The Brandeis Opioid Resource Connector serves community stakeholders working to combat the opioid epidemic. It is a product of the Brandeis Opioid Policy Research Collaborative.
The heart of the Brandeis Opioid Resource Connector is our curated list of Program Models that address the many aspects of the opioid crisis.
Successful responses to the opioid crisis involve coordination among agencies and stakeholders within a community, ensuring that essential interventions across the continuum of care are implemented with available resources.
Understanding the numbers behind the opioid epidemic, and demonstrating how it affects a community, are critical steps in determining what approaches should be prioritized, and in informing local efforts.
This section contains links to a curated list of external resources related to actionable responses to the opioid crisis.
An important step in countering the opioid crisis is to prevent new cases.
Prevention often includes providing treatment providers, educators, parents, and potential substance users with the knowledge and skills they need to prevent harmful behaviors.
Research indicates that comprehensive, effective treatment for opioid use disorder increases one’s chances of wellness.
There is a range of evidence-based approaches from FDA-approved medications to cognitive-behavioral interventions to mutual aid groups. Treatment planning should be tailored to the individual.
We know that opioid use disorder can be a chronic condition and recurrence is common. Recovery is the process by which people sustain wellness by focusing on improving one’s health, sense of purpose, and connection with community.
Harm reduction aims to reduce the adverse health, economic, and social consequences of substance use. Effective harm reduction approaches are designed to be practical, feasible, and safe.
This interactive employer toolkit, developed by the Kentuckiana Health Collaborative (KHC), provides recommendations and tools for employers to support their employees and their dependents in prevention, treatment, and recovery from opioid misuse and opioid use disorder (OUD).
This is a toolkit from the National Safety Council to help employers to address the opioid crisis in the workplace. It includes sample policies, fact sheets, presentations, 5-minute safety talks, posters, white papers, reports, videos, and other resources.
This is a report from the National Association of Counties and the Appalachian Regional Commission that details the state of the opioid crisis in Appalachia and presents recommendations to help county leaders respond to this public health emergency. In addition, individual county case studies are featured highlighting the challenges and strategies.
This is a report from The Sentencing Project that examines the sources of the opioid crisis, surveys health and justice policy responses at the federal and state levels, and draws on lessons from past drug crises to provide guidance on how to proceed. An overarching theme in this report is to end the War on Drugs, addressing addiction with public health and social services, not incarceration and punishment. There is also a focus on racial justice and equity.
This is a consensus study report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine on integrating prevention and treatment services at the intersection of opioid use disorder and infectious diseases. The need for and background of integration are discussed, recommendations are made to overcome barriers to implementation, and case studies of select programs are presented.
This website from the RAND Corporation provides one-page summaries of published research tailored for policymakers and includes research on prevention, treatment, harm reduction, and special populations.
This is an academic paper that discusses the important role that pharmacies can play in the opioid crisis, from safe dispensing to patient counseling on safe storage and disposal of prescription opioids to naloxone distribution. Two program models, a collaborative pharmacy practice agreement for naloxone in Rhode Island and a pharmacy standing order in Massachusetts, are highlighted.
This report details an environmental scan which evaluates the extent to which overdose prevention and response efforts are implemented among those under community supervision following release from incarceration. The scan included a literature review, interviews, and discussions with experts on the topics of overdose prevention and harm reduction.
This report is a primer for those working in rural communities who want to familiarize themselves with the basic strategies, resources, and tools for working in overdose prevention. It includes case studies and links to resources such as the Rural Community Toolbox, the Opioid Response Network, and the Rural Community Action Guide.
This website has an interactive map that looks at deaths from alcohol, suicides, and drugs for each state. A downloadable report offers an extensive national resilience strategy.
This issue brief from Trust for America's Health and Well-Being Trust provides national and state data from 1999-2017 on deaths of despair, which are defined as deaths attributed to drug overdoses, suicides, and alcohol poisoning/alcohol-related liver disease.
This is an issue brief that provides an update on the first two "Pain in the Nation" reports. Opioid overdose deaths have declined but deaths involving alcohol, suicide, synethetic opioids, and psychostimulants continue to rise. Prior responses to the opioid crisis are highlighted, experts are interviewed, and recommendations are made.
