Case Study — Office of Addiction and Recovery
Designing a robust continuum of care for victims of substance use disorder
Introduction
Aligning across the continuum of care to eliminate substance use disorder
According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), nearly 1,300 Minnesotans lost their lives to drug overdoses in 2021 – more than twice as many as in 2018. Substance use disorder (SUD), including alcohol and opioids, affects every community in Minnesota. Native Minnesotans are more than nine times as likely to die of an overdose, and Black Minnesotans are more than three times as likely to die as their white counterparts. SUD has a devastating impact on youth and children, too.
But, the State of Minnesota imagined a better future for its residents. So, the Office of Addiction and Recovery (OAR) was born out of the 2023 legislative decision to unite Minnesota’s SUD continuum of care in a collective effort to save lives.
Seeking to address barriers to care ranging from prevention models to harm reduction strategies, to intervention efforts, the OAR aimed to alleviate the suffering of many by enhancing coordination across multiple governmental and non-profit organizations and partnerships. To accomplish the kind of sweeping systems transformation the OAR was established to achieve, the OAR turned to Imagine Deliver to co-create a year-one lift-off strategy for their inaugural year.
OBJECTIVE
Building a lift-off strategy focused on strengthening the care continuum for SUD for all Minnesotans, particularly Black and Indigenous populations
We set out to understand what the most critical challenges are for those experiencing substance use disorder, and what the OAR could do to help them. Using our Proven ProcessTM, we invited the OAR and cross-sector partners to engage with curiosity. As priorities were identified, we asked, “How will we get there?”— guiding our one-year strategic map for the OAR. Together with government agencies and direct service providers, we explored how the SUD continuum of care could best help Minnesotans in need.
STRATEGY
Prioritizing community perspectives to identify strategic priorities for the coming year
We know that solutions never live far away from the problems. So, we brought together those who are recovering from SUD or are caregivers of individuals struggling from it, to think through the strategy with us. We encouraged participating members to reflect on their personal experience of caregiving to loved ones struggling with or recovering from SUD. These stories became the heart of our endeavor.
To strengthen and sustain the care continuum, participants identified the need for community-driven solutions, a ‘money follows the person’ model, background reform, flexible funding, and to establish a state-wide strategic direction for substance use and recovery. Thus, a one-year, lift-off strategy was arrived at by the end of the workshop, which included priorities for the year and the way forward for each.
Substance Use Disorder / One Minnesota Plan. (n.d.). Minnesota.gov. Retrieved January 10, 2024
IMPACT
Listening deeply and advocating for change in a way that supports those who need the most care
The workshop and the strategic lift-off did not merely stop merely at solution ideation. Over the next few months after our partnership, the OAR conducted sessions and meetings to interact with tribal and urban native community members, as well as the American-born Black community. Using our recommendations, the OAR worked with the Governor’s Advisory Council to prioritize background studies reform in their recommendations to the legislature and the counties. The concept of flexible funding was advocated for in the American Indian SUD Summit, and it is making its way into legislative proposals.
Providing equitable access to resources and bridging silos of work so that faster recovery and better care can be ensured through partnership
How can every Minnesotan live a life of dignity, and access care when they need it? – With this question guidingto guide us, we thought through and engaged in conversation about what people suffering from SUD need most, and how we can best offer care and sustained recovery support. It was a collaborative and hands-on workshop, focused on creativity and committed to learn from Black Minnesotans, refugees, and people of color. The strategy lift-off highlighted the need to lend agency to people accessing recovery funds, and to partner with other caregiving organizations.
Spurring systemic recovery and care across the state of Minnesota
The OAR implemented our proposed strategy with a long-term vision of impacting communities who are most affected by SUD. Minnesotans came together in multiple individual meetings with community members and many town halls and summits to discuss, reflect, and inform what the SUD continuum of care could be best imagined as. Through advocacy, subcabinet recommendations, and trainings, such as a 6-month policy program under the National GovernorsGovernor’s Association to build shared vision for overdose prevention, our work with the OAR helped strengthen community-driven solution design and implementation.
CONCLUSION
Committing to collective care and support
Together, we successfully engaged in strategic decision-making that fostered a sense of ownership, accountability, and collaboration that spoke for different communities within Minnesota. We agreed that we are stronger together. We imagine a future so successful for the SUD continuum of care that no Minnesotan feels alone or abandoned in their struggle to overcome substance use disorder. We are committed to an SUD-free Minnesota! Are you ready to deepen your network connections for greater impact? Let’s create it together.
