Coast to Forest Hub: Community Resources to Promote Mental Health and Reduce Opioid and Stimulant Use Disorders in Rural Oregon is an initiative of Oregon State University Family and Community Health Extension. Coast to Forest Hub builds on lessons we are learning from a pilot Rural Health and Safety Education program underway in four rural Oregon counties (USDA NIFA Award No. 2019-46100-30280 From Coast to Forest: Building on Community Strengths to Promote Mental Health and Reduce Opioid Abuse in Rural Oregon), and expands training and technical assistance through the Extension service pipeline to build capacity in rural Oregon to reduce opioid and stimulant use disorders and their sequelae. This new Hub will serve all 36 Oregon counties -- all 23 counties with full HRSA- and RUCC- rural designation and 13 counties with partial rural designation. The Coast to Forest Hub will offer training, tools, and technical assistance for all Oregon Extension faculty and their community partners to prevent opioid and stimulant use disorders and move communities to recovery.
Coast to Forest Hub is an exclusively online program, beginning 08.31.2020, running two years. Program activities include (1) monthly, virtual, free, 8-hour Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) trainings; (2) county-specific substance use disorder prevention and treatment resource guides; (3) a local Extension radio program to share resources and personal stories of resilience and recovery, to educate listeners about opioid, stimulant, and other substance use disorders (SUDs); (4) a robust and free-to-access web-based library of on-demand trainings, tools, and technical assistance materials; (5) a 90-minute virtual media training on best practices for covering SUD prevention, treatment, and recovery; (6) a 12-hour self-paced online Substance Use Disorder 101 & Peer Support Fundamentals (SUD 101 & PSF) training course; and, (7) quarterly meetings with SOR and TOR grantees, and three advisor/partner organizations.
By the end of the project period (08/30/2022), (1a) 300 Extension faculty or partners will have completed the MHFA training (100 YR 1; 200 YR 2), (5a) 75 Extension faculty, partners, or journalists will have completed the media training (25 YR 1; 50 YR 2), and (6a) 45 Extension faculty or partners will have completed the SUD 101 & PSF training (10 YR 1; 35 YR 2). After the trainings, (1b) 50% of MHFA participants will demonstrate an increase in confidence in performing helping behaviors, (5b) 75% of media training participants will have identified at least one way that the training impacts practice, and (6b) 75% of SUD 101 & PSF trainees will demonstrate increased KSAs related to SUD & PSF. Finally, (2) 300 unique users (100 in Y2; 200 in Y2) will have accessed online resource guides, (3) 18 radio programs will have aired, (4a) 500 unique users will have accessed web-based library resources, (4b) Google analytics will show downloaded materials from all 36 counties, (7a) the C2F Hub will have hosted 8 quarterly SOR/TOR/Partner meetings, and (7b) collected SOR/TOR/Partner feedback on 100% of developed trainings and materials.