Return To Substance Use

Although pregnancy is motivation for opioid use disorder treatment, there is a risk of relapsing after childbirth. Unpacking Perinatal Experiences with Opioid Use Disorder: Relapse Risk Implications studies the perinatal experiences that can inform clinical social workers and other health/behavioral health providers on when and how to provide support during this time period. 

This webinar will highlight the unique challenges faced by tribal communities in securing safe and secure housing and SUD. The presenters will also discuss how AI/AN communities experience homelessness in relation to the rest of the country

This updated (March 2020) TIP is intended to provide addiction counselors and other providers, supervisors, and administrators with the latest science in the screening, assessment, diagnosis, and management of co-occurring disorders (CODs).

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) together with leading clinicians, researchers, and policy experts led the development of a standard clinical definition for opioid withdrawal in infants to help improve care.  It is accompanied with a set of foundational principles that outlines bioethical uses for the definition, distinctly centering around identifying clinical and supportive care needs of mothers and their infants, using an evidence-based, compassionate, and equitable approach.

This session provided a deep dive into what a peer provider is and confront the direct and indirect challenges and solutions peer providers face.

This handbook is intended to address this particular set of workplace issues- namely those that arise from experiences of loss, grief and trauma. These issues can surface within the workplace itself, or can be imported into the work setting from workers’ personal lives. This handbook will be useful for managers, supervisors and human resource specialists who are interested in developing their understanding of how the very real issues associated with loss, grief and trauma can be tackled when they show up in work settings. This handbook is a blend of theory and practice, and can be used as a resource for building effective policies and practical responses to the complexities of managing grief, loss and bereavement in the workplace.

The suggested tools and resources herein address the need for agencies to support frontline service providers following exposure to an overdose fatality. Frontline service providers may include any staff members that interact directly with populations that are at greater risk for experiencing overdose. The suggestions throughout the document should be implemented in keeping with agency-based policies and procedures for staff support. Introducing these strategies into the workplace can foster greater well-being among those staff members most vulnerable to trauma and distress. The goal of these suggestions is to promote well-being in the workplace for those most vulnerable to trauma, stress and grief. To achieve this, outlined below are principles for agencies to incorporate into their organization, how to acknowledge death in the moment, approaches to coping with strong emotions, the importance of building a support system, and the process of grief.

Drug overdose deaths in the United States hit a record high in 2017, with an estimated 72,000  deaths. Over two-thirds of those deaths, roughly 47,600, were due to opioids.These  staggering numbers continued in 2018, as over 67,000 drug overdose deaths occurred, and  opioids were involved in rough 46,800 of those overdose deaths. This roadmap highlights existing state efforts and serves as a policy development tool for Governors and state officials seeking to improve coordination and bolster existing efforts across state agencies to address OUD among people involved in the justice system by expanding access to evidence-based medications.

Medication-assisted treatment (MAT) is the use of medications, combined with counseling, to treat substance use disorders. Research has proven the effectiveness of MAT and addiction treatment experts endorse it, but a variety of barriers have prevented the widespread use of MAT. These include a lack of financing for medication, insufficient organizational infrastructure to deliver medication, state and county funding and regulatory obstacles, physician training and certification, staff and client resistance, and community attitudes.

o CAST (calculating for an adequate system tool) produces community-specific assessments of the capacity of the components of a community substance abuse care system. CAST generates recommendations by the application of social and community determinants of health as risk coefficients to each estimate of component need. CAST can assist public health practitioners in evaluation and improvement of the capacity of community-based, substance abuse care systems.