Iowa addiction specialists: Peer support crucial to recovery

As Iowa legislators continue to debate how best to allocate more than $25 million intended for treatment and prevention of opioid use disorder, the state is embarking on a plan to combine and streamline its mental health and substance use treatment regions — a step some providers say will benefit those seeking care.

  Buy Photo

“Navigating the mental health and addiction system is like a treasure map. It is really difficult for a person. They don’t know where to start,” Todd Noack, executive director of Life Connections Peer Recovery Services, based in DeWitt, said during a panel discussion Friday at The Gazette’s Iowa Ideas conference.

Iowa’s efforts to improve what many say is a fractured system of providing mental health and substance use care gained momentum earlier this year when state lawmakers approved a plan to combine Iowa’s total of 32 mental health and substance use regions into seven unified behavioral health districts. The idea is to create a consistent standard of care and recognize that people often have co-occurrence of both mental health and substance use needs.

Yet at the same time, lawmakers failed to agree on a plan to distribute over $25 million in opioid lawsuit settlement funds, a figure that will grow as the state expects to see another $144 million in the years ahead. The fund, set up in Iowa in 2022, holds millions recovered from lawsuits the state filed against opioid manufacturers and distributors.

While those millions are in limbo, the University of Iowa is using an earlier grant made under the program to support a mobile addiction clinic, and has hopes to expand it if funds become available. The effort is emblematic of what providers call an effort to meet people who need help where they are — and on their terms.

Three panelists associated with organizations helping people with substance use disorders described their programs during the final day of this year’s Iowa Ideas sessions. They were Noack; Rod Courtney, cofounder and director of the CRUSH Recovery Community Center in Linn County; and Dr. Alison Lynch, program director of the addiction medicine program at the UI Hospitals and Clinics.

Preventing addiction

  Buy Photo

According to Lynch, many of those who developed opioid addictions started using the drugs in a medical setting — like after surgery.

But the general understanding of the addictive nature of opioids, especially prescription opioids, has changed a lot in the last several years, she said. Many medical institutions are moving away from relying on opioids for pain treatment — lessening the need for it or finding alternatives.

In 2023, Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird launched the Billion Pill Pledge, a program focused on educating doctors and nurses about how to reduce reliance on opioids for pain relief. Lynch said the program has seen success so far, but there still is room to grow and continue providing resources for medical providers.

“I think that’s a really important transformation that we are seeing. I think there’s a lot more room to continue to publicize that we can take a proactive way or approach to work with people in the hospital setting or in the medical setting and reduce their need for opioids and reduce our reliance on opioids as being the answer for pain,” Lynch said. “I do think we’re at least identifying this, and I think we’ve made some early steps in the right direction.”

Those steps can involve something as simple as making sure a patient is well-hydrated before surgery, or undergoes physical therapy even before the operation.

Addiction recovery

Some of the biggest keys to helping with addiction recovery are peer support and increasing accessibility of resources, according to the three specialists.

“Anybody who comes to a health care office should feel welcome. They should feel respected, and they should feel like they can ask to get their needs met and be treated in a way that makes them feel listened to and safe,” Lynch said during Friday’s session.

“Peer recovery coaches are a part of how we help create a safe and respectful and trusting environment for people that are coming into the health care system that may be struggling with a substance use issue or an opioid addiction.”

  Buy Photo

Lynch said the university’s mobile addiction clinic — set up in a van — parks in locations where those who have substance use disorders can get to it. In the clinic, patients can get medical treatment and prescriptions, as well as meet with a peer recovery coach. Peer coaches are someone who has personal experience with substance misuse who has been trained to help others.

Peer support also is the driving force behind the work that Noack and Courtney do.

Life Connections Peer Recovery Services operates Rhonda’s House in Clinton County, a fully peer-run respite house that Noack says is Iowa’s first. Both Life Connections and CRUSH rely on peer support specialists for much of the work that they do.

“There’s a certain level of comfort when you talk with somebody that has that shared experience … People can come here and they can connect,” Courtney said.

The panelist said that the easiest way for people needing mental health or substance use care — or need to talk to somebody about it — is to start with visiting yourlifeiowa.org or calling 988.

Comments: (319) 398-8328; emily.andersen@thegazette.com