Students from the 2011 session of Drexel’s Summer Academy in Behavioral Health Counseling discuss what they have learned.

Philadelphia is an epicenter of transformation in the system of care for people with mental illness and addictions. This Philadelphia Daily News profile last week of a North Philadelphia recovery center gives a good introduction to both how and why, under the leadership of Dr. Arthur C. Evans, commissioner of the city’s Department of Behavioral Health and Intellectual disAbility Services:

His model aims to improve results by helping addicts achieve long-term stability, instead of just getting them clean and sending them on their way.

In the past, Evans said, addicts often would “go through a 28-day program, get discharged and hope to do OK.”

“And now my department says, ‘Well, we really need to fund things that help people with their long-term recovery, all those life skills that are really important…