About the Project

CCUIH’s Medication Assisted Treatment (MAT) Project is funded through the CA Department of Health Care Services MAT Expansion and Tribal MAT Projects. The project is designed to meet the specific prevention, treatment, and recovery needs of California’s Urban Indian communities.

Our Approach

Recognizing the diversity of Urban Indian communities throughout California, CCUIH has partnered with our members to ensure the specific needs of their community are addressed.
The focus of the project is to reduce deaths due to OUD in California’s Urban Indian communities through education, stigma reduction, MAT and naloxone access expansion, and increased access to culturally relevant recovery services. Each of the Urban Indian Health Programs have created their own community and culturally specific opioid response program to prevent opioid use disorder (OUD), treat those affected, and assist the community in healing and recovery.

OUD MAT Prevention
& Expansion

Opioid Use Disorder & Medication Assisted Treatment

Opiods

Opioids are a class of drugs commonly used to treat pain. These include both physician-prescribed medication, non-prescribed medication, and illicit drugs. Some common examples are morphine, methadone, buprenorphine, hydrocodone, oxycodone, heroin, and fentanyl. These substances can be highly addictive.

Opiod Overdose and Reversal

“Opioids act by binding to opiate receptors to reduce the sensation of pain and to make you feel calm. These same drugs reduce the urge to breath and in the case of overdose can depress breathing to the point of unconsciousness and death. Overdose can occur for various reasons: • Taking too much of an opioid. • Mixing medications, alcohol, or drugs. • Decreased tolerance (happens when you take a long break from use).

Medication Assisted Treatment

“Medicated-Assisted Treatment (MAT) is the use of medications, in combination with counseling and behavioral therapies to provide a “whole-patient” approach to the treatment of substance use disorders. Three medications are commonly used to treat opioid addiction: Methadone – A daily liquid dispensed only in specialty regulated clinics. Methadone prevents withdrawal and does not block the effects other narcotics. Naltrexone – A daily pill or monthly injection available from primary care clinics. Naltrexone is a non-addictive opioid antagonist that blocks the effects of other narcotics. Buprenorphine – A daily dissolving tablet, cheek film, or 6-month implant under the skin available from primary care clinics. Buprenorphine is an opioid partial-agonist that blocks other narcotics while reducing withdrawal risk. It is highly recommended, and sometimes required, that individuals utilizing one of the above medications also seek either individual or group counseling or therapies.”

Opioid Use Disorder Prevention

“Preventing OUD is the first step in addressing the epidemic and requires educational, medical, and community-based strategies. For many years, it was believed that opioids were non-addictive. While we now know this to be untrue, many people do not know which medications are opioids or are unaware of the risks associated with long-term use or misuse of these medications. The overprescription of opioids has long been a challenge of our healthcare system. Implementing safe-prescribing policies and procedures can help prevent future incidence of OUD. Recognizing the epidemic is a result of non-prescription substance use as well, we must also address this route to OUD. We know that involvement in positive family, community, and cultural experiences reduces a person’s risk for the development of substance use disorder. Additionally, we acknowledge that intergenerational and historical traumas influence a person’s behavioral health status. It is important to support these individuals in accessing the support needed. Making community events and culturally responsive behavioral health services accessible to youth and adults may help prevent opioid misuse and OUD.”

Naloxone Training Materials

We are working to increase access to naloxone nasal spray and empowering individuals to save lives. Through the Tribal MAT Project, CCUIH offers free opioid overdose response and naloxone administration trainings to groups and organizations that support California’s Urban Indian population. We will provide onsite training to staff, patients, and community members. CCUIH has also made available the training documents we use in our training courses.

Request Naloxone Training

CCUIH is offering naloxone training to Urban Indian community groups and organizations. Be prepared to save lives with our Opioid Overdose Recognition, Response, and NARCAN Administration Training.
Learn More

Tribal MAT Project Resources

CCUIH’s MAT Project is supporting the development of various materials and a culturally specific campaign to address the opioid epidemic in Indian Country. Free downloads of these resources are available below.

Fentanyl Fact Sheet

 Facts and myths about fentanyl and how you can keep yourself and your community safe.
Download and share with friends, family, and community!

California Indian Opioid Safety Coalition

The California Indian Opioid Safety Coalition (CIOSC, “”kiosk””) is a statewide workgroup created in partnership between CCUIH and California’s Urban Indian Health Programs, the California Rural Indian Health Board and California’s Tribal Health Programs as well as other Tribal MAT Grantees to address the opioid crisis in Indian Country.

We know that the opioid epidemic has greatly affected both our Urban Indian and tribal communities. Additionally, we recognize that Indian Peoples are not stationary and many people move between these two environments. To fully address the problem, services must be available to our people through both tribal and urban programs. These services should have a unified voice and message.

This coalition was created with the goal of reducing incidence of OUD, expanding access to MAT services, and increasing access to naloxone. Achieving these goals will require a multi-disciplinary approach with organizations from different sectors who serve CA’s Indian population coming together to support each other and the community.

Quarterly Meetings

The meetings will be held quarterly via web conferencing. Email hannah@ccuih.org for more info.

Tribal MAT Project Partners

California Rural Indian Health Board – Offering support and facilitation to Tribal Programs participating in the TMAT Project and a partner in the California Indian Opioid Safety Coalition.

Telewell Indian Health – Offering telehealth MAT services as well as offering training and technical assistance to TMAT programs.

University of Southern California – Performing the Opioid Needs Assessment Project as well as project evaluation.

University of California, Los Angeles – Organizing and Facilitating the Tribal MAT ECHO Series.

Two Feathers – Creating a Native-focused suicide prevention curriculum and materials.

Sacramento Harm Reduction Services – Provided education and support to CCUIH staff in the development of the project. Also provided materials for cultural adaptation.