At a glance |
|---|
|
Photo: Shutterstock
UMass Chan Medical School is partnering with the New England Rural Health Association (NERHA) on a federally funded initiative to expand substance use prevention, treatment and recovery resources in rural communities across the region.
The New England Rural Opioid Technical Assistance Regional Center (ROTA-RC), one of 10 regional centers nationwide funded by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), launched this fall with $650,000 in funding over three years. The center will provide training and technical assistance to an estimated 6,700 rural healthcare providers, community organizations and residents across the six New England states.
Led by UMass Chan, the center aims to address barriers that leave many rural communities particularly vulnerable to opioid and stimulant use, including workforce shortages, geographic and social isolation, limited transportation and gaps in behavioral health services.
“Rural New England communities face real barriers to substance use care: too few providers, long distances to treatment and services that don’t always connect with one another,” said Rosemarie Martin, PhD, professor of population & quantitative health sciences and ROTA-RC project director. “We designed this center to help close those gaps by supporting the people already doing this work, including clinicians, recovery supports and community organizations, so that prevention, treatment and recovery services are within reach no matter where someone lives.”
The center builds on UMass Chan’s experience delivering regional training and technical assistance. Dr. Martin also directs the SAMHSA-funded New England Addiction Technology Transfer Center, which supports the region’s addition treatment and recovery workforce.
The center will offer training and technical assistance tailored to the needs of rural communities, including webinars, on-demand consultations, educational programs and workforce development opportunities. To ensure the programming reflects local priorities, the center will convene an advisory council that includes representation from each of the six New England state offices of rural health along with people with lived experience and recovery community organizations or tribal partners. The council will guide the needs assessment in all six states and advise on training and technical assistance throughout the project.
The initiative will focus on strengthening evidence-based prevention, treatment, recovery and overdose response services for people affected by opioid use disorder, stimulant use disorder and co-occurring conditions.
NERHA will serve as the center's primary rural community engagement partner, bringing 30 years of experience building relationships with rural healthcare organizations and community stakeholders across New England.
Planned activities include rural-specific behavioral health and addiction training at NERHA's annual conference, workforce development and leadership programs, and a telehealth capacity-building initiative in partnership with the HRSA-funded Northeast Telehealth Resource Center.
“We are so excited to expand UMass Chan's partnership with NERHA for the newly funded New England Rural Opioid Technical Assistance Regional Center,” said Grace Ryan, PhD, MPH, assistant professor of population & quantitative health sciences and ROTA-RC co-project director. “NERHA brings decades of expertise in rural health, deep community partnerships, and strong experience in behavioral health training and technical assistance delivery.”
The team will assess its impact through participation in training and technical assistance activities, participant feedback, website engagement and annual assessments with community stakeholders.
Rural providers, organizations and community members interested in training, technical assistance or updates can contact the team at NewEnglandROTA@UMassmed.edu.
