The course will help learners to understand what the 988 Crisis Lifeline is, how it works, and identify best practices for sharing information about the 988 Crisis Lifeline and other resources.

Rob and Diane Perez of DV8 Kitchen in Lexington, KY, partner with the Fletcher Group RCOE to bring this eye-opening course on transforming your business model from transactional to relational to help those in recovery build skills and their recovery capital.

Meditation is a relaxation technique that can help reduce stress and calm our minds. This course covers two types of meditation that may benefit those in recovery: Mindfulness Meditation and Loving-Kindness Meditation.

A handful of customer service skills can make the difference between an average experience and …

Even the best workplaces face challenges. In this course, you’ll learn how to navigate some of the most common challenges from dealing with difficult people to overcoming your own mistakes.

Is burnout a threat to your well-being and productivity? The truth is that we’re all prone to stress, pressure, and burnout. Understanding what they are and how they work helps us create a better, more satisfying lifestyle.

This course teaches you to tame stress by understanding healthy and unhealthy coping strategies. Then, you’ll learn seven effective techniques that can help you relieve stress and regain control.

This course helps you to identify transferable skills so you can add them to your resume or share them as part of the interview process with potential employers.

This course takes you through the basics of managing stress and implementing them as part of a self-care program.

The course outlines how you can become a recovery ally, support recovery ecosystems, and be part of recovery capital development. She shares the Pillars of Recovery, shares real world examples, and provides ways groups can work.

This course covers the definition of recovery community organization(RCO), describes the types of RCO’s that support workforce and education development, and shares how you can support the startup or continuation of an RCO in your community.

This course provides an overview of self-care and why it is important for everyone, particularly those in recovery.

Microlearning course on opening a bank account and improving financial literacy.

Virtual networking is the new normal, and this course provides an overview of the skills to develop to make it work for you.

Yoga is a great wellness tool for self-care and can help those in recovery develop breathing skills to refocus and calm.

The Whole Brain? Model is a time tested framework to decode and harness the cognitive diversity of individuals, teams, and organizations.

This course guides you on how to work through conflict with coworkers to achieve positive outcomes.

This course provides some tips on how you can become an ally for diversity and inclusion.

This course outlines the five steps you can take to build your own Blueprint for Nailing Your Interview.

In this module, we cover your Interview Day Checklist. By following the steps provided, you’ll reduce a lot of the stress and be able to focus on the interview itself.

Following the best practices outlined in this course makes applying for a job easy and (mostly) stressfree!

Building a great resume is made easy by following the best practices outlined in this course.

This course helps connect skills and interests to career opportunities.

This course outlines how you can identify what makes you uniquely you and use that information to identify potential careers.

Highlights of the June 2022 Fletcher Group RCOE Rural Recovery Housing Summit.

This course is an overview of the justice system while also discussing issues addressing SUD within the correctional system.

ORTs are a multi-agency, harm reduction response unit that delivers support and person-centered services to individuals in the community who experience a non-fatal overdose.

This course reviews considerations that should be taken for those who will be housing individuals that are re-entering the community after incarceration.

The course provides a glossary of commonly used terms and gives an overview of the legal stages and intervention opportunities for those with SUD.

Focus on person-centered approaches and the impact of discrimination on those in the legal and correctional systems.

Overview of the SMART Recovery mutual aid group program that uses self-empowerment to encourage lasting change.

Gain valuable insights, referrals, and new opportunities by building strong and lasting connections by staying connected to your alumni.

Alumni programs create a network of current and future support for your rural recovery house. This course provides four best practices for building your alumni network.

This course provides an overview of trauma-informed care and how trauma can impact a person. By implementing trauma-informed care in your rural recovery house setting, you can help residents better manage their outcomes and build recovery capital.

Explore Motivational Interviewing (MI) and how it can support change in your recovery house. Students will recognize the spirit of MI and its core elements and strategies, be able to identify basic skills they can adopt, and know where to find more resources for continued learning.

