Kenaitze Indian Tribe (Kenaitze) requests federal funding for the “Tribal Opioid Response Enhancement Project” to increase investments in outreach, clinical treatment, peer-based recovery support services, and strategic planning related to methamphetamine and stimulant misuse, and for those struggling with substance use disorder (SUD) more broadly, including opioid use disorder (OUD). Kenaitze is a federally recognized tribal government reorganized in 1971 under the statutes of the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934, as amended for Alaska in 1936. The Tribe’s service area comprises the communities of Kenai, Soldotna, Sterling, Nikiski, Salamatof, Ridgeway, Cohoe, Kalifornsky, Cooper Landing, Funny River, and Kasilof—a geographical area that spreads across more than 15,000 square miles of rural Alaska. Kenaitze serves 1,684 Tribal members and approximately 4,410 Alaska Native/ American Indian (AN/AI) residents of the central Kenai Peninsula, where the total population is 35,943 people. Local AN/AI community members are more likely to have lower incomes and/or be unemployed, and less likely to be educated than non-Natives; approximately 30-35% of the 300 Kenaitze Tribal members residing in our service area report experiencing substance abuse. To reach and treat our service area population, this project will pursue the following goal and objectives:
Goal: Expand awareness of and access to substance use treatment and recovery support services.
Objective 1: Develop one (1) Comprehensive Strategic Plan Addressing Methamphetamine and Stimulant Misuse among participants by the end of two (2) months.
Objective 2: Design at least three (3) outreach materials, and print and distribute at least 2000 copies of each designed document by the end of Year 2.
Objective 3: Increase treatment capacity to serve at least 40 unique participants who report using methamphetamine and/or other stimulants by the end of Year 2.
Objective 4: Facilitate at least eight (8) peer-based recovery support group meetings in Year 1 and twelve (12) meetings in Year 2 for 18 participants each meeting.
At least forty (40) unique participants will benefit from expanded clinical treatment services, and 360 participants (some of whom will ideally be returning more than once) will benefit from the peer-based recovery support group meetings; in total, up to 400 participants will benefit from grant-funded activities over the 2-year performance period. Evidence-based practices include tools such as Screening, Brief Intervention, and Referral to Treatment (SBIRT) and the Alaska Screening Tool (AST); and clinical treatment approaches include Motivational Interviewing (MI), Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), and the Matrix Model. Data collection interviews will be conducted at intake, at 3-month intervals thereafter, and at discharge using the CSAT GPRA “Client Outcome Measures for Discretionary Programs” interview tool to assess, measure, and track individual treatment outcomes over time; and to evaluate the results of project performance.