Can Rock Climbing, Weight Lifting and Free Lattes Keep People Sober?

Project CARA (Care that Advocates Respect/Resilience/Recovery for All) supports pregnant and parenting people with substance use disorders, providing healthcare, addiction resources and obstetrics care in one spot. The program's hub-and-spokes model makes care more accessible, especially for those in remote areas. Data from the Project also indicates that participants of the program are more likely to attend prenatal and postpartum appointments than those outside of the program.

Six programs throughout the state, including the SUN Project and Project CARA, are working to provide support to pregnant mothers navigating a substance use disorder. With support from the North Carolina Perinatal Substance Use Disorder Network, the programs share best practices for treating perinatal substance use and expand access to treatment. Project CARA alone serves more than 200 patients each year.

The Mental Health Rebuilding and Restoring Initiative helps those struggling with drug addiction by showing them documentaries of others who have also struggled with addiction and how they managed to overcome it. The documentaries have since helped 50 people to stop using drugs. The Initiative also follows up with, monitors and encourages participants throughout their recovery journey.

Clean Slate Clinic is an in-home detox service that helps people receive a medicated detox plan including pharmaceuticals and vitamins, as well as daily telehealth sessions, rehabilitation support and check-ins. These detox services are currently undergoing a trial period that will tailor the program according to the unique needs of people in more rural and remote settings.

PCC Community Wellness helps people who are pregnant and struggling with addiction access prenatal care and addiction treatment and feel more supported on their recovery journey. Peer recovery doulas help get clients to prenatal appointments, access addiction treatment and navigate the complicated health care and legal systems. They also work to educate hospital staff on ways to reduce stigma for those struggling with addiction.

Some universities are helping students stay sober. Institutions like Rutgers, Texas Tech, and University of Michigan offer counseling, support groups, and even recovery houses. Research shows these programs are overwhelmingly successful. “They have low relapse rates, higher GPAs than average, and are more likely to stay in college and graduate. In fact, they reported up to 95 percent of participating students are able to sustain their sobriety while attending school.”

Across the country, prisons are incorporating “therapeutic communities” to help incarcerated individuals find the residential treatment they need. Substance abuse continues to be strongly linked to recidivism, and in an attempt to break that cycle, these therapeutic communities provide people with structured rehabilitation, counseling, and support as an alternative to traditional prison. Many are federally funded, but considering they’ve only recently gained traction, they still face issues like buy-in and capacity.

After the fall of an oppressive and isolating regime, Portugal found itself utterly unprepared to deal with the rapid distribution of narcotics in the 1980s, creating a crisis that left 1 in every 10 people struggling with addiction. The country took a radical approach to rectifying opioid use through a huge cultural shift in the way it viewed and treated addicts - prioritizing support services and pioneering programs like needle-exchange and substitution therapy, and eventually decriminalizing hard drugs so that users could more easily get help, and drug rates have since plummeted.

In response to the dangerous gap in health services that incarcerated people face upon release, California and 26 other states have implemented Medicaid waivers allowing coverage to begin up to 90 days before release and continue for up to a year afterward. The program connects inmates with case managers, medications, housing assistance, and mental health care before they walk out the door. California's program has already enrolled more than 50,000 incarcerated people in prerelease services since January 2023.

Komfot Health operates a technology-driven network providing post-abortion care and sexual reproductive health services across Nigeria. The organization trains healthcare providers to address biases, uses a chatbot system for patient triage and connects women to verified medical facilities in six states, acting as intermediaries between women seeking care and trusted healthcare providers. Since launching in 2024, Komfot Health has served over 1,790 women.