This course will explain urine analysis from the residents perspective. Providing person-first care, dignity, and respect is hugely important to your residents.

When used correctly and competently following best practice guidelines, urine analysis can be an effective therapeutic tool.

In this course, you’ll learn common sources of discord and some typical responses. You’ll also discover techniques to resolve conflict, address anger, and stop abusive behavior.

In this course, you’ll learn why conflict happens, common ways people react to conflict, and how to turn workplace disagreements into opportunities for constructive dialogue, change, and new understanding.

Recognizing and practicing cultural humility can transform your rural recovery house. The course examines how your emotional and cultural intelligence serves the development of cultural humility.

Learn how individual stories impact our well-being and explore these narratives through specific examples and exercises.

This course assists you in building skills and abilities for cultivating not just diversity and inclusion as part of your organization and work but also helps you develop skills to help make people feel like they belong in your organization.

Develop a foundation and recognition for the importance and value of diversity, equity, and inclusion as part of your recovery house culture.

In this course, you’ll learn why the process of setting your goals is just as important as choosing targets that truly matter

This course covers best practices for improving listening skills.

Discover tips on how to manage your time more effectively.

Anyone interested in learning more about becoming a Peer Leader and their vital role in recovery residence operations will enjoy this program. After this program, participants will understand the knowledge, skills, and abilities needed to function in the role, as well as the challenges and opportunities involved.

NIMBY (Not In My Back Yard) is a characterization of opposition by residents in a rural or urban community, to proposed developments in their local area. This course can assist you with recognizing and navigating situations where NIMBY occurs.

When a rural recovery residence employs the Peer-led, Peer-Driven Social Model, it provides its residents with an environment designed to empower them to make decisions, to be part of a recovery community, to be comfortable and safe, and to learn and grow.

Dr. Matt Johnson, the Fletcher Group’s Director of Faith-Based Initiatives, discusses how faith-based organizations can …

Dr. Joel Wong, Chairman of Indiana University Bloomington’s Department of Counseling and Educational Psychology and …

For Anne’s PowerPoint Presentation, go to: …

Fletcher Group Rural SUD and Recovery Housing Specialist Anne Shields does a deeper dive into …

Thanks to recent changes in the American Society of Addiction Medicine criteria, recovery housing is …

Dr. Kenneth Martz, Special Assistant to the Secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Drug and …

Why do veterans face so many hardships, including higher rates of poverty, homelessness, and suicide? …

Show me the money! Grant writer and former grant reviewer Pamela Baston shares the grant …

JBS International Technical Lead Donald McDonald, who works with grantees of the Rural Communities Opioid …

We often assume that a select few excel at networking while the rest of us …

Recovery coach, public health specialist, and author Alison Webb discusses the many ways in which …

Strategies to streamline access to addiction treatment medications and creating equitable policies and procedures.

An overview of the SWOT Analysis and how to use it for rural recovery housing.

Overview of statistical data regarding racial inequities, an examination of unconscious and conscious bias, and the creation of a culturally competent environment.

Considerations for LGBTQIA2S+ population with SUD when it comes to health and housing.

The course covers the resourcing, relationship-building, and other topics for rural recovery housing fundraising and grant writing.

Illustrates the invisible power relations created by trauma and the legal system for women with SUD and how it shapes identity and inequality.

Information on developing non-discriminating policies in rural recovery housing based on FHA and ADA.

Overview of the four levels for recovery housing as established by the National Alliance for Recovery Residences.

Using treatment plans in the rural recovery housing setting.

A brief overview of the history and purpose of the 12-step recovery pathway.

Developed in the early 2000’s and consisting of 17 facilities across the state of Kentucky, Recovery Kentucky has evidence-based outcomes showing the positive impact of recovery housing for the individual and the community.

This course will consist of five modules covering resident outcomes of interest, construction and use of a data shell, simple data analysis, data visualization, and reporting.

Find out why evaluation matters to your rural recovery house, what data is the most valuable to collect, and how to evaluate and use the data you secure.

