HEALing Communities Study: Deploying Evidence-Based Practices to Reduce Opioid Overdose Deaths Through Community Engagement and Partnerships

The HEALing Communities Study (HCS) is a multi-site, cluster randomized trial that employs a community-engaged strategy to deploy an integrated set of evidence-based practices aimed at reducing opioid overdose deaths in 67 highly affected communities across four states. The intervention includes an array of community sectors, including primary care, emergency departments, public health programs, and criminal justice settings, while the evidence-based practices include overdose education and naloxone distribution, expansion of access to and retention in care with medications for opioid use disorder (OUD), and improved prescription safety.

This session will focus on the experience of the HCS team in Kentucky with the community engagement process, barriers, and facilitators in the criminal justice system, and the role of peers/recovery support coaches. The first pillar of the intervention is reliant on community-engaged processes to guide decision-making around intervention selections, and presenters will share the experience and outcomes with eight communities and their coalitions. Criminal justice settings present unique challenges when providing services to link people to evidence-based care, so presenters will discuss experience from working with drug court, probation and parole, pretrial services, and jails. They will cover the role of peer supports and recovery coaches with lived experience helping individuals navigate from different settings into treatment. They also will discuss the importance of addressing critical barriers to care (e.g., transportation and housing) for individuals seeking treatment for OUD.