Overdose prevention training, education, and continuous quality improvement

The Mississippi State Department of Health (MSDH) received federal funding from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) through the First Responders-Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act (FR-CARA) program to strengthen overdose prevention and response capacity in Mississippi. Mississippi continues to experience significant opioid-related overdose morbidity and mortality, with fentanyl remaining a major contributor to overdose deaths. Rural communities face additional challenges, including limited access to behavioral health and substance use disorder services, poverty, lack of insurance, social isolation, and gaps in treatment and recovery resources. These conditions create a need for coordinated, community-based overdose prevention strategies that strengthen the ability of first responders and local partners to recognize and respond to overdose, increase awareness, and connect individuals to appropriate services. The FR-CARA project will focus on eight high-need counties—Jackson, Harrison, Hancock, Pearl River, George, Jones, Warren, and Lamar—identified through a data-driven process considering overdose burden, rurality, access to services, and other community-level risk factors. The primary populations of focus include first responders and individuals at increased risk of substance use-related harms in rural communities. Through this project, MSDH seeks to strengthen local overdose prevention and response infrastructure by expanding overdose prevention training and education; increasing knowledge of naloxone use, overdose prevention, emerging drug threats, and Mississippi Good Samaritan protections; engaging community anchor organizations and other key sectors; identifying community resources and service gaps; and strengthening coordination and referral pathways. The project includes measurable training and capacity-building objectives, including training first responders on approaches to overdose care, expanding naloxone-related education, providing recurring overdose awareness and stigma-reduction training, and educating stakeholders on emerging drug threats such as fentanyl, xylazine, synthetic opioids, and stimulants. Community partnerships, resource mapping, performance monitoring, evaluation, and continuous quality improvement will be used to ensure project activities respond to identified needs and support measurable improvements in overdose prevention and response capacity. The selected subrecipient will support implementation of these activities through training, stakeholder engagement, evaluation, performance monitoring, and continuous quality improvement. Successful implementation will require the ability to work across public health, public safety, healthcare, and community-based systems; deliver effective training in both in-person and virtual formats; engage partners across the eight priority counties; and use program data and participant feedback to assess reach, identify barriers, and improve project activities.