Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration Story Archives

Huntington Receives Grant To Curb Substance Use Disorder, Create Support Network

The grant was awarded by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and will fund a network that will help case navigators improve outreach to those who have fallen out of care.

The city of Huntington will receive a $2 million dollar grant to help curb the substance use epidemic.

Director of Huntington’s Council on Public Health and Drug Control Policy Jan Rader says the project will help the city cast a broader net and help those slipping through the cracks.

“We have a lot of wonderful people doing wonderful work. But we’re not able to keep up with people who drop out of the system,” Rader said. “We want to be able to capture that person again, and maybe plug them in somewhere where they feel more comfortable.”

The project, called the Training Responders to Assess, Initiate, and Navigate project, or TRAIN, is also set to help train first responders and other community agencies on how to treat substance use disorder.

These agencies include the Huntington police and fire departments, the Provider Response Organization for Addiction Care and Treatment (PROACT), the Quick Response Team (QRT), the Cabell-Huntington Health Department and Harmony House, a Huntington-based group that provides housing and services for the homeless.

“There are a lot of new first responders who haven’t had extensive training. And we want to provide that training for them. But not only for them, but for people in the public,” Rader said. “You know, it might be on just Naloxone administration, but also like on things like motivational interviewing, and ways to get people engaged in a program that can assist them with their substance use disorder.”

TRAIN plans to train more than 550 people within the next four years.

Appalachia Health News is a project of West Virginia Public Broadcasting with support from Charleston Area Medical Center and Marshall Health.

W.Va. Will Not See Latest Federal Grant to Combat Opioid Crisis

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced Friday it will award $144 million in grants across the country to prevent and treat opioid addiction. But West Virginia won’t see any of it.

In an emailed statement from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, which is administering the grant, West Virginia won’t receive any of the $144 million award.

The funding will be distributed to 58 recipients, including other states, cities, healthcare providers, and community organizations. It will be awarded over a period of three to five years.

This grant follows another national grant of $485 million dollars announced in April also aimed at combating the opioid crisis. West Virginia did see $5,881,983 from this award for year one.

National health surveys indicate last year 12 million people nationwide misused opioids like prescription pain pills and heroin. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention suggests 60,000 of those people did not survive.

W.Va. Gets $9.7 Million Grant to Curb Gun Violence

The West Virginia Department of Education is getting a grant to curb gun violence by connecting families, schools and communities to mental health services.

The agency is set to receive the $9.7 million from Project AWARE. West Virginia is one of 120 states and local school districts receiving grants for mental health first aid training.

Officials say the grant is part of a national initiative to support teachers, schools and communities in recognizing and responding to mental health concerns among youth.

Public school systems in Berkeley, McDowell, and Wood counties will serve as the demonstration sites to guide the development of a statewide approach to improve mental health services.

The grant made through the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration will be administered over five years.

Drug prevention money coming to W.Va.

Several Organizations in West Virginia that address drug abuse and mental health issues will get a boost from the federal government. Senators Jay Rockefeller and Joe Manchin today announced $733,068 in federal funding for community organizations across the state to prevent and reduce substance abuse among youth in West Virginia.

The funding comes from the Office of National Drug Control Policy’s (ONDCP) Drug-Free Communities (DFC) grant program with support from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA).

“It’s clear that our communities are in need of meaningful investments in prevention efforts targeted at reducing substance abuse among our youth,” said Rockefeller.

“SAMHSA and ONDCP helped establish drug take-back day and prescriber training in our state, which are strong steps toward keeping prescription drugs and illegal substances from falling into the hands of our young ones. I’m so glad this grant funding was awarded in our state – it will help build on these initiatives that are critical to the health and well-being of our youngest West Virginians,” he added.

“In West Virginia and across this country, substance abuse has become one of the most critical problems facing our communities, our families and our children,” said Manchin.

“We have a responsibility – especially to our future generations – to combat this national drug abuse epidemic head on. I am pleased that the FDA has recently announced their plans to reschedule hydrocodone combination drugs, which are in highly addictive painkillers like Vicodin and Lortab. Every step we take to make sure these drugs don’t get into the wrong hands is a step toward curbing substance abuse. This program will add to the FDA’s recent efforts and will focus on bringing our communities together to address this serious challenge to facilitate drug prevention efforts.”

Two coalitions received new funding awards including:

$108,222 – West Side Ward 4 Substance Abuse Prevention Coalition – Institute, W.Va.: The funding will be used by the coalition to increase efforts that aim to reduce prescription drug abuse and marijuana use among youth.
$124,846 – Kanawha Communities That Care – Charleston, W.Va.: The funding will be used by the coalition to establish and strengthen collaboration with local entities aimed at preventing and reducing substance abuse among youth.

Four West Virginia coalitions received $125,000 awards for their ongoing efforts to reduce prescription drug abuse:

Ohio County Substance Abuse Prevention Coalition – Wheeling, W. Va.
Advocates for Substance Abuse Prevention (ASAP) – Weirton, W. Va.
Morgan County Partnership, Inc. – Berkeley Springs, W. Va.
Jackson County Anti-Drug Coalition – Ripley, W. Va.