Training responders to assess, initiate, & navigate (TRAIN) - through key community partnerships with organizations that reach the most vulnerable and underserved, the TRAIN (training responders to…

Training responders to assess, initiate, & navigate (TRAIN) - through key community partnerships with organizations that reach the most vulnerable and underserved, the TRAIN (training responders to assess, initiate, & navigate) project will TRAIN and support responders and community partners to efficiently provide FDA approved overdose reversal drugs, assess appropriateness of and initiate low-barrier mat, and assist individuals in navigating the pathways between harm reduction, treatment, and supportive services. TRAIN will close the deadly gaps in the continuum of care through coordinated training on SUD, trauma, and evidence-based practices; outreach and navigation staff with shared lived experience; and data sharing to ensure efficiency and effectiveness. The city of huntington in cabell county, west virginia has been disproportionately impacted by the substance use epidemic. The 2020 census demonstrated the continued downward trend in population seen over the past six decades, during which huntington has lost almost half its population. Eighty-five percent of the population identifies as white and 8% identify as black. Most of the population speaks english with just less than 4% speaking a language other than english at home. Approximately 850 persons experience homelessness annually in the cabell-huntington-wayne continuum of care alone. In cabell county, 49.7 per 1,000 persons have a SUD (WV dhhr, BMS 2020). Although a large number of overdoses go unreported to 911, cabell emergency medical services responded to over 1,000 suspected overdoses in 2021. A report by allen ET AL. (2019), estimated that there were 1857 people who inject drugs (PWID) in cabell county. IT is critical to establish the processes for these disproportionally impacted individuals to navigate treatment and recovery support services. This unique project, TRAIN, will serve the residents of cabell county, the city of huntington, those who are unsheltered or unstably housed, those who overdose, those who seek treatment and fall out of care, and those who receive harm reduction services in the region. This grant will also serve first responders and key community partners who work with individuals struggling with SUD. In the first year of funding, TRAIN will provide trainings to 100 responders and community partners on the topics surrounding the development, advancement, and treatment of SUD; trauma-informed ebps including sbirt and motivational interviewing; and trainings to improve access to and the use of overdose reversal drugs in cabell county. By the completion of the project over 550 individuals will have been trained. TRAIN staff will initially work with two community partners, proact and the QRT, to develop the processes to increase low barriers access to buprenorphine at proact in the first year with expansion to other community groups, such as the health department and harmony house. By developing a hippa compliant referral and consent tool, the TRAIN case navigator will be able to decrease gaps in the continuum of care, increase compliance with treatment and recovery services, and provide person-centered care using the outreach support of existing and new peer recovery support specialists (PRSS). The navigation system in TRAIN, the data sharing, and the necessary community partners will be supported and overseen by an advisory board to include state and city leaders, first responders, peers with lived experience in SUD and homelessness, harm reduction, prevention, treatment and recovery support experts with signed mous. These partners have already committed with letters of commitment. The city of huntington along with their committed partners is equipped to implement this life saving training, medication and service initiation, and navigation network with the support from the first responders-comprehensive addiction and recovery support services act grant.