The need to expand overdose prevention, SUD treatment, and other harm reduction services is high in northern michigan

Like many rural areas, there are few options for community-based SUD care and funding is limited. Both michigans upper peninsula and its northern lower peninsula lack critical community mental health infrastructure to ensure continuity of service after acute drug-related crisis and access to harm reduction resources. This dramatically impacts the health of northern communities, some of which have rates of hepatitis c, a viral infection associated with injection drug use, that exceed michigans densely populated urban counties. Moreover, health care and first responder resources are more geospatially dispersed, leading to delays in treatment and access to critical harm reduction interventions. However, current funding is insufficient to meet the demands of innovative prevention programs to support northern counties in reducing morbidities and mortalities associated with SUD and drug overdoses. Therefore, to build infrastructure and increase capacity for SUD services in northern michigan and one centrally located, urban community, the michigan state police (MSP), in collaboration with the BAY mills indian community, catholic human services, greater flint health coalition, harm reduction michigan, nathans house, and the michigan public health institute, is proposing several innovative prevention programs. MSP is submitting a category 2 application on behalf of ten counties in northern and central michigan in partnership with local tribal, public health, and community organizations and the university of michigan school of nursing as the evaluation partner. The goal of michigans proposal is to offer SUD and overdose prevention services that will promote health during critical moments in recovery and prevention. For example, a comprehensive education campaign for k-12, at-risk youth and county-level overdose fatality reviews will be implemented as primary prevention strategies. Likewise, drug checking and other harm reduction services will be used to prevent overdose during active use. For consumers who are newly entering community services, mat programming will be expanded, and additional behavioral health clinicians will be recruited to offer SUD counseling services. In genesee county, a comprehensive, interdisciplinary recovery community center that centralizes community-based services will be implemented. To help prevent contact with the justice system, recovery coaches and jail-based SUD care will be implemented to prepare consumers for RE-entry. Finally, transitional recovery housing capacity will be bolstered to provide stable housing and extended recovery support. Overall, these projects will build critical infrastructure in northern and central michigan for quality SUD care.