The Southeast Alaska Regional Health Consortium (SEARHC) is a nonprofit, Native-administered health consortium that was established in 1975 to represent the health care needs of Tlingit, Haida, Tsimshian and other Alaska Native and rural people of Southeast Alaska. SEARHC serves a patient population in Southeast Alaska, which is comprised of rural island communities with uniquely low access to opioid misuse prevention, treatment, and recovery support services, including Medication Assisted Treatment (MAT) services despite high demand for opioid use disorder (OUD). In most Southeast Alaska communities, SEARHC is the only provider of behavioral health and primary health care services. The state's opioid epidemic disproportionately affects certain demographics, including men, white and Alaska Native people, and people between the ages of 25 and 44. Alaska Natives made up 41% of those affected.
The overall goal for the SEARHC Tribal Opioid Response (TOR) Program is to address the opioid crisis in Southeast Alaska Tribal communities by increasing access to culturally appropriate and evidence-based treatment, including MAT using one of the three FDA-approved medications for the treatment of OUD. Program objectives focus on providing evidence-based treatment and implementation of a service delivery model that strengthens and expands the existing Intensive Substance Abuse Treatment (ISAT) MAT services for clients with OUD, including chronic pain management. SEARHC’s TOR Program will implement a service delivery Hub and Spoke model that enables the full spectrum of treatment and recovery support services that facilitate positive treatment outcomes and long-term recovery; incorporate culturally appropriate and traditional practices into program design and implementation; implement workforce development activities to ensure that individuals working in Tribal communities are well-versed in strategies to prevent and treat opioid misuse; and develop strategies to address diversion of medications.
SEARHC will use the following evidence-based strategies:
• Motivational Interviewing/Motivational Enhancement
• Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
• Twelve-Step Facilitation
• Contingency Management
• Matrix Model
• ASAM
• Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and Mindfulness for Pain
• Community Recovery Support Services
• Substance Use Disorder Care Coordination
• Intensive Case Management