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Chesterfield County, Virginia implemented a multi-faceted response to the opioid crisis, including a jail-based recovery program, Helping Addicts Recover Progressively (HARP), that brings people in recovery to the local jail to talk about addiction and treatment resources. Combined with other efforts, overdose deaths have dropped by half in a single year, and around 4,000 people have participated in HARP.

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.

To address overdose deaths, multiple organizations across Athens County and Ohio University have implemented free Narcan distribution and training programs since 2023, including overdose response training sessions and no-barrier access to free Narcan kits through campus cabinets, health departments, and community organizations partnered with Ohio's Project DAWN network. The programs have helped distribute hundreds of Narcan boxes and to normalize overdose response training and reduce stigma around addiction.

Health engagement hubs like Washington state’s Buprenorphine Pathways connect people with prescriptions for methadone and buprenorphine to help treat addiction. In addition to medication and a syringe-exchange program, the hub also connects patients to social services, taking a more holistic approach to addiction treatment.

Los Angeles County’s Homeless Outreach & Mobile Engagement (HOME) program uses street psychiatry to get psychiatric medication to people experiencing homelessness in an effort to get them a step closer to housing. The HOME team has 223 full-time staff members and served 1,919 people last year, 22% of whom ended the year housed.

Technology like chatbots, motion detectors and hotlines are helping prevent overdose deaths, which typically happen when people use alone. The Never Use Alone hotline which was started in 2019 by volunteers with experience using drugs or who have lost someone to an overdose. Since starting, they have received more than 45,000 calls and have called emergency responders about 200 times.

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.

The Olympia Bupe Clinic's walk-in model for treating opioid addiction allows patients to receive medication-assisted treatment with buprenorphine on their first visit without barriers or extensive wait times. This low-barrier approach eliminates the hurdles people often face when seeking treatment. The Clinic also hires staff with lived experience with addiction to build trust and community with patients.

Research has found that providing medications for opioid use disorder can help prevent overdoses after release from prison. The state’s Department of Adult Correction recently launched a pilot program to test this theory. 229 of the 287 participants received treatment, several of whom said the access to the medications helped save their lives.

The Cowichan Wellness and Recovery Centre works to combat the ongoing overdose crisis. The Centre offers services like mental health support and a community hub where people can access, test and use drugs safely, as well as connect with healthcare, detox, and treatment services. Not only have these services benefited people, and connected them with others in the community, but they’ve also led to decreased criminal activity like theft.