Wyandotte county has seen a steep increase in opioid overdose and overdose deaths since 2018

To address this the wyandotte county health department (WCHD) has started a peer support navigation program to assist with linkage to care. Hiring peers is an evidence-based practice that increases a person with substance use disorder (SUD) likelihood of seeking recovery-based services due to the shared understanding, respect, and mutual empowerment regarding the challenges of changing SUD behaviors. Wyandotte county also suffered a great loss in the fall of 2022 when the only inpatient treatment center in the county, mirror INC., shut its doors permanently. This closure eliminated the potential for nearby residential treatment, which directly affects not only general community members who are interested and open for recovery access, but those experiencing potential incarceration due to drug use as well. Now that there is no inpatient option, local drug court participants do not have an immediate treatment follow up for their programming, nor a mirror employee that had worked with drug court to provide assessments to establish this treatment connection. This has resulted in drug court participants sitting in jail for up to 2 months awaiting an assessment for follow-up care. The closing of mirror INC. Established a new partnership between WCHD and the local drug court. This partnership has developed a greater collaboration in the corrections setting. First, to utilize this funding to hire a masters licensed addiction counselor (LMAC) through wyandot behavioral health network (WBHN) to provide assessments that can decrease the time IT takes for drug court participants and general probation offenders to access recovery services. WBHN is a family of organizations serving the mental health needs of wyandotte county, kansas and beyond. Along with mental health services, they offer outpatient SUD treatment services, and they are starting a medication assisted treatment program. WBHN hiring the LMAC, would allow them to complete assessments needed and allow them to create a services chart should they want to receive services from the organization. The LMAC could also provide some treatment such as substance use treatment and mental health therapy, if further collaboration is to take place. Creating this position and embedding IT in the court and community corrections facilities will aid in care navigation as well as provide a consistent person thus providing a more coordinated approach for the for the individual.