Needs assessments to determine how funds will be allocated to address opioid misuse

Nebraska was awarded hundreds of millions of dollars after a federal class action lawsuit against pharmaceutical companies for their role in the opioid use epidemic.

Each behavioral health region was allocated funding to determine how to best address the issue. In the southeast region, the Lincoln-based Wellbeing Initiative and partners are conducting community needs assessments specifically for Spanish-speakers.

Chris Allende, the training and technical assistance coordinator, is helping to organize the Spanish language event on Thursday.

“It's very important for me to give a voice to my community, to hear from the perspective of my community what is actually going on from their point of view, and really just giving the platform for folks such as myself to be able to come and speak freely from a perspective that might vary from our English-speaking neighbors,” he said.

Allende is in long-term recovery himself and is of Cuban descent, so he makes it a priority to offer cultural relevance at outreach events. According to a recent study from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, there has been a demographic shift in increases of opioid misuse and overdose deaths among Hispanic and Latino populations.

Anyone who attends the research session will receive a $20 Amazon gift card for their time.

“We are using this as a platform to get your voice at the table, but it's also a space where we're providing a certain level of education as far as what's going on, and how you can use your voice to affect change,” Allende added. “I want them to feel like their input makes a difference.”

Over the summer, the Wellbeing Initiative, a peer-run organization that helps individuals living with mental health and substance use challenges, participated in a summit where it identified priority areas for opioid misuse.

These additional stakeholder and lived experience interviews will be used in conjunction with the data points gathered from the summit for a needs assessment report.

“The hope is that the report will help inform the priority areas so we can allocate funds according to that report and the priority areas,” Allende said.

The Spanish-language event will be Thursday, Nov. 14 at 6:30 p.m. at the Wellbeing Initiative. Attendees do not have to live in Lincoln to participate. If anyone is unable to make it, but would like to share their perspective for the needs assessment, Allende encourages them to email him at callende@winitiative.org.

Allende needs to submit his data to analysts by Thanksgiving to make the report. That report is expected to be released next year and will inform the region how to allocate the funds to address opioid misuse.