The federal government has awarded grants to 24 locations nationwide to replicate comprehensive, long-term programs for treating addiction developed in Philadelphia and Connecticut, the New York Times reported Oct. 23.

Programs such as the Philadelphia Recovery Community Center work with public and private agencies to provide those in treatment with peer-based counseling as well as long-term help with housing, schooling and job training.

Programs offering holistic after-care treatments help reduce both the incidence and duration of relapses, according to experts. They are also cost effective, since a majority of the staff are volunteers who are also in recovery.

Treatment success has been aided by the fact that many in the local recovery community have also gone public with their stories, said Arthur C. Evans, chief of behavioral health for the city of Philadelphia. "One of the most important things we've done in Philadelphia is to create a vibrant and visible recovery community," Evans said. "Hundreds of people are speaking out about being in recovery, and that's having a tremendous impact on people who may not think they're ready to change."

"Philadelphia is a model city in a transformation we've seen in the last few years in the way treatment and recovery systems are organized around the country," said Jack Stein, the federal Center for Substance Abuse Treatment's director of services improvement.