Opioid Response Network: Collaborating, Advancing, Responding, Educating (CARE TEAM) - The American Academy of Addiction Psychiatry (AAAP), University of Missouri-Kansas City Collaborative Center to Advance Health Services, Columbia University Medical Center Department of Psychiatry and a coalition of 50 national and regional interprofessional health, behavioral health, harm reduction and legal/justice organizations form the Opioid Response Network (ORN). ORN provides training and technical assistance (TTA) to grantees, individuals, organizations and communities. ORN addresses opioid use disorder (OUD), stimulant use disorder (StUD), other substance use disorders (SUDs) and co-occurring psychiatric disorders across all 50 states and nine territories and provides TTA to State Opioid Response (SOR) grantees and Tribal Opioid Response (TOR) grantees. In 2022, 6.5 million people met criteria for an OUD and 5 million for a StUD (SAMHSA, 2023). SUDs and other psychiatric disorders commonly co-occur, with 36% of adults living with a mental health (MH) disorder and substance use disorder (SAMHSA, 2023). Health disparities across SUD and MH reinforce the need to center health equity and social justice. In 2022, overdose death rates in Black and Indigenous communities exceeded White communities (KFF, 2024). These data emphasize the need for both culturally and regionally tailored TTA. For the 2024-2027 grant cycle ORN proposes to serve annually: Year 1 - 40,000, Year 2 - 45,000, Year 3 - 50,000 for a total - 135,000 unduplicated individuals. ORN will address the following five goals: G1A: Increase outreach to under-resourced and underserved communities. G1B. Build capacity of substance use workforce to address disparities and integrate health equity. G2: Increase the number of interprofessional providers with the capacity to provide culturally relevant, evidence-based substance use services across the continuum of care. G3: Build capacity to address and decrease stigma. G4: Provide a diverse, comprehensive, and coordinated network to deliver localized, tailored, and culturally responsive educational resources and training. G5: Maximize impact, utilization, and sustainability of SAMHSA and national TTA resources through improved coordination and communication of TTA and products. ORN's objectives include: 1a: Establish a representative steering committee composed of members from underserved populations and convene a minimum of four quarterly meetings to review and assess priorities to advance health equity. 2a: Increase number of providers trained across prevention, harm reduction, treatment, and recovery by 10% each year of the grant. 3a: Develop four anti-stigma resources per year that address wide-spread stigma in underserved communities. 4a: Year 1, analyze the established repository, vet 6 years of existing resources, and create an inventory of resources that prioritizes underserved communities. 5a: Maintain existing partner relationships with SAMHSA-funded TTA centers (ATTC, PCSS, PTTC) and establish collaborative relationships with 4 new centers. Under the leadership of a vast network of diverse community partners (representing over two million constituents), ORN provides culturally relevant, innovative and evidence-based TTA.
