Odyssey House Louisiana's Overdose Treatment Access Program: iPrevent - Odyssey House Louisiana, Inc. (OHL) proposes a comprehensive opioid overdose access treatment training program, including a training of trainers (ToT) program, at three hubs across Louisiana: urban centers of Orleans Parish, and Calcasieu Parish, and rural St. Mary Parish. OHL project staff will directly train 475 healthcare and social services providers during the five-year grant period. Included in this population of focus, OHL will provide ToT training to 20 organizations, who will in turn commit to provide the learned education to peers and colleagues in their regions. This program will include training for a wide array of health care providers, including pharmacists, prescribers, licensed clinical social workers, medical assistants, and licensed clinical professional counselors, as well as employees at organizations serving marginalized groups or vulnerable populations. OHL will leverage its local community connections in these three locations, as well as additional statewide networks to expand the project’s reach and train as many professionals as possible. Project staff will include a Lead Trainer and one additional Trainer to conduct sessions virtually and in-person. The Lead Trainer will work with the Project Director and Project Coordinator, both currently employed at OHL, to develop an engaging, evidence-based curriculum. Presentations will include facts about opioid use disorders (OUD), overdoses, FDA-approved overdose reversal medications (e.g., naloxone), and the opioid epidemic through the framework of cultural humility. Using the most recent available data on the opioid crisis in Louisiana and most current best practices, program staff will convey the importance of understanding the science behind these topics. The Lead Trainer and Trainer will also be onboarded into OHL’s progressive messaging around inclusive, destigmatizing language and other anti-bias measures, ensuring that trainees will be empowered to conduct essential internal and external anti-bias work at their jobs. All sessions will also include visual aids (e.g., PowerPoint presentations) and interactive segments such as digital or printed worksheets to encourage participation and retention of the lessons. OHL will also purchase naloxone to distribute to trainee organizations as needed. OHL will provide linkages to treatment for people with opioid use disorders or who have experienced an opioid overdose. The agency is the largest substance use disorder treatment facility in Louisiana and has measures in place to provide comprehensive, compassionate OUD treatment to state residents, whether on-site or through local partners. These services are vital to the health and wellbeing of OHL’s communities and include medication assisted treatment and medication for opioid use disorders, counseling, individualized case management, primary and other physical healthcare, and residential treatment. OHL’s Overdose Treatment Access program will expand opioid-related education for healthcare and social services providers in Louisiana and across the country. Through a structured curriculum informed by industry best practices and cultural humility, this program will help providers understand and empathize with their patients while learning life-saving essentials about opioid use and overdoses.
