Hanover County’s Adult Recovery Court has honored its first graduate of the program.
In 2024, Crystal Elliott accepted an offer to partake in the County’s recently relaunched Recovery Court.
When she was 43 years old, Elliott had been stuck in a cycle of probation violations and jail time following four years of using drugs to cope with personal issues going on in her life.
“My story is a bit different,” Elliott said in a recent interview with the County’s local e-newsletter Here in Hanover. “I didn’t start using drugs until later in life.”
Elliott was previously employed at a bank and had no history of substance abuse or a criminal record.
After purchasing a car with a fraudulent check in 2020, Elliott was arrested for the first time.
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“I had a $10,000 insurance check coming from an accident,” she said. “I post-dated a check for the date it was supposed to arrive and drove the car off the lot. But when the check didn’t come on time, I was charged with fraud. I had never been in trouble before — not even a speeding ticket.”
Elliott recalled that shortly after her arrest she began doing cocaine, which spiraled into a dark period.
“I hated drugs and never thought I’d use them,” Elliott said. “It doesn’t matter how well you were raised, because my mom and dad raised me well. It can happen.”
In July 2024, Elliott was offered a change to change the trajectory of her life by taking part in Hanover’s Adult Recovery Court, a program that had relaunched at the start that month. Although Elliott was on her fourth felony probation violation and had been spending several months in jail, she was hesitant to take the offer at first.
After a friend urged her to reconsider, Elliott took the leap and made the first steps into recovery.
“I had been praying to get out of the cycle,” Elliott said. “And I knew I couldn’t do it alone.”
A year after entering the program, Elliott became the first graduate of Hanover’s new Adult Recovery Court.
The program, previously known as the Adult Drug Court, stalled in 2019 due to limited funding. Today, the program is under a new name and is supported with opioid settlement funds.
The Hanover County Adult Recovery Court is a locally based “alternative to incarceration” program for those with felony charges who struggle with drug addiction and have pending felony probation violation charges. Offenders with pending charges will be considered by the team on a case-by-case basis
The program is led by the Hanover Circuit Court judges and is a collaborative effort amongst local authorities and professionals in treatment, probation supervision, law enforcement and prosecutors.
To be eligible for referrals, participants must meet the following criteria:
- 18 years of age or older
- Reside in Hanover County or Caroline County
- Charged with a felony violation of probation with prior probation violation convictions or charged with a non-violent property or drug crime with midpoint guidelines greater than a year, or charged with a non-violent property or drug crime, ineligible for first offender, non-convicted felon.
- Meet DSM-5 criteria for substance use disorder
- Access to transportation to complete program requirements
- Not have any active criminal gang participation within the preceding 5 years reviewed on a case-by-case basis
Offenders with pending charges will be considered by the team on a case-by-case basis.
The Recovery Court participants are in the program for about a year or more. The program utilizes a combination of accountability and treatment to support to help support those in the program as they take on the journey of recovery.
The program’s goal is to improve the community by successfully helping offenders recover and maintain sobriety and to help put an end to drug-related crime and re-offenses. Through treatment, community supervision, case management, drug testing, court appearances, behavioral sanctions, incentives and mental health services, the program intends to use an evidence-based approach to improve public health, participant welfare and public safety.
“Drug courts have been extensively researched and have been demonstrated to be an effective, cost-efficient way of addressing substance use and criminality,” said Cynthia Kirschner, coordinator of Hanover’s Adult and Juvenile Recovery Courts.
Within the program, Recovery Court participants are required to appear in court twice a month, attend treatment three times per week and attend weekly probation meetings. The program also includes law enforcement curfew checks and behavioral group therapy.
The program is broken down into five phases, requiring a minimum number of participation days and consecutive clean days, as well as treatment and probation compliance to progress into the next phases. The final phase focuses on sober living and relapse prevention.
Participants are incentivized throughout the program with small rewards such as certificates, gift cards, and/or judicial praise. If participants do not follow the required procedures, the judge will impose sanctions including brief jail days, essays or community service to discourage noncompliance and possible program termination.
After the final phase is complete, participants are eligible to graduate. This leads to the probation violation being dismissed, and graduates being removed from State Probation Supervision.
The program offers this approach to tackle the underlying substance use disorder that contributes to crime and overdose deaths.
“Hanover County is dedicated to combating the opioid crisis and the Adult Recovery Court is a major component of the county’s overall opioid response strategy,” Hanover County noted in its description of the program’s intention.
Elliott fulfilled all the program’s requirements, going above and beyond in her efforts.
Although the program only required participants to work 30 hours a week, Elliott continued with her full-time job and served as a caretaker for her father.
During a Recovery Court session on July 7, Elliott was presented with her graduation certificate by Circuit Court Judge J. Overton Harris. She celebrated this accomplishment alongside family, County staff, several Board of Supervisors members and many more.
“Being able to plan that scope of a celebration, it was great that there was that kind of recognition within our community that this is a valuable program,” said Kirschner. “To see each of our participants share how this saved their lives throughout to the end of the program, you know, to hear that emphasized, it’s just very gratifying.”
Kirschner noted that the adult program currently has four active participants and is considering three more pending referrals. She said that recent broadening to the eligibility requirements has correlated to more applicants.
“I was so grateful to have this opportunity,” Elliott said before her graduation. “My mom and God saved my life. And I’m thankful to Judge Harris for being so supportive. I took it very seriously because it affects the rest of my life.”
