Hocking County Overdose Prevention and Harm Reduction Project

Proposal Abstract

The primary activities of our project include expansion of our county’s deflection programming from a Quick Response Team (QRT) into one that partners with outside agencies by funding positions that link students and families to treatment and services for Substance Use Disorders (SUD). Together we can provide linkage to SUD treatment and collaborate to provide a range of outpatient and inpatient services (treatment and non-treatment related) consistent with the needs of our local community.

Project deliverables will include subcontracts for a mental health provider within the Logan-Hocking School District (LHSD) and a deflection specialist within the Hocking County Health Department. LHSD will house the mental health provider within the high school and middle school and meet with students who have encountered an overdose or drug use, either among themselves or their family. We have had a substantial number of overdoses and drug use among families within Hocking County, and anecdotal evidence from teachers and administrators, as well as school resource officers, suggests our students are suffering from this disease in substantial ways. We seek to reduce generational SUD within our community and believe adding a mental health provider to LHSD is one step towards accomplishing this goal.

Similarly, the deflection specialist will offer linkage to a robust range of outpatient and inpatient services and encourage program participation among QRT clients, as well as monitor a new crisis hotline within the Hocking County Health Department and facilitate outreach and education into the community.

Our goal is to expand collaboration and partnerships with a host of providers and agencies in Hocking County. Current partners among the core deflection services offered by our QRT include a mental health deputy who is certified in Crisis Intervention Training (CIT), mental health and SUD treatment providers and peers. We want to expand our existing framework of services to include stationary positions within fixed, strategic locations where students and families affected by the drug crisis frequent.

Our service area is Hocking County, Ohio, a rural area in the southeastern region of the state that includes Appalachia. The population of our service area is 28,264 residents.

People to be served by our project include all victims of the drug crisis (adults and children alike) who have SUD, as well as families who are trying to cope and learn how to rationalize and treat SUD as a disease rather than a question of morality.