What is this strategy?
Fund evidence-based recovery support services, including peer support specialists or care navigators based in local health departments, social service offices, detention facilities, community-based organizations, or other settings that support people in treatment or recovery, or people who use drugs, in accessing addiction treatment, recovery support, harm reduction services, primary healthcare, or other services or supports they need to improve their health or well-being.
Why recovery support services?
People who use drugs themselves are the primary agents of reducing the harms of their drug use. Support services, when provided in supportive and non-judgmental manner, empower people who use drugs and assist them in reducing the harms of their use of drugs.
Featured Resources
- Read about the impacts of peer support specialists from NC DHHS
- Explore a how-to toolkit that describes how to design and implement a post-overdose response team in your community
Complete List of Resources
NC Association of County Commissioners Webinar
75-minute webinar, “Strategies to Address the Opioid Epidemic – Peer Support Services”, that provides an overview of peer support services and the practice of centering individuals with lived experience in peer support work
NC Certified Peer Support Specialist Program
A program that helps individuals meet the requirements necessary to provide support to individuals with mental health or substance use disorder
“Peer Support Specialists Enhance Mental Health, Substance Use Recovery“
A blog post from NCDHHS that describes the impacts of peer support specialists
Post-Overdose Response Team (PORT) Toolkit
A how-to toolkit that describes how to design and implement a post-overdose response team in your community
Post Overdose Follow Up
Information about post-overdose follow ups from the NC Harm Reduction Coalition
North Carolina Healthcare Association Emergency Department Pathway
An overview of the Emergency Department Treatment Pathway and how to use it
Department of Justice Guidance on Protections for People with Opioid Use Disorder
An 8-page overview of the protections provided to people with opioid use disorder by the Americans with Disabilities Act