Artwork stating 'Education Destroys Barriers', 'We Demand Treatment', and 'I Need A Chance'

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  • ‘Like A Flu Shot' For Addiction Crisis: Training High School Students As Recovery Coaches

    A town in West Virginia was lacking resources for mental health care, so high school juniors were tapped to fill the need. Learning skills such as how to use naloxone to in an overdose situation to asking open-ended questions to intervene in a crisis, the students walked away from a “life & recovery coach academy” equipped with usable skills, college credits, and a certificate, while also reentering their community as more engaged citizens.

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  • Minneapolis Activists Ask Local Leaders to Invest in Communities, Not Cops

    In Minneapolis, Minnesota, a coalition of organizers and community members called Reclaim the Block advocates for divestment from the city's police force and into more community-based initiatives and services. Advocates for the group argue that rather than solving issues like homelessness, opioid addiction, and mental health crises, policing can actually make the situation worse off. The broad coalition successfully petitioned the city to move funds out of the police force and into the newly created Office of Violence Prevention.

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  • In Appalachia, Crafting a Road to Recovery With Dulcimer Strings

    To help those struggling with opioid addictions, an apprentice program in Kentucky uses art and music taught by local artisans to provide participants with a path forward. After learning various skills as part of the program, a local instrument company also considers the new apprentices for hire as part of a “recovery-friendly” employment movement.

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  • Marketing Psychiatric Drugs to Jailers and Judges

    Drug companies that market long-lasting psychiatric drugs have found new clientele in courtrooms and prisons, as a means to treat mental health issues for those that have been incarcerated. Although the practice of targeting judges and prison officials is controversial, several jails have attested that having free samples of the drugs has led to positive outcomes such as reducing barriers for inmates to receive medication and decreasing the likelihood of reoffending.

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  • Innovating Recovery: Group Highlights New Approaches To Addiction Crisis

    By combining resources across sectors, an outpatient addiction treatment center in West Virginia has been able to offer an immediate response to patients which is a vital factor in whether someone follows through with their treatment plan. The center also works with the community through partnerships with local organizations to reduce stigma to seek addiction treatment.

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  • Rwanda avoids US-style opioids crisis by making own morphine

    The Rwandan government is on a mission to get palliative care to everyone who needs it by creating their own morphine instead of being beholden to pharmaceutical companies driven by profit. Using Uganda's simple recipe for morphine, the government partnered with nonprofits to produce and distribute morphine for free and under close watch. The drug costs pennies to make and is hand-delivered by community workers to those who need it, no matter how far. Although fear and uncertainty remain over the possibility of opioid addiction, many patients are greatly relieved to now live pain-free.

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  • The Cost of Regulating Pain

    The CDC's 2016 guidelines on prescribing opioids for chronic pain attempted to address the opioid-addiction crisis by restricting the supply of the drugs at their source. The guidelines discouraged their use when possible and suggested strategies to taper patients off of them. Since then, thousands of people have lost access to necessary medications and to their doctors, thanks to overreactions to the CDC guidelines that unintentionally led to deaths by street drugs or withdrawal.

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  • Counseling minus the counselor

    Online counseling websites that utilize the practice of cognitive behavioral therapy are helping teenagers and young adults access services they may need during challenging times. Psychologists do caution that these aren't replacements for face-to-face therapy, but that they do help when in-person options are not available or feasible.

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  • Can technology fix the silent opioid crisis gripping US hospitals?

    Tracking controlled substances can be difficult for hospitals, which often results in drugs being diverted from where they are supposed to go. To tackle this problem, technology companies are stepping in by creating software that utilizes a machine-learning algorithm that "can identify risky prescription and dispensation patterns among healthcare staff."

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  • Breaking the cycle: Fulton's first all-female program works to address recidivism

    The Fulton Community Supervision Center in Missouri provides trauma-informed, gender-specific care and services to women who face the risk of recidivism. Participants live at the center, where they receive services like cognitive behavioral therapy and classes that teach coping mechanisms and personal and professional development. Core to much of the programming is helping women find their self worth.

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