We, the undersigned organizations and individuals, unite to advocate for preserving and elevating the Office of Recovery Services (ORS) within the Virginia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services (DBHDS). ORS has proven indispensable in promoting recovery-oriented care, trauma-informed practices, peer leadership, and ensuring “A life of possibilities for all Virginians” through behavioral health services across the Commonwealth.

Who is impacted?
Thousands of Virginians living with mental health and substance use challenges — along with their families and communities — are directly supported by the work of ORS. The office serves as a lifeline by uplifting peer support networks, building a certified peer workforce, and ensuring lived experience is honored at every level of the system. Individuals who have been historically marginalized or retraumatized by institutional systems especially benefit from the trauma-informed, person-centered focus that ORS brings to DBHDS.

What is at stake?
Recent restructuring proposals to integrate ORS within broader service divisions threaten to diminish the vital role this office plays in embedding the peer perspective, lived experiences, and trauma-informed principles into the foundation of Virginia’s behavioral health system. Evidence from multiple states and best practice guidelines consistently highlight that reducing or eliminating autonomous recovery leadership structures negatively impacts the quality, effectiveness, and responsiveness of services (Center for Health Care Strategies, 2021; SAMHSA, 2014). Such restructuring has been shown to erode critical peer support infrastructures, weaken trauma-informed care, and marginalize the voices of those most directly affected by behavioral health policies (National Council for Mental Wellbeing, 2020). If these changes are implemented, the state risks undermining core commitments to recovery, accountability, and community trust.

Why is now the time to act?
We are at a pivotal moment. As DBHDS reexamines its internal structure to align with its vision of “A life of possibilities for all Virginians,” it must not sideline the very office that has made that vision real for so many. This moment of reorganization provides a crucial opportunity to reaffirm—not retreat from—its mission: “Supporting individuals by promoting recovery, self-determination, and wellness in all aspects of life.” The time to act is now to ensure that recovery leadership is not diluted or dismissed, but instead given the elevation and autonomy it needs to drive Virginia forward as a national model for trauma-informed, recovery-centered care.

Therefore, we respectfully urge Governor Glenn Youngkin, Inspector General Michael C. Westfall, DBHDS Commissioner Nelson Smith, and the DBHDS Board to:

• Maintain ORS as an autonomous office directly reporting to the DBHDS Commissioner.
• Adopt a structural model that establishes clear dotted-line relationships between ORS and all major DBHDS divisions, including Substance Use, Mental Health, Housing, and Child and Family offices, ensuring a robust and integrated recovery-oriented framework throughout.
• Protect and expand peer leadership roles, sustaining meaningful peer voice and lived experience input at every level of decision-making.

By joining this advocacy campaign, we collectively affirm our commitment to the principle, "Nothing About Us Without Us," and our dedication to ensuring the Commonwealth of Virginia remains a national leader in recovery-oriented behavioral health services.

Together, we call for a clear commitment to preserve and elevate ORS.

References:

Center for Health Care Strategies. (2021). "Advancing Trauma-Informed Care." 

National Council for Mental Wellbeing. (2020). "Peer Support in Behavioral Health Care: A Critical Component of Effective Treatment."

Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). (2014). "SAMHSA’s Concept of Trauma and Guidance for a Trauma-Informed Approach."