This is a paper that provides a preliminary evaluation of using peer outreach workers to identify and link people with opioid use disorder (OUD) to methadone treatment in a high-risk community in Chicago.
The results are promising as 88 active users with OUD were identified, 70 showed up for a linkage meeting to initiate treatment, and 70% of the people who initiated methadone treatment were still receiving methadone 60 days after intake.
Scott, C. K., Grella, C. E., Nicholson, L., & Dennis, M. L. (2018). Opioid recovery initiation: Pilot test of a peer outreach and modified Recovery Management Checkup intervention for out-of-treatment opioid users. Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment, 86, 30–35.