Resource Library

From the National Council for Mental Wellbeing, this peer-led program helps to prepare your peer consultants to improve the health of your clients and counter the high incidence of chronic physical health conditions among people living with behavioral health conditions.

For numerous reasons, including several barriers to accessing quality healthcare, people with serious mental illness (SMI) have a mortality rate between 1.5 to 3 times greater than those without mental illness. Prior to and during the COVID-19 pandemic, peer support specialist programs established by providers exist to address some of these challenges that impede healing and overall health of persons with serious mental illness. Peer support specialists are persons in recovery who use their lived and shared experience to bridge interpersonal and systemic barriers to accomplishing the health and wellness goals of others with mental illness.

National Council for Mental Wellbeing, in partnership with the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI), hosted this webinar in April of 2021 to explore the benefits of peer support services, research findings on peer services, practical guidelines on setting up peer support programs, and how COVID-19 health challenges have affected peer support services among people with SMI.

This discussion guide is intended to elicit a comprehensive and concrete conversation about language, stigma, and discrimination as a means of strengthening care systems and ensuring that people who seek care for HIV and/or substance use disorders, including opioid use disorder, are treated with respect and dignity. The guide includes five discussion packages, which are intended to be used by individuals in state health departments, agencies, and service organizations providing services to people with HIV and/or substance use disorders. This tool also provides background, instructions, and resources to help you implement the discussion packages.

This is the third webinar in a three-part series on workforce recruitment and retention in behavioral health, with a specific focus on the field of addictions. In this webinar, Dr. Christine Chasek, Director of the Behavioral Health Education Center of Nebraska, shares strategies for recruiting and retaining skilled behavioral health professionals to rural areas. Dr. Michael Flaherty offers insight on recruiting and retaining peer support workers.

This document accompanies the Clinical Guidance for Treating Pregnant and Parenting Women with Opioid Use Disorder and Their Infants publication. This fact sheet offers information about child welfare systems and what the health care provider's role is in developing a Plan of Safe Care.

This toolkit was created by the Carter County Drug Prevention & Sullivan County Anti-Drug Coalition. Included are specific questions to ask before training teens or children in Naloxone administration and training resources specifically for kids and teens around opioids, Naloxone, and other resources.

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From South Southwest MHTTC's Peer Support Conference, the panel has a conversation about the current state of Youth Peer Support in our communities and answers some fo the most commonly asked questions regarding Youth Peer Support.

This article, by Paolo del Vecchio, M.S.W., Director of the Office of Recovery, was originally posted by Future of Personal Health. In the article, he addresses how the pandemic highlighted behavioral health challenges and outlines SAMHSA funding that promotes resources to help Americans walk in recovery and regain their lives.

Research conducted between January and December 2022 a multi-service center incorporating an overdose prevention site (OPS) operated with city government sanction in San Francisco. One concern often expressed about OPS is that they may increase social nuisance associated with drug use in the surrounding area, despite international evidence that this is not the case. Researchers found that implementing authorized OPS services in a U.S. city did not increase the prevalence of visible signs of drug use and homelessness in the surrounding area. These findings are similar to those found at OPS outside the U.S.

Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Behavioral Health: Results from the 2021 and 2022 National Surveys on Drug Use and Health presents data on key substance use and mental health indicators by sexual identity and gender among adults aged 18 or older in the United States. Estimates are based on pooled data from the 2021 and 2022 National Surveys on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) and are age-adjusted to facilitate comparisons between groups.

El documento guía de modelo de normas de SAMHSA titulado, Modelo nacional de normas para la certificación de apoyo entre pares, ha sido preparado como respuesta a la agenda de unidad del 2022 del presidente Biden. Este documento delinea el modelo nacional de normas en el área del consumo de sustancias, la salud mental la familia así como también la certificación de apoyo entre pares jóvenes.

Question  What trends in crime and disorder were associated with the opening of 2 overdose prevention centers (OPCs) in New York City (NYC) in November 2021?

Findings  This cohort study of 2 OPCs and 17 syringe service programs found no significant increases in crimes recorded by the police or calls for emergency service in NYC neighborhoods where 2 OPCs were located. Consistent with the city’s commitment to ensuring clients could use the centers free from law enforcement interference, large, statistically significant declines in police narcotics enforcement around the OPCs were observed.

Meaning  These findings suggest that concerns about crime and disorder remain substantial barriers to the expansion of OPCs in US cities, and initial data from NYC do not support these concerns.

Chalfin A, del Pozo B, Mitre-Becerril D. Overdose Prevention Centers, Crime, and Disorder in New York City. JAMA Netw Open. 2023;6(11):e2342228.