This document from Fond du Lac County’s Bridges to Recovery program sets out how staff stay in contact with participants after release from custody and includes the survey questions that peer support specialists ask at each check-in. It contains nine survey versions, from Day 1 after release through one year. The surveys ask about housing, health insurance, employment, transportation, treatment and recovery meeting attendance, substance use, overdose, medication-assisted treatment (MAT), progress toward a recovery goal, and whether the person needs naloxone. Katie Wirkus, RN, Recovery Coordinator and Program Coordinator, Fond du Lac County Health Department, and Janet Kempf Vandehey, Owner, JKV Research (2024 Comprehensive Opioid, Stimulant, and Substance Use Program (COSSUP) grantee), presented the document at the November 12, 2026, Virtual Solutions Swap.
Who might use it
Jail-based MAT and reentry program coordinators, peer recovery support programs, and COSSUP project directors can use this document to follow participants after release and measure outcomes. Local health departments, evaluation partners, treatment court teams, and treatment and recovery providers that share responsibility for post-release care can use it the same way.
How to use it
The protocol walks staff through each step of follow-up. Participants complete a post-release consent form any time after intake, so staff can reach them even after an unexpected release. The program coordinator receives a daily list of releases, the team reviews upcoming releases at a Monday morning meeting, and a peer support specialist schedules the first call. Peer support specialists either ask the questions and enter the answers into SurveyMonkey or send the participant a survey link. Staff log each contact in a shared worksheet with a set code, such as “Contact not made” or “Return to custody,” along with any reported return to use or overdose. If staff have not reached someone by Day 14, they call the person’s emergency contact, try once more at Day 30, and then close the follow-up. The Day 14, Day 30, and one-year surveys ask how satisfied the person is with the quality of their recovery, and anyone who answers “Not at all satisfied” or “Not too satisfied” is asked to leave their name so a peer support specialist or coordinator can follow up. The one-year survey also asks, without recording names, what participants would tell county leaders about local recovery needs. People released to residential treatment start the Day 1 survey after they leave the residential program. Agencies adapting the surveys will need to replace the Fond du Lac phone numbers and the SurveyMonkey link placeholders with their own.