The Brandeis Opioid Resource Connector serves community stakeholders working to combat the opioid epidemic. It is a product of the Brandeis Opioid Policy Research Collaborative.
The heart of the Brandeis Opioid Resource Connector is our curated list of Program Models that address the many aspects of the opioid crisis.
Successful responses to the opioid crisis involve coordination among agencies and stakeholders within a community, ensuring that essential interventions across the continuum of care are implemented with available resources.
Understanding the numbers behind the opioid epidemic, and demonstrating how it affects a community, are critical steps in determining what approaches should be prioritized, and in informing local efforts.
This section contains links to a curated list of external resources related to actionable responses to the opioid crisis.
An important step in countering the opioid crisis is to prevent new cases.
Prevention often includes providing treatment providers, educators, parents, and potential substance users with the knowledge and skills they need to prevent harmful behaviors.
Research indicates that comprehensive, effective treatment for opioid use disorder increases one’s chances of wellness.
There is a range of evidence-based approaches from FDA-approved medications to cognitive-behavioral interventions to mutual aid groups. Treatment planning should be tailored to the individual.
We know that opioid use disorder can be a chronic condition and recurrence is common. Recovery is the process by which people sustain wellness by focusing on improving one’s health, sense of purpose, and connection with community.
Harm reduction aims to reduce the adverse health, economic, and social consequences of substance use. Effective harm reduction approaches are designed to be practical, feasible, and safe.
Collaboration and coordination among a community’s stakeholders are essential.
This section presents tools to help community stakeholders maximize impact within available resources. Stakeholders can learn about interventions and effective coalition building.
This checklist tool can help you prioritize programs and policies to address the opioid crisis that best fit your stakeholder role and your community.
The tool lists programs and policies which are essential for a comprehensive community response, using examples from our repository of program models as well as external resources. You can use the checklist to identify gaps in your community's response.
Collaboration among stakeholders is essential. We provide:
Community Highlights features, on a rotating basis, a coalition or cross-agency response. Each response illustrates cutting edge, innovative approaches. These real-world case studies in community-wide coordinated action inform stakeholders of what does and doesn’t work.
Tell us about your program: successes, barriers, outcomes, and lessons learned.
Sharing your experience and knowledge can help other communities respond to the opioid crisis.
