davis added that “giving participants an opportunity to grow in lasting recovery services not only creates a healthier community, but also creates a safer community. We look forward to working with PAARI for many years to come.”
Over the years, Face Addiction Now’s compassionate programming has continued to evolve and expand, thanks in large part to PAARI’s assistance. FAN now offers harm reduction services, naloxone training and distribution, quick response teams, jail diversion, easier access to treatment, peer and family recovery coaching, outpatient services, sober living scholarships, and more.
FAN’s many accomplishments include:
- Partnering with nearly 200 law enforcement agencies and community partners
- Connecting nearly 16,000 participants to recovery treatment through its Hope Not Handcuffs program
- Answering 5,000 calls per month to the Hope Not Handcuffs Hope Line
- Launching multiple quick response teams in Michigan, including a 24/7/365 team in the city of Detroit
- Distributing more than 66,000 Narcan kits and providing naloxone training sessions for over 10,800 people
- Awarding more than $1.25 million in sober living scholarships
“As a national nonprofit, we are always eager to collaborate with grassroots organizations making a local impact in the field of deflection,” said Zoe Grover, Executive Director of PAARI. “Our partnership with FAN is a natural fit and has only strengthened over the years. We are excited to renew this collaboration to further amplify deflection-focused initiatives to support individuals with substance use disorder.”
In its 10 years since inception, PAARI has been a driving force in advancing pathways to treatment and recovery. Over the past year, PAARI’s accomplishments include:
- Gaining 42 new public health and public safety partners, expanding the nonprofit’s network to over 800 partners in 46 states
- Providing online education to 4,775 attendees
- Offering Opioid Settlement Funds technical assistance to over 3,500 individuals
- Welcoming nearly 400 in-person attendees to their 2025 National Law Enforcement Summit in Tampa, Florida
- Hosting 30 Virtual Statewide Convenings with 1,200 registrants
- Distributing 3,000 fentanyl test strips
The efforts of organizations like Face Addiction Now and the Police Assisted Addiction & Recovery Initiative have made a significant impact on improving the health and welfare of our communities. Their programs have not only helped reduce drug-related interactions with the legal system, but have also broken down barriers to addiction treatment, which ultimately saves lives.
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About Face Addiction Now: Founded in 2007 as Families Against Narcotics, Face Addiction Now (FAN) is a Michigan nonprofit that works to educate communities statewide about addiction, dispel the stigma associated with the disease, and compassionately support and assist those affected by it. All of FAN’s programs are offered to the public completely free of charge. The organization has more than 20 chapters across the state of Michigan, with more in the planning stages. You can learn more about FAN at faceaddictionnow.org.
About PAARI: The Police Assisted Addiction & Recovery Initiative (PAARI) is a nonprofit organization with a mission to help law enforcement agencies nationwide create deflection programs. Founded alongside the groundbreaking Gloucester, Mass., Police Department Angel Initiative in June 2015, PAARI has been a driving force behind this rapidly expanding community policing movement. We provide technical assistance, strategic guidance, connection to training resources, and other capacity-building resources to more than 800 police departments in 46 states.
PAARI and our law enforcement partners are working towards a collective vision where diversion and deflection programs become a standard policing practice across the country, thereby reducing overdose deaths, expanding access to treatment, improving public safety, reducing crime, diverting people away from the criminal justice system, and increasing trust between law enforcement and their communities. Our programs and partners have saved tens of thousands of lives, changed police culture, and reshaped the national conversation about the opioid epidemic since its founding in June 2015. Learn more at paariusa.org.
