Tribal Opioid Overdose Prevention

Seven Directions, with the support of the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention and the National Network of Public Health Institutes, has produced an Environmental Scan of “Tribal Opioid Overdose Prevention Responses: Community-Based Strategies and Public Health Data Infrastructure." It provides a snapshot of how various tribes, tribal organizations and urban Indian organizations are addressing the opioid epidemic in Indian Country.

Models of Tribal Promising Practices

Read the 2019 Report

An Environmental Scan of Tribal Opioid Overdose Prevention Responses: Community-Based Strategies & Public Health Data Infrastructure

Prepared by Seven Directions: A Center for Indigenous Public Health, 2019

Among racial groups in the US, American Indians & Alaska Natives experience the second highest fatality rate from opioid overdose.

This scan looks at promising practices being developed and implemented by tribes around the country, the resource and infrastructure challenges they face, as well as the opportunities afforded by cultural resilience and sovereignty. While the current scan was compiled from publicly available information on the internet, annual updates will incorporate other sources of information, and become a more comprehensive living document that will help guide tribal community members, tribal and organizational leaders, and healthcare professionals who are at the forefront of opioid epidemic.

2019-2020 Tribal Opioid Technical Advisory Group (OTAG)

  • Clinton Alexander, Interim Director of White Earth Nation Behavioral Health Division
  • Christina Arrendondo, Medical Director, Health Services Division, Pascua Yaqui Tribe
  • Sean Bear, Co-Director, AI/AN ATTC, University of Iowa
  • David Begay, Traditional Healer/ Associate Professor, Pharmacy Native Environmental Health Equity,
    Navajo Nation Institutional Review Board
  • Nathan Billy, Deputy Director of Behavioral Health, Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma
  • Adrian Dominguez, Scientific Director, Urban Indian Health Institute, Seattle Indian Health Board
  • Dennis Donovan, Retired Director, Alcohol and Drug Abuse Institute, University of Washington
  • Kevin English, Director, Albuquerque Area Southwest Tribal Epidemiology Center
  • Brenna Greenfield, Assistant Professor, Department of Family Medicine and Bio Behavioral Health,
    University of Minnesota
  • Cynthia Gunderson, Chief Pharmacist, IHS HOPE Committee, IHS
  • Karen Hearod, Commander, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration Division of
    Regional Policy Liaison, SAMHSA, DHHS
  • Dawn Lee, Chief Operating Officer, didgwálič Wellness Center, Swinomish Indian Tribal Community
  • Stacy Rasmus, Director, Institute of Arctic Biology, Center for Alaska Native Health Research College
    of Rural and Community Development
  • Anne H. Skinstad, Co-Director, AI/AN ATTC, University of Iowa