Crisis Response | Substance Use

Apply Now: Join a Learning Community Focused on Substance Use and Overdose Community Response Programs

October 16, 2024

********This application deadline has passed********

The Council of State Governments (CSG) Justice Center, in collaboration with the Center for Policing Equity (CPE), is hosting a virtual learning community focused on expanding emergency community response efforts to include substance use and overdose responses.

The learning community will be led by the CSG Justice Center, a nationally recognized technical assistance provider, and CPE, a leader in public safety redesign. It will include opportunities for mutual learning through peer-to-peer support and guidance from leading experts in the field. Throughout the learning community, participants will have a chance to engage in process-oriented planning to significantly enhance their community’s substance use and overdose emergency response system, divert community members from jails and emergency rooms, and build out connections to harm reduction services and recovery care. Teams will work through and complete a logic model, and sessions will cover key topics such as goal setting, community engagement, resource mapping, stakeholder buy-in, program development, sustainability, and more.

For the purposes of this application, substance use and overdose emergency response programs include: teams staffed by social workers, peer support specialists, mediators, emergency medical technicians, or paramedics providing a range of services including immediate assistance to people experiencing behavioral health crises, wellness checks, assistance with housing needs, and additional harm reduction and recovery supports (such as street outreach and post-overdose follow-up care).    

Session dates will occur on: 

November 14, 2024

January 23, 2025

February 20, 2025

March 20, 2025

April 17, 2025

May 15, 2025

Participating teams will also be required to join a related Data Connections program with three additional session dates and office hours. See below for more information.

All sessions will take place 2:00–3:30 p.m. ET via Zoom. 

Teams who are interested in participating should complete and submit the above application by 11:59 p.m. on Friday, October 25, 2024. A CSG Justice Center staff member will follow up with applicants by Monday, November 4, 2024. 

If you have any questions, contact Anne Larsen at alarsen@csg.org.

This application should take approximately 10 minutes to complete.

Who should apply? 

This learning community is open to all teams in the planning or early implementation phase of developing of a community responder team in their community focused on addressing substance usage or overdose. See below descriptions of what it means to be in either the planning or early implementation phase.

Planning phase: A jurisdiction in its PLANNING phase has decided that a substance use and overdose emergency response program is appropriate to meet its needs and is taking steps to eventually implement it. It should also have a designated “point person” whose job consists of relaying the information learned during community listening sessions into clear and identifiable goals for the program.

Early implementation phase: A jurisdiction in its EARLY IMPLEMENTATION phase has secured funding for its substance use and overdose emergency response program and designated a program manager working with community partners and stakeholders.

Applicants must have a shared team vision to use alternative approaches for addressing community members in crisis (or at risk of crisis) due to substance use in lieu of a law enforcement response.  

Who should participate?

Applicants must have a dedicated project or program manager to attend each session. Depending on the session topics, the project or program manager can include additional representatives to attend, such as (1) a behavioral health or public health representative; (2) a first responder (from law enforcement, fire, dispatch, or emergency medical services); (3) a representative from community-based programs such as recovery services, peer supports, or shelter/ housing; (4) a community member; or (5) a local city or county staff person or elected official. In addition to these team members, applicants are encouraged to include a community member or family member who has experienced or been impacted by substance use, overdose, or incarceration.

Data Connections Program

Learning community members must also participate in a related Data Connections program, which includes structured sessions and drop-in office hours outside of the regular learning community sessions. This program is dedicated to supporting strategic planning, data collection, data analysis, and data reporting activities.

Session dates for the Data Connections program will occur on:

January 29, 2025

March 26, 2025

May 28, 2025

Office hours:

February 26, 2025

April 30, 2025

All these sessions will take place 2:00–3:30 p.m. ET via Zoom. 

Photo by RDNE Stock project via Pexels

Project Contact

Anne Larsen

Deputy Program Director, Behavioral Health

Anne Larsen helps coordinate crisis response alternatives and initiatives and provides technical assistance and education on community responder programs. Prior to joining the CSG Justice Center, she worked for the Olympia Police Department and created, implemented, and managed the Crisis

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Response Unit (CRU) and Familiar Faces program. CRU is designed after the CAHOOTS model, which deploys unarmed, civilian-first responders to community members in crisis. Before working for the police department, she worked for the Thurston County Prosecuting Attorney’s office championing alternatives to the criminal justice system and supporting treatment courts. Anne has a BA in public administration and an MPA from The Evergreen State College.