Low Income Housing Tax Credits (LIHTC) may help your organization build a recovery house as part of your community’s ecosystem.

Effective staff management includes communication, listening, and delegation.

Course covers the process of policy-making process at the federal level.

This course covers the basics of recovery house financing considerations, including capital expenses, operating expenses, stopgap funding, and ways to become sustainable.

Dr. Corey Vilsaint discusses the evidence supporting the success of recovery residences for those with SUD.

Follow the steps to closing out your recovery house project to capture lessons learned and archive details.

Kicking off the project is a keypoint in your recovery house project.

Identifying and tracking project communications in your recovery house project.

Documents used for tracking decisions, changes, actions, and more in your recovery house project.

Engaging the sponsor for your recovery house project.

Identify and analyze stakeholders for your recovery house project.

The rural recovery ecosystem explained.

Buying insurance for your recovery house.

This webinar reviews the literature on the development of chronic opioid use disorder in women, and prescribing recommendations to reduce excessive opioid prescribing for acute pain related to common procedures.

In this webinar, Dr. Rose presents the origins of SBIRT and summarizes the evidence for its efficacy. She describes the process and the variety of options that exist for using SBIRT principles to care for patients with unhealthy alcohol use. The webinar offers suggestions for obtaining hands-on guidance for using it in practice.

The presentation reviews new data on the neuropsychiatric and other medical effects of stimulants, and information on evidence-based treatment.

Approximately 40% of patients seeking treatment for SUDs report a history of suicide attempts. This presentation describes the risk factors, screening methods, and key elements of safety planning for patients with suicidal ideation. It also explores rural implications for patients with SUDs and suicidal ideation.

Through both environmental and genetic factors, substance use disorders frequently perpetuate from one generation to another within families. Treating individuals struggling with substance use disorder in isolation often represents a missed opportunity to provide both treatment and preventative measures for others in their family who have been directly impacted by, are at risk for, or also struggle with a substance use disorder.

This webinar reviews the research, development, and outcomes produced by an innovative intervention with remotely-delivered financial incentives for reducing cigarette smoking during pregnancy.

This webinar by Dr. Peck provides a definition of trauma and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) according to the DSM-V, presents an overview of PTSD prevalence, and also reviews helpful assessment tools, strategies, and effective treatment approaches for PTSD. It also discusses specific considerations for working with rural populations and individuals with concurrent PTSD and substance use disorder

This webinar presentation discusses the evidence for and the use of sustained release buprenorphine (SRB) to treat opioid use disorder in the outpatient setting.

This webinar presentation outlines strategies to optimize pain control and reduce opioid overprescribing in the post-operative period.

This presentation outlines practical approaches to identifying personal bias and addressing stigma in the clinical care setting.

This presentation outlines history, principles, and practices of harm reduction to reduce stigma and harm related to substance use. Emphasis is placed on understanding harm reduction in a syringe service program environment, the clinical setting, and in rural communities.

In this session, Dr. Jackson shares practical ways to implement and utilize motivational interviewing (MI) in a rural healthcare setting to foster change. Dr. Jackson covers the four guiding principles of MI, the spirit of MI, and how to honor autonomy in a way that creates an environment of collaboration, empowerment, and hope. Attendees learn how to uncover what motivates their patients to change and review active listening and productive communication strategies.

This presentation focuses on optimizing patient and clinician experiences with different telehealth platforms, practical guidelines for providing substance use treatment virtually in rural communities, and regulatory considerations.

The presentation focuses on how peer recovery models of care can help rural recovery communities from three perspectives. Dr. Kelly explains his research from the Recovery Research Institute on peer recovery centers, and reviews the evidence behind how these centers support and encourage long-term recovery. Dr. Depman addresses strategies, benefits, and challenges incorporating peer recovery models of care into that setting for OUD and AUD, based on his experience utilizing peer recovery coaches in the Emergency Department (ED) at Central Vermont Medical Center, a community hospital serving a rural population. Liza Ryan–a certified peer recovery coach in rural Lamoille County, VT, and a person in recovery for over 7 years–explains how her work is affected by serving a rural community.

