The NKyTribune is partnering with Horizon Community Funds to focus on our region’s nonprofits. Here is one of the continuing series.
By Tess Brown
Horizon Community Funds
Blue lips and fingernails. Pale or grayish skin tone. Slow, shallow, erratic breathing, or no breathing at all. No pulse. Loss of consciousness.
Each year, addiction and substance overdose take hundreds of our neighbors away from their jobs, their families, and, too often, their lives.
It’s often not a phone call that you plan ahead of time. Even if you’ve seen the warning signs or if you’re faced directly with a crisis, picking up the phone and asking a stranger for help can be a challenge on its own. Adding to that, it can be a challenge to figure out the right number to call. It seems that every public service announcement and every type of addiction comes with an 800 number.
Addiction Services Council of Cincinnati and Newport wants to replace the 800 with 859. This nonprofit realizes that the needs of our neighbors facing addiction are as unique as the individuals themselves. Their counselors are well-equipped to help callers navigate the questions and processes to get help from local programs and resources.
The phone calls come in 24 hours a day. Director of Development Kevin Richardson estimates that while many of the questions are Q&A, most are comprised of referral to services and resources. There is scheduling of assessment appointments and mobile assessments with services along with follow ups from initial contact through the entire recovery process. Addiction Services Council strives to be a single stop for people battling any addiction.
Addiction Services Council knows very well that this work cannot be done in a silo. The nonprofit collaborates with more than 40 other local organizations in order to meet the needs of each individual who calls or walks in the door.
When it comes to the opioid epidemic, partnerships also mean boots on the ground.
The Quick Response Team, now saving lives in Boone and Kenton Counties in Kentucky as well, was first established by Addiction Services Council in Ohio in partnership with Colerain Township’s fire and police departments. It pairs a police officer with a paramedic and a licensed counselor from the Council. Each week, the team reviews overdose responses from the police database, then conducts door-to-door visits to try to reach victims and offers assessments, resources and recovery.
This model has recently been introduced in Northern Kentucky, and the team at Addiction Services Council wants the word, not the addiction, to spread.
Addiction Services Council is on Facebook and offers plenty of information on their website, but the biggest takeaway from this is their number. To speak to a licensed, professional counselor, call 859.415.9280.
