A multidisciplinary care team at a San Francisco hospital provides comprehensive, person-centered, trauma-informed services to pregnant and postpartum people with opioid use disorder.
Pregnancy can motivate women with opioid use disorder (OUD) to seek help, but fear of stigma and criminalization can prevent them from reaching out to a treatment program. Team Lily, a project of the Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital funded by the Foundation for Opioid Response Efforts, assists pregnant women affected by OUD as well as homelessness and mental health conditions to gain access to treatment and ongoing recovery support. The program operates a low-barrier clinic that provides pregnant individuals with pre-natal care, including medical and behavioral health services, medication for opioid use disorder (MOUD), and links to basic needs assistance via the Women, Infants and Children Program. Clients are located by referrals from local shelters, needle exchanges, emergency departments, and the city's mental health crisis management system. Staff include a case navigator, social workers, nurses, medical doctors, psychiatrists, and substance use clinicians.
Services include:
- Pregnancy counseling - abortion, adoption, and pregnancy continuation
- Pregnancy & postpartum care
- Mental health services
- Addiction services including buprenorphine / suboxone treatment
- Navigation & case management to assist with access to housing and other resources
An interview with the program director provides details on Team Lily's objectives and operations, and contact information for the program is available at its website. This news story describes a typical trajectory of how clients encounter the program and benefit from its prenatal services.
Team Lily is designed to help people achieve the best outcomes, including finding safe housing, treatment for mental health needs and SUDs, and a safe delivery for the parent and the baby. We always aim for the ideal: getting into treatment and housing.