FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact:
Isabella Nowak, PAARI Public Relations – media@paariusa.org
Morgantown, WV – July 25, 2025 The Police Assisted Addiction and Recovery Initiative (PAARI) is proud to announce the next edition of its Partner Spotlight webinar series. This month’s event will feature insights from West Virginia Sober Living (WVSL) Solutions Police and Peers program and its work with the Morgantown Police Department. It is scheduled for Tuesday, July 29, at 3:00 p.m. EST.
Police and Peers is an innovative approach to building a productive and collaborative effort between law enforcement, the WV Office of Drug Control Policy, and substance use service providers. The program aims to reduce contact with the criminal legal system and redirect individuals away from arrest, prosecution, and incarceration into proven treatment methods.
Travis Teets, PRSS, CHW, is a Police and Peers Coordinator with WVSL Solutions and will be presenting on the various recovery support initiatives he is involved in, including a collaborative effort with Morgantown PD. He will be joined by Officer C.P. Shade and Social Worker Kelly Rice, original members of Morgantown PD’s Special Services Unit, who will share their insights and experiences from their work in the field.
“As a person in long-term recovery, I was inspired to give back to the community by entering into Peer Recovery Support,” said Teets. “It’s an honor to present to the PAARI network and share how Police & Peers programs can be successful and life-changing for people in the community.”
“It was great having Travis present at our Law Enforcement Summit this year, and I am happy to have him join us again alongside his partners in Morgantown,” said Brittney Garrett, PAARI’s Senior Director of Public Safety Strategy and Engagement. “The Police & Peers strategy is an excellent deflection program, and we hope their work inspires other departments in our network to adopt similar approaches.”
To register for the Partner Spotlight presentation, please visit the registration page HERE.
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ABOUT MORGANTOWN PD: We are the Morgantown Police Department. A full-service law enforcement agency with an authorized strength of 76 sworn police officers and 12 civilian support staff.
We strive to provide outstanding services with integrity, respect, and fairness while providing a safe environment. We serve an area of approximately 11 square miles and a population of more than 30,000 residents. Morgantown is the third-largest city in the state of West Virginia and is home to West Virginia University with an annual enrollment of approximately 30,000 students. Learn more at morgantownpd.com
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 (i.e., non-arrest pathways to treatment and recovery). 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 works with more than 160 law enforcement agencies in Massachusetts alone. PAARI and our law enforcement partners are working towards a collective vision where non-arrest 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.
ABOUT WVSL Solutions: West Virginia Sober Living (WVSL) Solutions’ mission is to provide premier clinical and supportive services to individuals affected with substance use disorders (SUDs) and other mental health conditions.
WV PEERS are a cadre of individuals with lived experience concerning substance use disorder recovery. Peers receive more than 50 hours of didactic evidence-based training on interventions such as motivational interviewing, Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, transtheoretical model of change, and daily supervision from substance use disorder professionals. Our cadres of staff include a network of certified peer recovery support specialists and peer recovery coaches in the community, working to help connect individuals to the services they need to live a healthier and more fulfilling lives. Learn more at westvirginiasoberliving.com
