In May 2022, we welcomed Micah Hillis and Corey Kuebler of Rutgers University Behavioral Health Care and Peter Treitler of Rutgers Center for Health Services Research to discuss New Jersey’s Intensive Recovery Treatment Support (IRTS) Program. This first-in-the-nation support initiative was designed to provide recovery-focused assessment of needs, linkage to treatment, and comprehensive re-entry support for individuals with opioid and other substance use disorders leaving incarceration. In the IRTS program, peer health navigators — individuals with lived experience with the criminal justice system and/or with substance use disorder — have a central role and work closely with an interdisciplinary team consisting of case managers, nurses, and others.
This issue brief from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) presents recent data on prevalence of opioid use disorder and death rates in the Black/African American population, contextual factors and challenges to prevention and treatment, innovative outreach and engagement strategies to connect people to evidence-based treatment, and the importance of community voice....
This best practices toolkit, published by the Camden Coalition’s National Center for Complex Health and Social Needs and co-authored by Shelly Virva (Camden Coalition of Healthcare Providers) and Grace “Katie” Bell (Telewell Indian Health MAT Project), is intended for for program administrators and clinical care teams who want to establish effective medications for addiction treatment...
Medications for opioid use disorder are evidence-based and, in combination with evidence-based behavioral health interventions, are best practice. But successful medications for addiction treatment (MAT) programs need to do more than just prescribe and dispense medication — they must also be designed to address the complex health and social needs of the patients seeking care....