Medication-assisted treatment. Training on how to administer Narcan. Education and stigma reduction. These are just a few of the initiatives funded by Buncombe County’s opioid settlement money to address the local impact of the opioid crisis.
Tag: Sunrise Community For Recovery and Wellness
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Advocates encourage workplaces to hire people in recovery
Some people in recovery or who reenter the workforce after incarceration find that potential employers won’t even interview them. This happens most with felony charges, especially drug-related ones.
Sunrise co-founder Kevin Mahoney on burnout, mental health and substance use
This summer, Kevin Mahoney decided to return to Sunrise Community for Recovery and Wellness, which he co-founded and where he will focus on educating the younger generation of peer support specialists.
Mental health respite offers place to recharge
It provides a safe, homelike environment where individuals can slow down and recharge — ideally tempering their current mental health struggles into a more manageable state.
WTF: Fentanyl test strips
North Carolina criminalizes the possession of drug-testing equipment as drug paraphernalia. The state defines paraphernalia as “all equipment, products and materials of any kind that are used … [for] testing, analyzing … or otherwise introducing controlled substances in the human body.” But the state also exempts the possession of fentanyl test strips “for personal use.”
Sunrise Recovery opens drop-in center
During the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020-21, the organization saw 14,000 peer interactions. In 2022, its peer interactions more than doubled to 33,000.
Q&A: Justin Shytle on harm reduction, naloxone and recovery
Justin Shytle moved to Asheville when he was 7 years old and remembers a childhood attending Bele Chere and skating around the former Vance Monument. But at 14, their childhood came to an abrupt end when they discovered their father dead from an overdose. The experience “opened the door for my IV drug use and […]
Local organizations update Buncombe on opioid response
According to figures shared with the county Board of Commissioners by Dr. Shuchin Shukla, a physician and opioid crisis educator with the Mountain Area Health Education Center, Buncombe’s rate of overdose deaths has exceeded the statewide average since at least 2016. In 2021, the county suffered 45.2 deaths per 100,000 residents, compared with 35.8 deaths per 100,000 for North Carolina as a whole.
Recovery community seeks to stop more overdoses with naloxone
On Sept. 13, Buncombe County Health & Human Services issued an alert on social media and to local groups like the Homeless Coalition about a spike in overdoses in the county. “Please be advised, over the last several days there has been a continued spike in probable overdoses in Buncombe County,” the email alert from […]
Local nonprofits discuss hiring for leaders
Over the past several years, due in part to community changes resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, many local nonprofits have been thrust into hiring leadership positions. Most have not had the liberty of hiring qualified candidates from within and have had to conduct broader searches.
Syringe disposal units are a ‘balancing act’
In September 2018, Malaprops Bookstore/Cafe placed its first needle disposal boxes in its bathrooms. “We were finding needles in the bathroom on the floor,” explains lead bookseller Justin Souther. Sometimes, people would open the top of the toilet tank and hide used needles inside, he says.
Ramada residents leave city’s temporary shelter
Since last April, 116 people in total have found a place under the motel’s roof. Local housing agencies and nonprofits have been referring those living at the Ramada to other housing before Thursday, March 31, when the city’s contract with the shelter operator ends.
Formerly homeless residents discuss path toward self-sufficiency
To move clients from reliance on shelters and services to self-sufficiency, homeless advocates say, community support and permanent affordable housing are key — and their lack is the main barrier to reducing the homeless population in Asheville.
Buncombe jail officials reflect on opioid treatment program a year after expansion
A year after the Buncombe County Detention Facility expanded its medication-assisted treatment program, Buncombe County Sheriff Quentin Miller says it’s time to put the successful service “in four-wheel drive.”
Mental health document allows patients to retain choice during crisis
A document that allows mental health patients to request personalized treatment from providers during times of crisis is beginning to gain popularity among those wishing to take charge of their health care decisions.
Xpress presents: The complete 2017 Asheville Innovators list
Xpress presents its 2017 Asheville Innovators
Xpress presents: 2017 Asheville Innovators — Kevin Mahoney
Xpress presents the 2017 Asheville Innovators. Our website will feature profiles of the eight projects and organizations we selected. Our seventh profile is Kevin Mahoney.