Foundation for Opioid Response Efforts

Substance use coercion is a common but underrecognized form of intimate partner violence that affects a significant share of women with #opioid use disorder, yet most clinicians are not trained to recognize these dynamics. They may interpret missed appointments, not taking medication, or returning to use as noncompliance without understanding that a partner may be sabotaging a patient’s care by withholding transportation, tampering with medication, or threatening harm. A new video released today describes how the National Center on Domestic Violence, Trauma, and Mental Health and clinicians at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) developed and tested the Beyond Screening Toolkit. The toolkit provides practical guidance for clinicians on how to screen for substance use coercion and integrate safety plans into clinical workflows so that patients can navigate treatment and recovery without risking retaliation from an abusive partner. Learn more at forefdn.org.

How #pediatricians respond to positive substance use screenings can change everything. In this video, #FOREgrantee American Academy of Pediatrics member Dr. Ashley Ebersole shares practical steps to help keep adolescents and young adults safe and empower parents and caregivers as they navigate these challenges.

FORE supports evidence-based responses to perinatal substance use disorder (SUD) care, but evidence-based does not mean one-size-fits-all. So, we partnered with the @perigeefund , @amchp_dc , @ucsf ’s Team Lily, @renewal_house , and @ncdvtmh to hold a Perinatal SUD Care Skills-Builder session at the #AMCHP2026 Conference to offer hands-on guidance for adapting and sustaining effective perinatal SUD care interventions to meet community needs and support families impacted by SUD to stay together safely and lead healthy lives.

A new video of Simply Hope Family Services, a FORE grantee in rural Burley, ID, demonstrates how community-based organizations can form the connective tissue between schools, government agencies, and treatment providers that share an interest in preventing and treating opioid use disorder and supporting families affected by it. The nonprofit was launched a decade ago by Nancy Winmill and Sheri Allred, two mothers whose sons have survived opioid overdoses. Both wanted to reduce the stigma facing families affected by substance use disorders (SUD) in rural communities and foster resiliency in youth by offering a continuum of supports. “We wanted to create the space and center that we needed when our kids were in crisis,” Winmill says. Winmill and Allred launched a weekly support group for families in 2015 and expanded services as they discovered an unmet need for programs to prevent suicide and substance use among youth. In 2022, they opened a drop-in center that offers after-school programming for young people. “A lot of the kids are considered old enough to be home alone, but they don’t want to be,” Winmill says. Simply Hope also established the Safe Teen Assessment Center that now screens more than 300 children and youth (ages 5-18) a year for substance use, suicide risk, and other behavioral health needs. Staff make referrals to higher levels of care and can make direct admissions to residential treatment programs and partial hospitalization programs in Idaho and Utah. “They can skip the ER and come to us,” Winmill says. Therapists in private practices have begun turning to the organization’s case management staff to support patients with food or housing needs so the therapists can concentrate on addressing behavioral health issues, says Jon Maher, LMFT, Simply Hope’s clinical director. “We’ve been able to create that connectivity. The counselors understand [they’re] not alone in this anymore. [That’s community-building] as well,” Maher says.

Nearly 1 million Americans over 65 are living with #opioid addiction, a fast-growing and often overlooked population. In their latest episode, #FOREgrantee @tradeoffspod goes inside a Baltimore #methadone clinic that’s finding creative ways to go the extra mile for this group of vulnerable patients, combining #addiction treatment with support for complex health and social needs, including diabetes, heart failure, and housing insecurity. Check out the story to learn more about what comprehensive, patient-centered addiction care can achieve — and what’s at stake at .

A big congratulations to one of FORE's inaugural grantees, @alisterfmartin , on being named the new Commissioner of @nychealthy . In 2020 with FORE funding, Dr. Martin led @getwaivered , a national effort to encourage emergency medicine clinicians to get a waiver needed at the time to prescribe buprenorphine, a gold standard medication for opioid use disorder. The campaign leveraged social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, as well as behavioral science principles, to make the case for getting waivered and to start treatment in the emergency department. His efforts and advocacy would eventually help to remove the waiver requirement entirely, removing a common barrier patients faced while seeking treatment. We look forward to working with you, Commissioner Martin!

