Prior YOR Grantee

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

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

YOR I Project Name:  OCMAT4Y (Orange County Medication-Assisted Treatment for Youth)

Partner Agencies: KCS Health Center, Multi-Ethnic Collaborative of Community Agencies (MECCA), Desert Vista Consulting

Project Description:  OCMAT4Y established a care collaborative devoted to building a robust system of SUD care to facilitate access to treatment for Orange County youth and young adults ages 12-24. The goal of OCMAT4Y was to establish infrastructure and build community-based provider capacity to meet the needs of youth and families in Orange County, while also advancing systems change across the broader SUD treatment continuum through the Be Well SUD Leadership Coalition. OCMAT4Y, Mind OC with its partners, achieved the following:

• provided 668 youth with clinical services, including MAT for 46 individuals
• 29 providers were newly X-Waivered
• an array of outreach, education, training, and prevention activities reached at least 15,678 youth, families, providers, and community members
• social media posts reached more than 72,562 people.

YOR II Project Name: Be Well Orange County Alliance for Youth (BE OCAY)

Partner Agencies: KCS Health Center, Multi-Ethnic Coalition of Community Agencies (MECCA), YoPros Advisory Council

Project Description: BE OCAY successfully built on and expanded our strategy and accomplishments in three domains: 1) clinical services and recovery supports; 2) community-based outreach, education, and training; and 3) cross organizational systems change. BE OCAY is an initiative of Be Well OC, a well-established cross-sector collaborative that works with providers to support vulnerable populations and advance health equity to achieve optimal mental health for Orange County residents. As a collaboration between Be Well OC, KCS Health Center, the Multi-Ethnic Collaborative of Community Agencies (MECCA), YoPros (Youth/Young Professionals Advisory Group), and the cross-sector organizational members of the Be Well Substance Use Disorder (SUD) Leadership Coalition, BE OCAY achieved the following:

• 2,091 youth screened, 587 referred, 369 evaluated for MAT
• 119 youth received MAT, 761 youth received recovery services
• 8,120 potential patients, family/caretakers reached, through leveraging existing and new community forums to spread resources and education regarding MAT and StUD

YOR III Project Name: Be Well Orange County YOR-3

Partner Agencies: KCS Health Center, Multi-Ethnic Coalition of Community Agencies (MECCA)

Project Description: Be Well Orange County YOR-3 will continue and expand prior YOR strategies that increase capacity and access to SUD services for youth ages 12-24. As a collaboration between Be Well OC, KCS Health Center, and the Multi-Ethnic Collaborative of Community Agencies (MECCA), our goal is to enhance referral pathways, improve transitions between care, and create a more integrated system of care and recovery to support youth with substance use disorders. In the short-term, we want to keep young people alive by reducing the number of opioid related overdose deaths for youth ages 12-24.  To do that, we need to come together as partners to educate youth, parents and families, educators, medical and behavioral health providers and community members about the deadly risks of opioid use and ensure people know where to get evidence-based treatment when they need it and how to reverse an opioid overdose when it’s happening.

Primary Contact:
Name: Jennifer Brya
Position: Director of SUD and Community Suicide Prevention Initiatives
Agency: Mind OC
Email: Jennifer.brya@mind-oc.org
Phone: 480-299-5909

Materials and Resources:

• MindOC Project
• Drugs On Your Brain Flyer
• How to Talk to Your Teen About Drugs Flyer
• Learn the Facts About Drugs Flyer
• Preventing Opioid Overdose Flyer
• The Truth About Opioids Flyer
• What is MAT? flyer
• Students On Their Journey
• MECCA video library

Project Name: Community Brainstorm Session (CBS) for Youth Opioid Response (YOR)

Project Description: Grounded through a lens of lived experience, coming from a perspective of dignity and respect for both those living with co-occurring conditions (mental health and OUD) and the experience of families witnessing this personal crisis, NAMI San Diego convened and facilitated community strategy and planning celebrations designed to listen, amplify, and celebrate the voices of those standing in the middle of this growing opioid use catastrophe in order to use the community wisdom of those youth and families that have been touched by OUD to create greater community generated solutions improving and expanding access to a variety of OUD prevention, intervention, MAT and other treatment and recovery services for youth thereby preventing opioid overdose-related deaths.

The purpose of this project is to develop a robust community action plan rich with strategies for improving awareness of and access to youth-relevant (OUD) continuum of services. This plan will be created from the combined process of four distinct NAMI San Diego facilitated “Community Brainstorming Sessions” that celebrate and share the authentic voice of a community with lived experience of the impact of OUD. The intention is to reach underserved youth populations in San Diego’s North Central and Eastern Regions – areas experiencing elevated opioid overdose rates.

Primary Contact:
Name: Suzette Southfox
Position: Education Director
Agency: NAMI San Diego
Email: SuzetteSouthfox@namisd.org
Phone: (858) 634-6580 ext. 320

Summary: NAMI SD Project

Project Name: San Gabriel Valley YOR Project (SGV YOR)

Project Description: SGV YOR sought to address issues related to access and visibility of resources for Asian American youth (ages 12-24) at risk or with OUDs. The SGV-YOR convened and developed successful strategies that are culturally and linguistically relevant to Asian American young people. The project served to connect existing SUD resources to leverage and maximize the project’s impact in the highly diverse Asian American communities.

Primary Contact:
Name: Myron Dean Quon, Esq.
Position: Executive Director
Agency: NAPAFASA
Email: mquon@napafasa.org
Phone: (213) 293-8889

Website: www.napafasa.org 

Summary: NAPAFASA Project

Partner Agencies (Subcontractors): Lake Count Family Resource Center (Lake), Humboldt County Public Health (Humboldt), Petaluma Health Care District (Sonoma); Aldea, Inc. (Sonoma)

Project Description: PHC is the Medi-Cal managed care plan for 14 northern California counties. The PHC YOR grant focused on three specific areas to address youth OUD. The first goal was to increase SUD programs’ capacity to serve youth in communities served by PHC and enhance their use of evidence-based curriculum and/or promising practices. The second goal iwas to increase the capacity of the PHC network of medical providers to effectively address youth OUD using MAT and effective referral to community resources. Informational publications and webinars were the primary mechanism for achieving this goal. The third goal was to increase youth engagement in four of the counties served by PHC through media and outreach activities aimed at youth who are at risk for an OUD. The use of technology and social media is a primary conduit for disseminating the information.

Primary Contact:
Name: Wendy Millis
Position: Program Coordinator II
Agency: Partnership Healthplan of California
Email: wmillis@partnershiphp.org
Phone: (530) 999-6918

Website: www.partnershiphp.org/Pages/PHC.aspx