This presentation focuses on enhancing rural providers’ knowledge related to (a) the changing landscape of cannabis products and availability, (b) the potential to develop problems from cannabis use, (c) treatment models for helping those with cannabis problems in rural communities, and (d) the importance of communication for prevention, intervention, and public health in rural settings.

This presentation introduces key concepts related to the social and structural determinants of health (SDOH), and how they apply to substance use disorders, with a particular focus on implications for rural communities.

Our panel addresses the extent of rural alcohol use, specific rural barriers to treatment, clinical management of alcohol use disorder (AUD), and best practices for treatment program design.

This presentation covers unique barriers that people with opioid use disorder face when pregnant and parenting.

This presentation explores the need for naloxone distribution in rural areas, and discusses innovative methods and technologies for increasing access.

This presentation explores data from UVM CORA’s Baseline Needs Assessments in Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine, sharing insights gathered from practitioners and stakeholders about their concerns about opioid use and their perceived barriers to and beliefs about opioid use disorder treatment.

This presentation explores the importance of treatment and medications for opioid use disorder (MOUD) along the continuum of care in rural communities. It also outlines a training program taking place at University of Kentucky (UK) for physicians who are in a position to treat patients and educate future physicians.

This article describes key points in a presentation given by Dr. Blosnich (Assistant Professor and Director of the Center for LGBTQ+ Health Equity at the University of Southern California’s Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work). Dr. Blosnich discussed “how LGBTQ people with SUD contend not just with stigma related to SUD, but with stigma related to sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI), which can be unintentionally yet overtly part of the health care experience in rural areas.”

“Federal and state agencies, local health departments, and health care providers across the country have become increasingly concerned about the rise of xylazine, an adulterant often found in combination with fentanyl and also mixed with heroin, stimulants like methamphetamine and cocaine, and other substances.” This article discusses the effects of xylazine, why it poses a danger, as well as distribution patterns, approaches to testing for xylazine, and strategies to address its presence in the illicit drug supply.

This article summarizes important points from the keynote speeches given by two award-winning authors at the Taking Action Summit in 2022.
“Sam Quinones and Beth Macy have spent much of their careers as journalists and authors covering this nation’s overdose crisis. Quinones’s works include his bestseller Dreamland and new book The Least of Us, and Macy’s include her bestseller Dopesick, which became a series on Hulu, and recently released Raising Lazarus. Although these authors have focused on different aspects of the crisis, in their keynote speeches they shared an overarching conviction. Community engagement—and the sense of purpose and belonging it gives rise to—is capable of turning the tide.”

This article summarizes the main points from a keynote address at the Taking Action Summit in 2022.
“Tony Hoffman says he’s grateful for the insight he gained from experiencing homelessness. The co-founder of pH Wellness, who delivered a keynote at the Taking Action Summit, reflected on how his substance use disorder (SUD) eventually led to homelessness and how that experience gave him perspective on the stigma faced by people in similar circumstances. Instead of blaming people, he feels a sense of compassion and empathy. Rather than judging them, he wonders about the source of the pain that led to SUD.”

“Individuals impacted by opioid use disorder (OUD) met with artist Charmaine Wheatley to have their portraits painted. These portraits include the words of these Appalachian community members to humanize the crisis, thereby reducing the stigma associated with OUD.”

Naloxone can counteract the life-threatening effects of an opioid overdose. As communities confront overdoses involving synthetic opioids that may require higher doses of naloxone, naloxone distribution is critical.
In this webinar, Gloria Baciewicz (Strong Recovery) and Patrick Seche (UR Medicine Recovery Center of Excellence) discuss targeted naloxone distribution, including how to establish a program, addressing how to become a registered program, how to get trained, how to provide training, how to acquire naloxone for distribution, how to distribute it to trained providers, and innovative methods for remote/virtual training and “no touch” delivery (e.g., by mail) to expand access to naloxone in rural areas.

