In Georgia, those that make it through accountability court programs — over 1,000 every year — are far less likely to re-enter incarceration and addiction.
Since the late 1980s, Georgia has led the way in training professional peer counselors with substance misuse and mental health challenges to help others in similar situations.
In 2022, total deaths by suicide and drug overdose declined slightly for the first time in five years, according to a report from Trust for America’s Health.
Teachers at Roswell High School allow students to leave class for therapy appointments and return without missing a beat because teachers know that if the student is struggling with mental health, they're not going to be able to focus on math or science, school social worker Valerie Rogers says.
Commissioners in Forsyth County are split on whether to use federal COVID relief funds for mental health care now that the planned building costs exceed the budget by $12 million. The plan is now up in the air, to the frustration of many residents.
“We don't want to make the mistake of saying, oh, homelessness is causing the deaths when it's this underlying opioid use disorder," said researcher from the University of Georgia David Bradford.
Mental health advocates, peers, key leaders, and legislators from across Georgia gathered last week at Georgia's state Capitol asking to be involved with each legislative/gubernatorial commission, study group, or panel created to advise about mental health. They also want lawmakers to bolster the state's mental health workforce shortage by expanding the certified peer specialist (CPS) workforce and supporting a salary increase in parity with other service providers.
When a person with substance use disorder needs immediate care due to withdrawal symptoms or mental health struggles, a behavioral health unit can help.
The federal government made naloxone nasal spray available over the counter this year, and that availability is helping naloxone become a life-saving measure in shelters, jails and schools.
While some harm reduction advocates want to see OPVEE as commercially available as Narcan, others say the medication is so strong that it’s cruel for the patient.
For people living with addiction, it’s been proven that access to evidence-based treatment and support can help keep them alive and stable. But care can be hard to come by and is only possible by combating the stigma around addiction, which is pervasive among providers, the public, and people with addiction themselves.
The majority of drugs tested after an opioid overdose — 90% — contain fentanyl, which is a synthetic opioid that is up to 50 times stronger than heroin and 100 times stronger than morphine. That's why some health experts are calling for nasal nalmefene to be available over the counter.
