Greater Cincinnati Behavioral Health Services (GCBHS) opened Office-Based Medication Assisted Treatment (MAT) services in Hamilton County at our Glenway location in 2019. The program provided a helping hand to individuals with opioid or alcohol addiction. The aim of these services was to offer evidence-based treatment and support for individuals with intensive substance use disorder (SUD) needs.
The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) defines MAT as “The use of medications, in combination with counseling and behavioral therapies, to provide a ‘whole-patient’ approach to the treatment of substance use disorders. Medications used are approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and are clinically driven and tailored to meet each patient’s needs.”
By 2021, the leadership at GCBHS began discussions to implement an Opioid Treatment Program (OTP) as part of its MAT services. It had become increasingly evident that to assist clients who presented with more intensive challenges, additional options needed to be available. The organization submitted a grant request to SAMHSA and received funding in the fall of that year.
The Clermont Recovery Center, a division of GCBHS, would serve as the program’s primary model. The facility, located in Batavia, has been offering OTP services since 2013. The experience of their team was instrumental in laying the foundation for establishing the OTP Medication Unit in Cincinnati.
One of the grant’s goals was to find a centrally located and convenient facility to assist the population that the Hamilton County SUD teams were working with – people with co-occurring substance use and mental health disorders, including those experiencing homelessness. Shelterhouse had built a dispensary within their building, but it was not yet operational. The location was ideal, as it was located amongst the team’s target population. It also had a primary care clinic on-site for close collaboration in meeting not only the clients’ behavioral health needs but their primary care needs as well. GCBHS reached out to Arlene Nolan, the Executive Director at Shelterhouse and Kathleen Bennett, the former CEO of Neighborhub Health (formerly Cincinnati Health Network – an organization providing healthcare for the homeless and HIV populations) to establish the partnerships needed to launch a successful OTP Medication Unit within the shelter.
The Opioid Treatment Program (OTP) at Shelterhouse opened its doors in July of 2023 and became the first OTP in Ohio to operate in a shelter setting. The program offers psycho-social services such as counseling, case management, and peer recovery support in addition to medication prescribing and dispensing. When provided together, these services allow individuals with opioid use disorder (OUD) to stabilize, by assisting them in managing their withdrawal symptoms and cravings with medication, while also exploring their substance use and related needs through recovery-oriented supportive services, using a harm-reduction approach.
The current Opioid Treatment Program Team includes a medical director, a prescriber, a nurse supervisor, MAT nurses, peer recovery coaches, a case manager, a counselor, and a team manager. In addition to the OTP team, the GCBHS PATH (Projects for Assistance in Transition from Homelessness) Team is also located at Shelterhouse. They work with Hamilton County residents who need housing, as well as mental health treatment and support. These two teams work closely with one another since many of the clients they serve have cooccurring diagnoses.
Thus far, the key indicators seem promising. The program has a 66% retention rate within the first 30 days of treatment in comparison to a study for individuals experiencing homelessness that identified a 55% dropout rate within the first month. Additionally, between baseline and reassessment, clients have shown improvements in housing stability, social connectedness, abstinence, a reduction in criminal justice involvement, and reduction in health consequences related to substance use.
