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Valley Health Associates

YOR I: Capacity Building Project Name: Text Messaging Treatment Support

Project Description: Valley Health Associates implemented a multimodal youth outpatient program involving the use of mobile text messaging to increase treatment success rates for youth and young adults experiencing substance use disorders.

Goal 1: Conduct a feasibility study of introducing a mobile health text messaging platform for use with youth and young adults recovering from opioid addiction.

Goal 2: Develop statistics from data, to establish a baseline, for assessing the success of the multi-modal intervention involving youth and young adults.

YOR II Direct Service  Project Name: Medication-Assisted Treatment (MAT) for Youth

Partner Agencies: Baktun12 and Harmony at Home

Project Description: Valley Health Associates and partners set out to reduce youth overdoses and the number of youth with opioid/stimulant use disorders (OUD/StUDs) who are incarcerated by increasing access to treatment—especially MAT. The path of the system’s delivered punishment experienced by youth with OUD/StUDs is substantially altered to a pathway of treatment through the development of youth empowerment and leadership through systems- and policy-change advocacy and outreach and increasing access to OUD/StUDs treatment and recovery services for youth (12-24) and their families.

Primary Contacts:
Name: Amy Bravo
Position: Executive Director
Agency: Valley Health Associates
Email: amy.vha@att.net
Phone: (831) 424-6655 ext. 14


Name: Lynne Glover
Position: Interim Executive Director
Agency: Valley Health Associates
Email: lglover@valleyhealthassociates.com
Phone: 831-424-6655 Ext. 23

Website: www.valleyhealthassociates.com

YOR I Summary: Valley Health Associates Project

Los Angeles Centers for Alcohol and Drug Abuse (LA CADA)

YOR IV Project Name: LA CADA YOR 4 Project

Project Description: Building on the experience and successes of YOR I Project, the LA CADA Youth Opioid Response (YOR) Program will enhance and expand low-barrier treatment access for high-risk transition-age youth (TAY) ages 15-25 in southeast Los Angeles County. The program aims to enroll at least 125 participants in a minimum three-month intensive outpatient program designed to prevent and treat opioid misuse, overdose, and substance use disorders (OUS,StUD, and SUD). Through extended evening and weekend hours, culturally responsive care, and youth-led outreach, the program offers medication-assisted treatment (MAT), counseling, peer and recovery support, and harm-reduction education. YOR staff also partner with schools, probation, juvenile justice, and community systems to provide early intervention, distribute Narcan and fentanyl/zylazine test strips, and connect TAY to ongoing care. An advisory board of youth with lived experience guides program design and ensures equitable, developmentally appropriate services.

Partner Agencies: LA CADA CENS Facility at Los Padrinos Juvenile Hall, Bellflower Middle and High School, Lynwood Unified School District, El Rancho Unified School District – Pico Rivera

YOR I Project Name: YOR LA CADA

Project Description: The YOR LA CADA project provided services to youth ages 12-24 who are at risk of developing an OUD, have an OUD, or are at risk of an opioid overdose.  YOR LA CADA worked primarily with the middle and high schools and the colleges in and around the Santa Fe Springs area to provide education and medications for addiction treatment (MAT) of OUDs to parents, teachers, students, and administrators. Information delivered focused on the dangers of opioid use, the options available for treatment, and the information necessary for individuals looking for help. In addition, we will outreach to our community partners in the effort to leverage existing professional relationships and community contacts. To ensure that a substantial swath of the populations served by LA CADA are informed of the availability of medications to treat OUDs.  Our goal is to be the first resource individuals in Service Planning Area (SPA) 7 think of and seek out when they need MAT services.

Primary Contacts:
Name: Jazmin Davalos
Position: Project Director
Email: jdavalos@lacada.com
Phone: 562-777-7500

Website: www.lacada.com

Toiyabe Indian Health Project

YOR IV Project Name: Anadutana

Project Description: Building on the experience and success of YOR III, Toiyabe Indian Health Project, Inc. (TIHP), a tribal, nonprofit organization that serves the medical, dental, optical, behavioral health (substance abuse prevention/treatment, mental health), pharmacy, and dialysis care needs of American Indians and the greater community at large, will continue to serve an isolated population within a 200-mile radius of the frontier designated Inyo and Mono County region of California.

