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Topic: Health and Safety

Management of an Opioid Use Disorder During the Postpartum Period & Beyond:  How to Safely Support the Dyad

This recorded session explores comprehensive, trauma-informed strategies to support mothers with opioid use disorder and their infants during the critical postpartum period. It emphasizes the importance of establishing care with a pediatrician, postpartum follow-up, and family planning, while also highlighting essential caregiver education on car seat safety, safe sleep practices, and overdose prevention strategies. Participants will learn how to help caregivers build a healthy support system and understand how wraparound services, peer support, and community-based interventions can reduce risk, improve outcomes, and foster long-term recovery for the dyad.

Opioids 101: What You Need to Know

Opioids impact individuals, families, and communities across the country. In this Opioid 101 video, NOCE’s Morgan Green, MA breaks down everything you need to know, including: What opioids are and how they work; The risks of opioid misuse and overdose; and How to recognize and respond to an opioid overdose.

Change Point at Northern Nevada HOPES (HOPES)

Change Point is a program providing confidential and judgment-free resources to support safer substance use and sexual behavior. Services are free and open to everyone, regardless of whether they are regular HOPES patients. The program also includes a mobile outreach van offering syringe services and rapid testing within the community.

START to be safe

“START to be safe” is a tool that helps clients and providers explore strategies for reducing risks related to substance use and associated health and safety concerns.

Listening Session: Harm Reduction

This Listening Session shares experiences with fentanyl test strip education and distribution, preparedness for overdose emergencies; the evolution of Harm Reduction, and emerging groups of synthetic opioids. 

How to Test Substances for Fentanyl

This resource provides instructions on how to use fentanyl test strips to test substances for fentanyl, including instructions on proper measurement, dilution, and reading the results.

How to Test Substances for Xylazine

This resource provides instructions on how to test substances for xylazine using a test strip including step-by-step testing instructions, tips for harm reduction, and additional resources.

Community Response and Best Practices for Opioid Antagonists

Learning Objectives: 

By the end of this training people will know:

 The history of overdose prevention and opioid antagonist distribution for community members, including available formulations of antagonists

State of the research on opioid antagonist distribution, utilization, and outcome in the community

Evidence-based practices for overdose response and opioid antagonist administration

Good Samaritan Law & Drug Induced Homicide Laws in Nevada

The Good Samaritan Drug Overdose Act of 2015 (Senate Bill 459, Chapter 26, Statutes of Nevada 2015 NRS 453C.120) created various provisions addressing the opiate overdose epidemic that continues to claim over 300 lives per year in Nevada. The law prevents punitive actions against health professionals and any person who administers naloxone or calls 911 to assist someone who may be overdosing on opiates. It also provides immunity to persons seeking medical treatment for an opioid overdose for themselves or someone else.

Harm Reduction: Compassionate Care for People who use Drugs Podcast Series

AMERSA is proud to announce a new podcast series exploring and highlighting the importance of harm reduction. The series, Harm Reduction: Compassionate Care for People who use Drugs, includes eight 30-minute episodes sponsored by PCSS-MOUD and hosted by AMERSA members, featuring subject matter experts across multiple disciplines.

Reducción de Daños Durante una Sobredosis de Opioides Administrando ‘NALOXONA’

La epidemia de los opioides continua devastando las comunidades a través de los Estados Unidos, lo que ha llevado a una pérdida significativa de vidas y un extenso impacto social; La naloxona es un medicamento que es seguro y efectivo que puede revertir una sobredosis de opioides y salvar vidas cuando es prontamente administrada, La naloxona revierte rápidamente los efectos de los opioides; La naloxona juega un papel vital en prevenir daños en el cerebro a largo plazo y reduce el riesgo de una fatalidad asociada con la sobredosis de opioides.

Harm Reduction Social Media Toolkit

The Harm Reduction Social Media Toolkit is designed to help share knowledge about the dangers of opioid use, learn how to prevent opioid overdose/poisoning, and provide education on harm reduction.

