Home > Guide to developing and managing overdose prevention and take home naloxone projects.

Wheeler, Eliza and Burk, Katie and McQuie, Hilary and Stancliff, Sharon (2012) Guide to developing and managing overdose prevention and take home naloxone projects. New York: Harm Reduction Coalition.

[img]
Preview
PDF (Guide to developing and managing overdose prevention and take home naloxone projects)
726kB

External website: https://harmreduction.org/issues/overdose-preventi...


Fatal overdose is the leading cause of death for people in the U.S. under 50 years old. More than 800,000 people died from fatal overdoses in the U.S. from 1999-2018. The rate of overdose deaths today has increased more than five-fold since 1999. We are experiencing an overdose crisis and overdose deaths are preventable. Providing overdose prevention, recognition, and response education to people who use drugs, their neighbors, friends, families, and the service providers who work with them is a harm reduction intervention that saves lives. Heroin and other opioid overdoses are particularly amenable to intervention because risk factors are well understood and there is a safe antidote — naloxone. This training guide outlines the process of developing and managing an Overdose Prevention and Education Program.

Using this guide
This training guide is designed to outline the process of developing and managing an Overdose Prevention and Education Program, with or without a take-home naloxone component. Overdose prevention work can be easily integrated into existing services and programs that work with people who use or are impacted by drugs, including shelter and supportive housing agencies, substance use treatment programs, parent and student groups, and by groups of people who use drugs outside of a program setting. It offers practical suggestions and considerations rooted in harm reduction — an approach to drug use that promotes and honors the competence of people who use drugs to protect themselves, their loved ones, and their communities and the belief that people who use drugs have a right to respect, health and access to life-saving tools and information.

This manual begins with a description of how to integrate overdose prevention education into existing programs. Next, it goes into detail about how to develop and manage a take-home naloxone program. The manual uses case studies of existing overdose prevention programs to outline main points and provide models. The manual also includes a comprehensive “Overdose Prevention and Response” section which provides details on overdose and its causes and co-factors; overdose recognition basics; and effective responses. An extensive Appendix is available and includes annotated citations of existing research studies, examples of data tracking forms, examples of policies and procedures, examples of PowerPoint presentations for overdose prevention trainings/groups, and other overdose materials.

This manual is simply a guide. It is not meant to be exhaustive nor prescriptive, and there are numerous other resources that go into extended detail about many of the topics covered. We have provided links to these resources whenever possible. Take from this manual the parts that are important and meaningful to you, adapt them how you see fit, leave those pieces that may not apply, and pass on to others what you develop.

Repository Staff Only: item control page