Continuing the Anadutana project, qualified content experts will complete the activities and provide leadership in facilitating culturally competent services to youth within the TIHP service area. In addition, youth prevention and outreach staff will deliver culturally appropriate life saving overdose prevention efforts. The team will develop scheduled educational events and provide educational materials. More importantly, the funding will allow TIHP to provide outreach/life saving overdose prevention access for individuals in rural, underserved areas. As part of our mission to deliver youth-directed community access to OUD education and TIHP resources, we will continue to integrate indigenous language and culturally appropriate resources through our innovative mass communication efforts. To improve services at TIHP’s MAT program, YOR funding will increase access to inpatient treatment, provide recovery support through contingency management, develop family recovery group activities, and support community prevention efforts.

Partner Agencies: CA Rural Indian Health Board, Inc., Owens Valley Career Development Center, Bishop Paiute Tribal Youth Health to Wellness Court, Desert Sage Youth Wellness Center

YOR III Project Name:

Project Description:  YOR III will provide improved and effective linkages to MAT programing offered at Toiyabe Indian Health Project. These improved linkages to service will help alleviate the suffering and support recovery for youth that are currently falling through the cracks and open up doors to services needed. By providing new linkages to care through new partnerships Toiyabe Indian Health Project will be able to increase outreach and improve prevention services to youth and provide a pathway to access care. 

Partner Agencies: Bishop Tribal Juvenile Healing to Wellness Court, Owens Valley Career Development Center, California Rural Indian Health Board, Desert Sage Youth Wellness Center, Native American Smartcare, Inyo Co. Behavioral Health Department, Inyo Co. Probation Department

YOR II Project Name: Anadutana

Project Description: The proposed “Anadutana” project was administered by the Family Services Department of the Toiyabe Indian Health Project, Inc. (Toiyabe) and community partners through a large collaborative of Native American, non-native and child-serving partners. Anadutana is a Paiute word meaning “lacing a baby in the cradle board.” A cradle board has been used historically by American Indians to provide security to our young. The Anadutana project is Toiyabe’s effort to provide security and support for our future generations. The purpose of the project is to encourage wellness amongst youth by providing a network of intervention and treatment options for opioid and stimulant use disorders.

Partner Agencies: Toiyabe Indian Health Board of Directors, Owens Valley Career Development Center, California Rural Indian Health Board, Desert Sage Youth Wellness Center, Telewell Behavioral Health, Toiyabe’s Chief Executive Officer

Primary Contact:
Name: Michelle Saenz
Position: Family Services Director
Email: michelle.saenz@toiyabe.us
Email:  earl.lent@toiyabe.com or michelle.saenz@toiyabe.us
Phone: 760-873-6394

Website: www.toiyabe.us  

La Maestra Community Health Centers

YOR IV Project Name: YOR 4 Service Expansion

Project Description: La Maestra’s Wellness Clinic offers outpatient mental health and substance use disorder (SUD) services, including treatment for Opioid Use Disorder (OUD) and Stimulant Use Disorder (StUD), to promote overall patient well-being. La Maestra has received State Opioid Response (SOR) funding since 2019 and continues to expand access to OUD and StUD services for transitional-aged youth (TAY), ages 16 to 25, in San Diego County. The organization conducts regular screenings for all primary care patients during annual visits to identify youth who have, or are at risk of developing, OUD or StUD. The Wellness Clinic receives internal referrals from other La Maestra departments—including medical, dental, and support services— and external referrals from partner programs that specialize in hard-to-reach groups, such as homeless and justice-involved youth.

Community outreach efforts will be expanded through mobile teams distributing naloxone, fentanyl test strips, andharm reduction education at community centers, youth-serving organizations, and other locations where high-riskyouth gather. Two Peer Support Specialists with lived experience will be hired to provide mentorship, outreach, andharm reduction education, and at least 20 youth and young adults will be recruited as volunteers to assist withpeer engagement and overdose prevention efforts.

By integrating PNPs, peer support, SBIRT screenings, harm reduction outreach, and strong referral partnerships ,La Maestra ensures that youth and young adults have multiple entry points to comprehensive, culturally responsive SUD care while establishing long-term sustainability strategies for continued service delivery.

Partner Agencies: Mc Alister Institute, Mental Health Systems, HealthRight 360, Lindsay School

YOR II Project Name: Enhancing the Quality of Opioid/Stimulant Use Disorder (OUD/StUD) Services Among Vulnerable San Diego Youth

Project Description: La Maestra’s Comprehensive Community Behavioral Health and Wellness Clinic continued to build on YOR I services and enhance OUD/StUD services for youth and young adults between the ages of 12 to 24 in San Diego County. Our goal is to help reduce overdose-related deaths and improve the health and well-being of youth in our community. In all La Maestra services, there is a particular focus on low-income, uninsured, and underinsured youth and racial and ethnic minority youth. La Maestra is using a whole person and patient-centered approach to provide evidence-based Medication-Assisted Treatment, co-occurring disorder treatment, mindfulness interventions, drug education, and prevention and recovery services, while following everyone’s developmental stage.