Good Samaritan Fatal Overdose Prevention and Drug-induced Homicide: Summary of State Laws

Research indicates that there is often a reluctance among those witnessing an overdose to summon emergency assistance from law enforcement or other first responders out of fear of arrest for drug possession or other charges. In an effort to reduce this fear and to encourage overdose witnesses to seek help, state policymakers developed Good Samaritan laws specific to drug overdoses. The purpose of these laws is to prioritize the overdose victim’s safety over arresting drug users by granting limited protection from criminal liability to persons seeking medical assistance and, in most cases, to the overdose victim. This document (1) provides a singular resource for each jurisdiction’s laws; (2) allows for a comparison of these laws between jurisdictions; and (3) identifies and highlights interesting provisions.

Warning Signs of Suicide When Discontinuing Opioids

This 30-minute course is intended to help community providers identify their role in helping patients transition away from a dependence on opioids and to encourage them to study more about pain management and suicide prevention. 

Syringe Services Programs

This CDC resource highlights the vital role of Syringe Services Programs (SSPs) in preventing infectious diseases, providing sterile supplies, testing, counseling, and treatment referrals while promoting community safety.

Safety and Effectiveness of Syringe Services Programs

This CDC resource discusses the safety and effectiveness of Syringe services programs (SSPs) which are proven and effective community-based prevention programs that can provide a range of services and protect the public and first responders by facilitating the safe disposal of used needles and syringes.

Overdose Education and Harm Reduction

This self-paced, online course covers the following learning objectives: Describe basic trends in opioid overdose death rates at the national and local level, Identify factors that elevate patients’/clients’ risk for opioid overdose, Understand how overdose education/naloxone distribution programs impact health outcomes, Develop a preliminary plan for integrating overdose education into existing services, Learn how to recognize and respond in the case of an overdose and how to find treatment resources within the community

Overdose Education & Naloxone Distribution for Law Enforcement

Learning Objectives:
By the end of this course, participants will be able to:
1. Understand the scope of the opioid epidemic
2. Understand pain and how opioids work in the body
3. Explain how to recognize and respond to an opioid overdose
4. Understand the role of naloxone in an opioid overdose and how it can prevent an overdose death
5. Demonstrate how to administer intranasal naloxone
6. Discuss how to respond to a suspected Xylazine overdose

Prescribe 365 Brochure

This brochure is for providers to print and display in their offices encouraging patients to openly discuss safe use of opioids.

Harm Reduction: Findings from the Field

Alexander, C. (2024, May 07). Harm Reduction: Findings from the Field. [Blog post]. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) Blog. https://www.samhsa.gov/blog/harm-reduction-findings-field

Overdose Education and Naloxone Distribution (OEND)

By the end of this course, participants will be able to:
Describe basic trends in opioid overdose death rates at the national and local level
Identify factors that elevate patients’/clients’ risk for opioid overdose; Understand how overdose education/naloxone distribution programs impact health outcomes; Develop a preliminary plan for integrating overdose education into existing services; and Learn how to recognize and respond in the case of an overdose and how to find treatment resources within the community.

Xylazine Basics: Overdose Prevention, Harm Reduction, and Wound Care

This document provides information on xylazine, a non-opioid veterinary tranquilizer used as an additive in illicit drug supplies, notably in combination with heroin and fentanyl. It discusses the effects of xylazine use, including sedation and potential risks such as hypotension and bradycardia. The document also emphasizes harm reduction interventions for individuals who may encounter xylazine in the drug supply, including the use of naloxone for responding to overdoses and the importance of wound identification and treatment.

What is Harm Reduction? (Poster)

This poster identifies some of the most common harm reduction methods in an attempt to normalize the term “harm reduction” and broaden the definition.

Native Harm Reduction Toolkit

This toolkit is a culturally responsive resource designed to help Native communities implement harm reduction strategies, decolonize public health approaches, reduce stigma, and engage Tribal leaders in supporting life-saving interventions.

SAMHSA Harm Reduction Framework

The SAMHSA Harm Reduction Framework is the first document to comprehensively outline harm reduction and its role within the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). The Framework will inform SAMHSA’s harm reduction activities moving forward, as well as related policies, programs, and practices. 

National Harm Reduction Coalition

The National Harm Reduction Coalition works to increase access to evidence-based harm reduction strategies like overdose prevention and syringe access programs.