In this webinar, Dr. Holly Russell and Michele Lawrence of UR Medicine Recovery Center of Excellence discuss telemedicine MOUD as a bridging strategy. They go through key questions involved in implementing a program, including how to plan and implement the use of a telemedicine “bridge,” and how to reach key populations with such a program. The bridge approach provides the community time to heal and develop trust, and also ensures physicians time to become trained in MOUD and build the necessary care management infrastructure into their practice for OUD treatment. Finally, the bridge connects patients with local access to the medication that is critical to their recovery and survival,

This article discusses a model for integrating Behavioral Health into rural primary care practices, recognizing that “Primary care providers (PCPs) are increasingly playing a vital role in addressing patients’ behavioral health care needs given the shortage of behavioral health providers and other challenges in the health care system.”

This article and toolkit describes CBT for Treatment Seeking (CBT-TS). The program seeks to overcome barriers to engagement (i.e., treatment initiation and retention) including lack of information or negative beliefs about treatment. It aims to equip rural providers to help their patients identify negative or stigmatizing beliefs and see treatment from a different perspective. The associated toolkit includes a brochure for providers that summarizes what CBT-TS is, how it can help, evidence supporting its utility, and other ways this program can provide support. A brochure for patients that clinics, centers, and/or programs can share is also available upon request.

This article summarizes the discussion about the important role of Peer Recovery Specialists during a breakout session at the 2022 Taking Action Summit.
“As jail liaison for Santa Cruz County Justice Court in Arizona, Martin Felix has seen what peer specialists can do. He recalled waking up with tubes in his body after an overdose put him in a coma for three days. He now recognizes that his own extraordinary recovery is what gives him the credibility to reach others and offer them hope. He believes the perspective and insight that come from lived experience are “the special sauce” that enables peer specialists to relate to other people with substance use disorder (SUD) and guide them to recovery.”

Purchasing insurance for your recovery house is different from insuring your own home. Recovery housing insurance is nuanced and may require discussions with your board and insurance agent, and not all insurance agents are skilled in recovery housing insurance. You may have to look at other insurance companies to get appropriate coverage.

This webinar presentation is on the importance of tobacco treatment for people with opioid use disorder. It discusses research on providing treatment for smokers who are not motivated or not ready to quit, and also explores barriers to quitting tobacco among those who live in rural communities.

This webinar presentation covers strategies providers may use to culturally adapt and implement contingency management among rural American Indian and Alaska Native communities, as a treatment approach offering incentives for healthy progress in people with substance use disorder (SUD).

This webinar presentation explores current information about fentanyl and xylazine including drug supply information, pharmacology, clinical effects, medical impacts, harm reduction, and treatment information. Considerations for rural populations are also discussed.

This presentation explores lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic as they relate to rural populations with substance use disorder (SUD), including discussion of the ways the pandemic affected barriers to SUD treatment and social coping strategies, as well as approaches toward addressing vaccine hesitance, and strategies for providing remote/virtual outreach to rural patients with SUD.

This webinar presentation describes the expansion of nurse practitioners and other advanced practice clinicians into opioid use disorder treatment, particularly in rural communities. It also explores barriers and facilitators regarding nurse practitioner engagement in buprenorphine treatment, including regulations, education, and broader social factors such as stigma. Specific considerations for advanced practice clinicians’ work with members of rural communities are discussed.

This presentation describes community-based naloxone distribution methods, including mail-out harm reduction supplies, based on the work of Czarina Behrends, PhD, MPH. Specific considerations for reaching members of rural communities are discussed.

This presentation describes the results of a qualitative study examining state laws regulating incentives for health behavior. Such laws may have important implications for provision of contingency management for substance use disorder, including in rural areas.

