It’s a discussion nobody wants to have, but for too many northern Kentucky residents, opioids are now part of everyday conversation. As overdoses ravage families and neighborhoods across the region, communities wonder aloud if these tragedies could, in some way, have been prevented.

The Kenton County Detention Center (KCDC) is taking on the task of prevention with an innovative new program. Funded by a 3-year, $300,000 grant from the Department of Justice, KCDC recently launched the Kentucky Overdose Prevention, Education, and Pre-arrest Diversion Project aimed at preventing overdose through enhanced treatment access.

The project structures community-based policing via Quick Response Teams (QRTs)—collaborations between law enforcement, community behavioral health agencies and other first responders. QRTs connect overdose survivors with appropriate care, and the project covers all eight northern Kentucky counties (Kenton, Campbell, Boone, Grant, Owen, Carroll, Pendleton and Gallatin).

For coordinator Jason Merrick, himself a recovered addict, the jail’s program is something of a passion project. After finally getting clean following years of addiction, he earned an undergraduate degree in social work in 2014, followed by a graduate degree in social work in 2016—both from Northern Kentucky University. He now works as the director of addiction services at KCDC, where nearly 85 percent of inmate incarcerations are directly or indirectly tied to drugs. The purpose of the project, Merrick says, is not only to save lives but also to usher abusers away from the correctional system and into treatment.

KCDC partners with organizations across the community, including northern Kentucky’s Heroin Impact Response Task Force, St. Elizabeth Healthcare, NKY Hates Heroin, People Advocating for Recovery, Brighton Recovery Center for Women, Transitions, the Addiction Services Council, the Kenton County Police Department, the Alexandria Police Department and the City of Independence. 

NKU is another community partner, and all it took was a phone call to Merrick’s former professor, Dr. Suk-hee Kim, to bring her on board. Kim, an assistant professor in the social work program, has a particular interest in how addiction affects brain health and environment across the lifespan and in the aging process.

“My main interest is in the frontal lobe and upper area of the cortex of the human brain. It carries out higher mental processes, which is where we use our frontal lobes daily,” she says. “The brain and mental health have a drastic impact on behavior. Addiction has a strong tie into the frontal lobe because it takes over thinking, decision making, organization, critical thinking and problem-solving skills.”

She wants to find new ways to reduce the number of opioid-associated deaths and believes that community involvement isn’t just an option—it’s a responsibility.

“Changing the world doesn’t start with big ideas,” Kim says. “It starts with building trust and relationships. I consider myself a community member, and I cannot disregard what the community is experiencing—overdoses, broken family relationships and people living without hope. NKU is a vehicle and resource to help our own community’s issues.”

Merrick hopes to bridge the gap between overdose and treatment—the same assistance he once needed to escape addiction. One way the project does this is through a grant that places an intern from NKU’s Master’s in Social Work (MSW) program at KCDC to intern with Merrick, which Kim says is one of the greatest assets NKU can offer.

“This partnership allows students to be key players,” Kim says. “They have brilliant and innovative ideas, and they’re building critical skills and applying knowledge learned in the classroom to big, real-world ideas. They’re a part of the community-helping process.”

Bethany Ball, a 2017 MSW graduate and KCDC substance abuse counselor, is at the jail every week, working closely with inmates trying to get back on their feet. 

In fact, she coordinates the START STRONG COR-12 Treatment and Reentry Program, which was created by the Hazeldon Betty Ford Foundation. KCDC is the first jail in the nation to launch the 12-step re-entry plan for opioid-addicted inmates. The hope is that comprehensive opioid response (COR) can be completed in 12 steps—through 90 days of residential treatment and then six months of job training.

“We serve the innovative approach to corrections by offering a substance abuse program to county as well as state inmates,” Ball says. “Our clients are also referred to our community partner, The Life Learning Center, which provides continuing support as they transition back to the community.”

The ultimate goal is to reduce overdoses as abusers transition away from incarceration and into recovery. Kim hopes the partnership will reach beyond the region, providing an example for other cities dealing with addiction.

“Our aim is to create a model that other states can adopt. We’re demonstrating this task force in eight different counties, and each county’s dynamics are different. But if one model works for eight counties here, it can certainly be duplicated elsewhere,” Kim says. “The opioid epidemic isn’t just local. It’s a national problem—one that’s bigger than everyone realizes. Now is the time to work together to rescue and restore our people and community.”