Rural Project Examples Addressing Substance use and misuse

Cross-Walk: Integrating Behavioral Health and Primary Care

Updated/reviewed May 2024

Need: To address and treat substance use disorder (SUD) and depression in the Upper Great Lakes region.
Intervention: Cross-Walk, a program that integrates behavioral healthcare into primary care services, was developed in Michigan's Marquette County.
Results: The collaborative efforts strengthened care management services in local healthcare facilities as primary care patients were referred to a behavioral health specialist.

Updated/reviewed April 2023

Need: To improve the health, well-being, and equity of young people in the rural area of Massachusetts's Franklin County and North Quabbin, and to reduce youth drug and alcohol use.
Intervention: A community-based prevention coalition was formed to improve youth health, well-being, and equity and reduce youth drug and alcohol use use. The coalition brings together stakeholders from across the community and uses the Communities That Care evidence-based community planning system.
Results: CTC has seen significant reductions in substance abuse among local youth in the 30 rural towns they serve.

Updated/reviewed November 2022

Need: To properly address and treat patients who have concurrent substance use and chronic healthcare issues.
Intervention: A referral system utilizes community health workers (CHWs) in a drug and alcohol treatment setting. A registered nurse helps with providers' medication-assisted treatment programs.
Results: This program has reduced hospital emergency visits and hospital readmissions for patients since its inception.

Updated/reviewed June 2022

Need: To reduce smoking rates of pregnant women and adolescents in Appalachian regions of eastern Kentucky and Ohio.
Intervention: A web-based smoking cessation program that offered monetary incentives to reducing smoking.
Results: Participants significantly reduced smoking rates or quit altogether.

Updated/reviewed October 2024

Need: To reduce drug overdose deaths and the spread of infectious diseases in rural Colorado.
Intervention: This program provides harm reduction and peer support to people who use drugs and to their loved ones.
Results: This program provided Narcan training to 377 individuals and distributed 2,448 doses of naloxone and 3,539 fentanyl test strips in 2023.

Updated/reviewed August 2024

Need: To help children whose family members are struggling with substance misuse.
Intervention: A year-round program provides mentoring as well as substance use prevention education.
Results: In 2023, Camp Mariposa served a total of 113 youth in its four rural locations in Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, and West Virginia. In a study, 92% of participants reported no use of any substance to get high.

Added June 2024

Need: To expand access to medications for opioid use disorder (MOUD) across the state of Pennsylvania.
Intervention: An initiative formed to provide technical assistance aimed at improving MOUD treatment capacity and quality at healthcare sites across urban and rural Pennsylvania.
Results: In 2023, 108 providers engaged with the program, treating a total of 5,185 individuals with MOUD. Currently, the program engages partners in 20 Pennsylvania counties – serving rural populations in Crawford, Schuylkill, Susquehanna, Butler, and Cambria counties.

Added March 2024

Need: Enhanced support for people with substance use disorders leaving jail and reentering communities in rural northeastern Kentucky.
Intervention: A reentry program that uses peer support specialists to teach cognitive life skills, obtain essential identification documents, and help people create and follow personalized case plans before and after their release.
Results: More than 420 people have been served by First Day Forward, with recidivism rates significantly lower among people who successfully completed the program.

Added February 2024

Need: To support pregnant or new parents in rural Massachusetts affected by substance use or on medication for opioid use.
Intervention: This program offers a medical and behavioral health home, providing trauma-informed support before, during, and after childbirth.
Results: Six months after enrollment, there was a 20% increase in the number of participants who felt socially connected and a 5% increase in abstinence from all substances.

Updated/reviewed February 2024

Need: To provide affirming, destigmatized healthcare and support to thousands of Tennesseans living with HIV/AIDS, mental illness, substance use disorder, and homelessness – and prevention services for individuals at risk of contracting HIV.
Intervention: Positively Living & Choice Health Network provides services including a medical clinic, pharmacy, therapy, case management, client services like housing aid and transportation, HIV prevention, and a harm reduction program.
Results: The program currently serves 5,000 individuals and families through its offices in Knoxville, Chattanooga, Memphis, and Cookeville and its mobile medical unit for rural communities in Cocke and Claiborne counties.