This webinar presentation discusses novel ways to deliver evidence-based treatment for smoking cessation within and across rural areas. It focuses on 4 separate clinical trials of medication sampling, each demonstrating feasibility and efficacy of a simple yet novel treatment approach to reach a broad spectrum of smokers, including those who may not want to quit yet.

This presentation discusses effective treatment approaches for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in individuals with co-occurring opioid use disorder (OUD). It also explores ways to increase access to evidence-based trauma treatment for members of rural communities.

This presentation shares results from the National Report on Rural Substance Use Disorder Stigma and Treatment Needs — a collaborative nationwide effort conducted by all three Rural Centers of Excellence. Representatives from each RCOE discuss strategies for addressing stigma in rural areas.

This article discusses the Rural Opioid and Direct Support Services (ROADSS) program, and provides a toolkit including an implementation packet, staffing plan, sample job descriptions, and an onboarding checklist.

Transitions Clinic Network (TCN) programs address the high rates of overdose mortality among people recently …

This infographic depicts how partnership connections between a centralized clinic (Opioid Treatment Program; OTP) and …

This article describes the websites for federal agencies and national or international organizations which can be useful sources of information about SUD trends, tools, and messaging. The highlighted websites include the National Drug Early Warning System (NDEWS), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Center for Forensic Science Research and Education (CFSRE), United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), and several community websites offering discussion forums.

Stigma remains a challenge in community discussions of substance use disorder (SUD) and SUD treatment. …

Fact sheet describing the interaction of multiple drugs and ways to prevent …

The aim of this resource page is to provide communities including health and human services …

UR Medicine Recovery Center of Excellence has developed comprehensive training on the treatment of opioid …

This campaign aims to promote a stigma-free care environment while connecting individuals and families with …

The 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, launched in July, provides a fast way for people …

“Finding the right spot for a recovery residence isn’t easy. Considerable time, effort, and forethought are required, but due diligence in advance can pay off handsomely later. That’s because location is so important to a home’s ultimate success or failure. This is particularly true in rural areas because of the close-knit, symbiotic relationship houses have with the surrounding community. No residence is an island, but in remote areas the recovery houses must be especially mindful of location so they can access the services needed to provide a complete Continuum of Care.”

When a recovery housing site is proposed, the project may be met with a “Not …

This guide provides a stepwise approach to help you establish a local working group to …

The viability of rural recovery houses can be strengthened through effective and well-thought-out fundraising efforts. This guide can support rural recovery houses seeking to develop their fundraising plans.

This resource provides guidance on the importance of medication assisted recovery, through treatment with medications for opioid use disorder (MOUD), in addressing the opioid epidemic. Topics include how to find local healthcare providers, and how to manage medications in the recovery housing setting.

Rural recovery homes may choose from a variety of recovery programs to use in their homes. This toolkit aims to assist rural recovery homes in choosing one or more programs that best fit the population they serve.

Recovery Housing (RH) development and ongoing operations are highly dynamic and community-oriented processes. Effective communication, robust community relationships, proactive planning and continuous partner engagement are critical for the success and support of RH projects. The purpose of this guide is to introduce a framework for engaging communities and stakeholders throughout the RH planning and development process, from inception to completion.

A board of directors serves as a recovery house’s governing body. This toolkit serves to provide resources to establish and maintain a board of directors.

This training aims to increase your knowledge about the policy-making process at the federal level, …

When developing a recovery housing program, it is important to identify ways to sustain your …

In this video from the Maine Association of Recovery Residences (MARR), Dr. Corey Vilsaint–a community research psychology fellow at Harvard Medical School, discusses the evidence supporting the efficacy of recovery residences for people with SUD. The video is the first part in a course series about recovery residences.

The Project Management Training Series outlines the essential steps, tools, and templates to build a …

The rural recovery ecosystem explained.

This course provides you with an overview of the different items you should investigate as you seek to obtain insurance for a recovery housing site.

Justifying the need for a recovery related surveillance system: Exploratory focused interviews

Learn more about the economic benefits of your SUD program.