Our Mission

To support, train, and provide technical assistance to individuals and organizations in rural communities throughout Region 6 to prevent, treat, and recover from substance use disorders, emphasizing an overall goal to reduce unnecessary loss of life due to opioid and stimulant use in rural communities.

Our Vision

Vibrant, healthy, and thriving rural communities across Region 6 without the burden of substance use, where individuals and families are supported, treatment is accessible, well-being is prioritized, and resilience is the foundation of everyday living.

Our Values

Family

Resilience

Well-Being

Hope

What we do

Across the states in Region 6, methamphetamines and opioids, like fentanyl, were major contributors to rising overdose deaths, increasing from 0.7% to 28.8% in just one year (2021–2022). Overdose deaths involving psychostimulants with abuse potential were 31% higher in rural counties than in urban counties, while deaths involving natural and semisynthetic opioids were nearly 13% higher in rural areas. Additionally, deaths involving synthetic opioids (e.g., fentanyl) were nearly twice as common as those involving psychostimulants and three times as common as those involving natural or semisynthetic opioids. These trends highlight the urgent need for prevention, treatment, and recovery services in rural areas across Region 6.

We develop and disseminate resources, training, and technical assistance materials that focus on prevention, treatment, and recovery from opioid- and stimulant-related harms in rural areas throughout Region 6- Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas.

Project Aura Training and Technical Assistance Targets:

  • Safer use education/training

  • Naloxone distribution

  • Naloxone administration training

  • Overdose prevention sites (med drop, syringe exchanges)

  • SUD stigma reduction (in any capacity)

  • Drug testing supplies distribution (fentanyl test strips)

  • Drug testing supplies utilization training (fentanyl test strips)

  • Peer support services

  • Medications for substance use disorder

IMPACT

GOAL: INCREASE THE AVAILABILITY, ACCESSABILITY, AND ACCEPTABILITY OF MEDICATIONS FOR SUBSTANCE USE DISORDERS IN RURAL COUNTIES IN REGION 6

What we have done

  • Collectively, our institutions operate 21 Project ECHO lines that provide training on substance use disorder prevention, treatment, and recovery. Of those, 5 lines focus on medications for opioid and stimulant use disorders.
    • To increase the scope of this impact, we are working on a marketing campaign to increase attendance in these ECHO lines from healthcare providers in the rural counties that are most impacted by substance use overdose in Region 6 (as identified in our needs assessment).

We developed the “Medications for Opioid Use Disorders: Barriers and Resources for Rural Physicians” fact sheet, tailored to rural providers in Region 6 as well as the “Medications for Opioid Use Disorders: Barriers and Resources for Healthcare Providers”, tailored to providers more generally. These fact sheets highlights barriers to providing substance use treatment in rural areas, solutions to those barriers, and free resources that correspond with the provided solutions.

  • We developed a fact sheet “Considerations for Academic Detailing for Addiction Medicine Interventions with Rural Healthcare Providers in Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas” to guide academic detailers who work with rural healthcare providers to address barriers in rural substance use treatment.
  • We have academic detailers on our team who work with rural healthcare providers to offer evidence-based solutions for patients with opioid and stimulant use disorders.
  • We are offering training through the National Resource Center for Academic Detailing (NaRCAD) for individuals to become an academic detailer to address barriers in rural substance use treatment in Region 6.

GOAL: INCREASE OVERDOSE PREVENTION AND INTERVENTION EFFORTS ACROSS RURAL COUNTIES IN REGION 6

What we have done

  • We partnered with the CMC: Foundation for Change to provide training in the Invitation to Change approach. This evidence-based training provides participants with the skills needed to support and empower family members and loved ones of individuals affected by substance use.
    • Contact us for more details on the next Invitation to Change training.

  • Developed by Project AURA, Cope Able is a four-week training curriculum for adolescents with the goal to teach adolescents about positive, neutral, and negative coping skills and help them to develop a coping plan. This curriculum is supported by a parent and caregiver packet to extend the learning from the school to the home environment.
    • Contact us for more details or to book the training at your school.

We have developed four presentations targeted towards community members:

  • Problem Solving Pain Management: Increase knowledge of options for pain management.
  • Finding Understanding: Stories of Opioid and Substance Use and Use Disorders: Humanize those who experience OUD and SUD to reduce stigma.
  • The Dangers of Fentanyl: Information about fentanyl, symptoms of use and withdrawal, treating fentanyl overdose, using and interpreting fentanyl test strips, and resources fentanyl test strip access
  • Opioid and Stimulant Use Disorders: Chronic, Relapsing Brain Diseases: Provides information of how stimulants and opioids effect the brain reward system, highlighting that addiction is a disease, and discusses stimulant and opioidopioid and stimulant use disorder treatment, the effects of stigma, and how one can reduce stigma.
  • GenerationRX: Developed by Ohio State University, Generation RX is a series of presentations that strive to increase medication safety among youth, college students, and adults of various ages by educating participants about the potential dangers of misusing prescription medications. One of our team members is a trained facilitator of Generation RX.
    • Contact us for more information or to schedule a presentation for your group.

  • “Understanding and Addressing Childhood Trauma and Substance Use Disorders” informs community members of the links between substance use and childhood trauma.
  • “Selecting Substance Use Treatment: Questions and Considerations” was designed to help community members and loved ones of those with a substance use disorder select the best treatment option for their families.
  • “Discussing Substance Use with a Loved One: Approaches and Considerations” was designed for community members and loved ones of those with an addictive disorder to guide conversations around substance use that will resonate with the individual experiencing addiction to consider and begin the path to treatment and recovery.
  • “Risk and Protective Factors that Influence Substance Use” was designed to educate community members on the internal and external risk and protective factors that influence substance use.

  • “Gabapentin Overdose” was designed to educate healthcare providers on the dangers of gabapentin overdose and considerations to make when prescribing gabapentin.
  • “Co-Prescribing Naloxone with High-Dose Opioids” was designed to educate healthcare providers on the benefits of co-prescribing and urge them to co-prescribe naloxone with opioid medications.

Project AURA Progress:

*These numbers reflect trainings and events conducted from 2022-2024.

423

Events Conducted

13,321

Individuals Trained