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

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108 and substance use, and connections to community support. Of Orange County's population, SHAC SSP specifically serves those with highest need for access to care, behavioral health support, and connections to community support. Through our collaboration with community partners such as IFC and Orange County Overdose Response Team, we are able to effectively serve this population, contributing to the efforts of Orange County as a whole. The needs of our participants are determined by standard offerings of SSPs supplemented with additional resources based on participant needs. When participants come in to receive supplies, they are informed of everything we offer, and we use this opportunity to seek guidance on additional services and supplies that our participants could benefit from. We are then able to incorporate these requests into our standard offerings to better fit the needs of our population. While the focus of our program is to distribute safe injection and overdose reduction and response supplies, we believe in treating and caring for the whole person, so our harm reduction efforts extend beyond offering safe injection supplies alone. The population we serve is largely unhoused and/or living below the poverty line, so we make an effort to expand our services to fit the additional needs they have. For example, we received participant requests for and now offer bug repellent spray during summer months and hand warmers during the winter as these are highly valued items for our participants experiencing homelessness. By offering these items, we not only benefit our participants but are also able to establish better caring relationships with our community, building trust and familiarity with our program participants. Due to this approach, we often observe that participants initially coming in requesting items like hand warmers later return seeking harm reduction supplies.