Expanding medication assisted treatment: recovery, inclusive support and empowerment (rise) program - through a TCE-special projects grant, hope house will double its capacity to deliver medication…

Expanding medication assisted treatment: recovery, inclusive support and empowerment (rise) program - through a TCE-special projects grant, hope house will double its capacity to deliver medication assisted treatment (mat) by increasing medical and counseling staffing and by acquiring the necessary supplies for a clinical setting to administer mat. Over the three year grant, hope house will establish the rise (recovery, inclusive support & empowerment) program to increase access to evidence-based mental health and substance use residential and intensive outpatient treatment services, intensive case management, and linkages to other supportive services for 150 low-income women (including heterosexual and lgbtq women) having substance use disorders (SUD), specifically opioid use disorders (OUD) and CO-occurring mental health disorders (COD) in the augusta-richmond county, georgia metropolitan statistical area (MSA). The augusta-richmond county MSA is the second largest metropolitan area in georgia and includes richmond and adjacent columbia county and experienced a 33% increase in drug overdose deaths year to year in the pandemic. In 2021, 1,000 women applied for treatment services at hope house, a 52% increase over 2018 pre-pandemic applications and greatly exceeding hope house current capacity. Of the total applicant pool for treatment, 75% indicated that they had no source of income upon applying for treatment. Women, particularly women who identify as lgbtq, in the augusta-richmond county MSA face significant economic and social barriers to treatment of SUD and COD. 16.4% of augusta-richmond county residents live below the poverty line compared to 12.3% US, with the largest demographic living in poverty in richmond county being females age 25-34. Over one-quarter (27.6%) of georgia women avoid healthcare due to costs compared to 18.8% US. In january 2022, richmond county ranked second for highest drug overdose emergency department visits. Only 2 out of the last 12 months did richmond and/or columbia county not rank in the top 5 counties for highest drug overdose emergency department visits. Georgia overdose deaths for females increased by 30% from 2019 to 2020. While mat is the most effective intervention to treat OUD, access to mat is limited especially for low-income and homeless populations because of inadequate funding for treatment programs and a lack of qualified providers who can deliver these therapies. There are no other, no-cost mat programs that support the use of bufenoriphan-naloxone treatment in the augusta-richmond county MSA. The closest programs are over 120 miles away in savannah and atlanta, which are transportation and housing prohibitive for the proposed target population. Hope house's primary goal for the TCE project is to reduce SUD and overdose deaths among augusta-richmond county low income and homeless women, including those identifying as lgbtq, and to help those individuals sustain recovery. Measurable objectives for the program are: (1) expand access to mat to 50 individuals annually with SUD/COD, primarily OUD; (2) 70% of participants will secure or increase monthly income through employment or permanent benefit programs; (3) 80% of program participants will self-report abstinence from alcohol and/or illegal drug use; (4) 80% of program participants will self-report no arrests in the past 30 days; (5) improve mental health as measured by decreasing the instance of program participants self-reporting past 30 day experience of serious depression and/or anxiety; (6) at least 50% of program participants who successfully complete the program will self-report housing stability at six-month follow-up; (7) at least 80% of program participants who successfully complete the program will self-report improved social connectedness at six-month follow-up.