The Foundation for Opioid Response Efforts has awarded a grant of $917,027 to @yale to establish the National Methadone Access and Quality Commission (NMAQC), a new national initiative focused on improving access to methadone, an evidence-based treatment for people with opioid use disorder (OUD). The Commission, chaired by David Fiellin, MD, Director of @yaleaddictionmed and Professor of Medicine, Emergency Medicine, and Public Health at @yaleschoolofmed and @yalesph , brings together leading experts from #addictionmedicine, #publichealth, policy, and health care delivery, as well as individuals with lived experience of #methadone treatment for OUD, to inform policy and clinical practice change and increase public understanding of methadone treatment. The Commission include the following members: David Feillin, MD; Malik Burnett, MD MBA MPH; Denise Curry, MPA, JD; Bridget C.E. Dooling, JD; Lucas G. Hill, PharmD, FCCP; Dominic Hodgkin, PhD; Ayana Jordan, MD, PhD; Anita Kennedy, CRPA; Michelle Lofwall, MD; Dennis McCarty, PhD; Beth Meyerson, MDiv, PhD; Robert Sherrick, MD; Kenneth B. Stoller, MD; and Zachary Talbott, LADC, LMSW Read more about the Commission at forefdn.org.

The entire team at FORE wishes a happy holidays to our #FOREgrantees and all who are working across the nation to address the #opioid and #overdose crisis in their communities! In the spirit of the season, FORE is pleased to highlight @casa.esperanza.ma , a bilingual and bicultural behavioral health center in Massachusetts empowering individuals and families to recover from #addiction, trauma, mental illness and other chronic medical conditions; overcome homelessness; and achieve health and wellness through comprehensive, integrated care, and support them with a holiday gift. If you would also like to support their mission, please visit /get-involved/ways-of-giving/.

This past week at the @americanpublichealth Annual Meeting, #FOREgrantees and staff presented on topics ranging from implementing innovations in maternal and child care to using drug checking to improve local responses to the #opioid and #overdose crisis. Thank you to our partners at @amchp_dc and the @perigeefund for participating!

The Pine Ridge Reservation covers a vast area of South Dakota with limited cellphone and internet service, making it challenging for organizations that support families affected by opioid use to share expertise and resources. A grant from FORE enabled 16 organizations across the reservation to come together and share the innovative methods they are developing to promote resilience and prevent substance use disorder and overdose in youth. The multi-sector coalition includes organizations that specialize in substance use prevention and treatment, healthcare, education, housing, and public safety. Each has a unique vantage point and means to engage Indigenous youth, who experience significantly higher rates of adverse childhood experiences that put them at heightened risk of suicide, depression, and substance use. In a new video released in honor of Indigenous Peoples’ Day, two organizations that are part of the coalition — Project Venture and the Oglala Lakota Children’s Justice Center — describe how coalition members are working to reduce the risk of suicide and substance use by creating opportunities for young people and their families to engage in Lakota ceremony and culture. “The families who come to us are hurting. We help them to let that emotion out by taking those who want to through ceremony that soothes the spirit,” says Arlana Bettelyoun, Executive Director of the Oglala Lakota Children’s Justice Center, a child advocacy organization. “It is profound to see how they work through things and develop an appreciation for who they are,” she says.

This week we brought together our over 120 #FOREgrantees - clinicians, researchers, first responders, people with lived experience, advocates, family members, community leaders, and more - to learn, collaborate, problem solve, and pave the way forward towards addressing the nation’s #opioid and #overdose crisis. From taking a deeper dive into the current data to practicing new communication techniques, our FORE family has left more energized than ever, ready to continue to roll up our sleeves, do the hard work, and save lives.

A HUGE congratulations to #FOREgrantee Dr. Nabarun Dasgupta on today being named a 2025 MacArthur 'Genius' Fellow! He has been an incredible partner in working with FORE to tackle the nation's #opioid and #overdose crisis. We are so, so proud to have been able to support him as he began his innovative nationwide #drugchecking program in 2022. Congratulations, Nab, and we can't wait to see what you do next!