The Opportunity Alliance Launches Opioid Health Home

South Portland, ME, Release: October 10, 2019.

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The Opportunity Alliance, the Community Action Agency for Cumberland County, has launched a Opioid Health Home (OHH) as of September 19th, 2019. An office/community-based program, OHH provides nursing care, case management, and peer support.

OHH exists to support optimal service delivery to individuals living with opioid use disorder by offering office-based Medication Assisted Treatment (MAT). Medication is supplemented with individually tailored nurse care management, substance use counseling, case management, and peer support by team members who strive to adhere to harm-reduction and trauma informed principles. Understanding that people with opioid use disorder are all in varied stages of their recovery process, individual, client centered care is the foundation of this program, based on an understanding that individuals are best supported by a team that believes in and respects their unique recovery.

Program director, Rachael Mathieu, shares that “accumulating evidence is moving us away from moral, criminal, and eminently discriminatory ways of looking at substance abuse treatment. This OHH program aligns with TOA’s mission and values to provide; respect, diversity, integrity, collaboration, empathy, empowerment, and advocacy to clients and families that are seeking support. Approaches like the OHH model acknowledge the spectrum of substance use disorder as a biopsychosocial process that must fluctuate to meet each participant’s needs.”

Anyone interested in finding out more about the program can contact The Opportunity Alliance Intake line at 207-523-5027 to be directed to any OHH staff member. Information is also available at www.TheOpportunityAlliance.org.

For 50 years, The Opportunity Alliance has provided advocacy, leadership, and support to help individuals, families, and communities identify goals and address their needs. The state’s designated crisis services provider for Cumberland County, TOA provides mental health services through crisis response programs, residential mental health treatment facilities, case management programs for children, youth, and adults, and therapeutic foster care programs. TOA is a co-occurring competent agency offering programs for individuals attempting to recover from substance use and mental health co-occurring disorders, and we are a leader in peer to peer and parent to parent partnering supports and services.