Agenda 05-06-25; 6-a - Opioid Advisory Committee Settlement Fund Use Recommendations

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114 eager to learn and bring insights from their unique training programs to better the SSP, staffing shifts with enthusiasm, humility, and a genuine interest in getting to know participants' and their needs. For example, public health students bring knowledge of how policy changes impact our participants, while medical and nursing students can educate participants on wound care and overdose reversal. Undergraduates have superior knowledge of campus and town resources that may be useful to our participants such as food banks and other volunteer efforts, and dental students can direct participants with dental needs to free clinics. These volunteers connect at our staffing shifts, learning from each other and bringing their own unique perspectives to conversations on harm reduction and opioid use. While our primary organizational focus is supply provision to people who use drugs, we also take pride in our ability to start conversations and engage students from across campus to create more support for and dialogue surrounding harm reduction. We prepare our volunteers to staff our SSP by providing them with education on discussing complex topics, including roleplaying conversations between them and potential participants about the benefits of SSPs and harm reduction. For supplies that may garner comments and questions from participants and community members at our supply distribution shift, such as Plan B and condoms, we provide literature for volunteers so they can respond with educated and measured answers. We also provide education on identifying and avoiding stigmatizing language and how to speak with participants about drug use in a nonjudgmental and approachable manner. We source our information for volunteer trainings and educational events, such as talks to UNC Emergency Department physicians, from reputable sources within and outside of North Carolina, including the Department of Health and Human Services, the UNC Street Drug Analysis Lab's newsletter and website, and peer reviewed scientific papers on opioid use trends and SUD treatment (among others). When preparing written materials for distribution from our SSP, we cite a variety of academic sources and cross-reference our supplies against those of other SSPs nationwide to ensure that we include all necessary information. In the next funding period, when new written materials are developed, they will be assessed by our CAB members prior to dissemination to ensure they deliver information in a culturally sensitive and appropriate manner. Our program navigator also attends NC SSP Advisory Board meetings to incorporate insights from other SSPs into our volunteer education and service provision. Since our registration as an SSP in 2022, our organization has promoted the health and dignity of individuals and communities impacted by drug use by offering a judgement-free environment where participants can receive services that they are often denied elsewhere. We follow a harm reduction framework, meeting participants where they are and following the lead of each individual to support them on their own path, never placing pressure on participants to enter a recovery program unless they express a desire to pursue it with our assistance. We provide supplies on an as-needed basis and do not place strict limits on quantities of supplies provided to ensure that participants are covered until the next time they are able to visit us. We also incorporate participants' feedback into our service provision, ordering new types of supplies based on individual requests. Our co-directors and program navigator stay up to date with the most accurate and accepted harm reduction language and practices by attending SSP advisory board meetings, and reading reports disseminated by NC DHHS. Leadership and volunteers also engage with materials made by and for people impacted