YOR I Project Name: Expanding Access to Youth Substance Use Disorder Services

Project Description: La Maestra’s YOR project increased access to evidence-based, youth-specific SUD, and OUD treatment services, including MAT, counseling, and recovery support services. La Maestra engaged youth ages 12 to 24 with a specific focus on preventing opioid overdose deaths. La Maestra implemented screening of all patients ages 12 to 24 for SUDs, referring, assessing and providing onsite counseling, and recovery support services, and distributing Naloxone to youth and families. La Maestra increased the availability of youth-customized technological diagnosis and treatment tools through virtual reality (VR). La Maestra uses VR equipment to provide youth patients with VR therapy to enhance the treatment of SUD, OUD, and co-occurring mental health conditions.

Primary Contact:
Name: Corrine Hanson
Position: Chief Development Officer
Email: chanson@lamaestra.org
Phone: 619-269-1267

Website: www.lamaestra.org

Marin County Probation Department

Project Name:  YOR Marin County

Partner Agency: BluePath Health, Novato High School, Tomales High School, and San Rafael High School

YOR II Project Description: In an effort to create a more equitable and holistic culture of health for Marin County youth, this program expanded screening and referrals to opioid and stimulant use disorder (OUD/StUD) services for youth in Marin County. This project established three care coordinator positions across three schools—Novato High School, Tomales High School, and San Rafael High School—that are provided referrals for students with OUD/StUDs. Multi-payer provider networks were leveraged to expand referrals to OUD/StUD services for all Marin County youth. The RxSafe Marin Youth Action Team youth advisory group served as a youth advisory on all components of this project, including outreach and education. Strengths and needs of this project were assessed by evaluating aggregated screenings and outcome measures. This data is used to enhance care coordination and create financial sustainability for high school health and wellness.

YOR III Project Description:

The Marin County Probation Department (MCPD) is working with Huckleberry Youth Programs and BluePath Health to implement Marin YOR 3 and continue the work of Marin YOR 2, by providing care navigation services to youth at risk for opioid use disorder (OUD) and stimulant use disorder (StUD) on site at three San Rafael high schools and one middle school; delivering substance use services to those identified with OUD or StUD through on-site clinicians and referrals to external providers; implementing the use of the youth-driven resource guide and a social health network platform closed-loop for referrals; having the OD Free Marin Youth Action Team advise and provide input on all components of this project; and facilitating the Marin 9 to 25 Payer and Funder workgroup to enhance collaboration, guide quality improvement efforts, and develop a place for financial sustainability for middle school and high school health and wellness.

Primary Contact:
Name: Lauren Jacobson
Position: Program Manager
Agency: BluePath Health
Email: lauren.jacobson@bluepathhealth.com
Phone: 516-459-5757

Website: https://www.marin9to25.org/youth-opioid-response-yor

Mathiesen Memorial Health Clinic

Project Name: MMHC’s Youth Opioid Response (YOR) Capacity-Building Project 

Project Description: MMHC’s YOR Capacity Building project set the way for MMHC to prepare to serve youth in response to the opioid/substance use crises. The target population is the youth members of the Chicken Ranch Rancheria of Me-Wuk tribe and unaffiliated youth Native American Indians (ages 12 -24) who reside in Tuolumne County. MMHC’s project target population also includes non-tribal youth (ages 12-24) who live in the service area (zip codes 95327 and 95370). MMHC completed a comprehensive assessment, determining assets, gaps, and barriers to youth services. This work included gathering information from youth focus groups. MMHC worked with our newly formed Tribal Local Opioid Coalition (partners/stakeholders) to leverage their expertise and support in developing a comprehensive “Plan.” The Plan provided a pathway forward in addressing youth opioid/stimulant use in our communities and improving opioid and stimulant use disorder prevention, access, and treatment services to our youth.

Primary Contact:
Name: John Vas
Position: CEO
Agency: Mathiesen Memorial Health Clinic
Email: John.Vass@CRIHB.org
Phone: 209-984-4827

Website: https://www.mathiesenclinic.com