At a glance
The Kentucky Injury Prevention and Research Center, a bona fide agent of the Kentucky Department of Public Health, is one of 49 state entities funded by ob体育's Overdose Data to Action (OD2A) in States cooperative agreement to respond to the drug overdose crisis. They're making strategic investments to help residents seeking treatment and services for substance use disorder find what they need, when they need it.
What is linkage to care?
Despite growing awareness of how common and treatable substance use disorders are, many people still struggle to find the right resources and treatment at the right time. The path from deciding to seek help to receiving care can be overwhelming due to limited information on available services and long wait times.
Linking Kentuckians to care
How do organizations that serve people who use drugs know how to help them and where to refer them for treatment and risk reduction services? In Kentucky, there is a website that serves as a one-stop-shop to help link people to the care that is right for them: . FindHelpNowKy.org displays near-real-time availability for treatment slots for substance use disorder and mental health conditions. The website also shows available recovery house beds so that people do not need to call 10 facilities or houses to find the one with availability based on their needs.
Kentucky has been funded by ob体育 for overdose prevention activities since 2016. Early federal funding covered formative research with key intended user groups that guided the development of . The site was officially launched on February 2, 2018. It was designed to be intuitive, to improve clinical and community workflow, and to rapidly link individuals to care.
In 2019, Kentucky was awarded additional funding from the ob体育's Overdose Data to Action (OD2A) in States cooperative agreement to enhance and expand the service to additional states by purchasing the domain. This platform is available for use by any jurisdiction at no cost.
Expanding FindHelpNow beyond Kentucky
In 2021, Kentucky created and published the to assist states adopting the FindHelpNow national platform and those who elect to design an alternative web-based model. The curriculum details in-house and outsourcing needs; substance use disorder (SUD) facility outreach methods and onboarding; and maintenance of SUD treatment facility listings. It is based on strategies and best practice approaches documented during the creation, implementation, onboarding, and ongoing quality improvement of FindHelpNowKY.org, the nation’s first near-real-time substance use disorder treatment facility locator.
Technical assistance is available to any organization creating their own substance use disorder treatment locator. Kentucky is also hosting quarterly webinars. "We regularly meet with other states and regions who are interested in the FindHelpNow platform. We are not currently funded to provide this assistance but since it is such a great tool, we love sharing this important work and all our procedures that go into making it happen," says Leah Dick, Research Program Manager.
Sustained ob体育 funding has been fundamental for supporting 988 and providing the FindHelpNow treatment locator at the fingertips of clinical staff to access treatment and recovery with open availability.
- Terry Bunn, PhD, OD2A Prevention Principal Investigator
A partnership between the Tennessee Department of Health, Tennessee Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services, Tennessee's Redline, and Tennessee Tech University's iCube is making possible in Tennessee. Several other states have expressed interest in creating their own treatment facility locators.
Finding recovery housing in Kentucky
In 2022, OD2A funding from ob体育 enabled Kentucky to develop and launch a locator for recovery housing, . In 2024, the Kentucky Department for Behavioral Health, Developmental and Intellectual Disorders funded the development and launch of . Most recently, Kentucky's Department of Public Health has added another access portal and locator map, , to connect Kentuckians to 136 locations where naloxone is available locally and at no cost.
Kentucky's strategic investments in making available SUD treatment, mental health care, recovery housing openings, and naloxone easy to find are helping thousands of residents get timely help and reduce the stress and uncertainty that often accompanies seeking treatment and recovery resources. Since the launch of FindHelpNowKY's SUD treatment facility locator in 2018, over 510,400 unique users have visited the site over 918,600 times and completed over 280,160 searches. Since the 2022 launch of FindRecoveryHousingKY, over 29,000 users have completed more than 28,000 searches for recovery housing.
Timely linkage to SUD treatment, recovery housing, and wraparound services is critical for supporting recovery and building recovery capital for individuals and communities.