Current Projects

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 The Missouri Opioid State Targeted Response (STR) and Missouri State Opioid Response (SOR, SOR 2.0, and SOR 3.0) projects expand access to integrated prevention, treatment, recovery support, and harm reduction services for individuals with opioid use disorder (OUD) and stimulant use disorder (StimUD) throughout the state. The State of Missouri Department of Mental Health (DMH) is leading the project, with administration, implementation, and evaluation activities provided by the University of Missouri, St. Louis - Missouri Institute of Mental Health (UMSL-MIMH) – as well as behavioral healthcare agencies, academic institutions, people with lived experience with addiction, and other content experts from around the state. 

Expanding Naloxone Access and Community Trainings in Missouri (ENACT) aims to reduce the incidence of fatal opioid overdose and adverse events through increased training and naloxone distribution.

The Navigating Opioid Response Through Harm Reduction (NORTH) Star project aims to reduce overdose fatalities through overdose education training and saturation of naloxone across the state of Missouri.

 The mission of the Community Engagement, Trauma, Equity, and Renewal (CENTER) Initiative is to reduce overdose, confront the impact of trauma, and invest in the long-term wellbeing of Black people most impacted by addiction, drug use, and overdose in St. Louis. The CENTER Initiative is a partnership between the University of Missouri, St. Louis - Missouri Institute of Mental Health (UMSL-MIMH), The T, Family Care Health Centers, the Community Health Worker Coalition, the Regional Health Commission, Integrated Health Network, and the Behavioral Health Network. This initiative is funded by The Missouri Foundation for Health.  

 The Drug Overdose Trust and Safety (DOTS) project builds upon the impactful work already underway in Missouri to address the opioid crisis. Through comprehensive and cross-sectoral trainings, we develop and carry out a more intentional approach to addressing occupational safety concerns for first responders. By integrating safety and public-health oriented responses into trainings and facilitating partnerships between first responders and community-based service providers, we aim to transform interactions between first responders and people who use drugs. In addition, we establish collaborations between first responders and public health entities that enhance resource networks in high-need communities and facilitate survivors getting connected with services post-overdose.  

 Coordinating Overdose Response Partnerships and Support (MO-CORPS) is a newly funded project through the SAMHSA FR-CARA grant and MO Department of Health and Senior Services, focused on integrating first responders work with evidence-based public health models. 

The Addiction Science, Practice, Implementation, Research and Education (ASPIRE) Lab is located within the University of Missouri-St. Louis Department of Psychology under the leadership for Dr. Rachel Winograd. 

The ASPIRE lab is focused on community-informed research to enhance research-informed practice and works in close partnership  with all of the collaborative partners and projects connected to Addiction Science team.  

This project empowers first responders to reduce opioid overdose deaths in Missouri. Our program improves post-overdose outcomes for people who use drugs by distributing naloxone to first responder agencies, training in OD response best practices, and enabling on-scene referrals to addiction treatment. DOTS+MOBILE is also facilitating six fire/ems agencies in Missouri to implement the cutting-edge practice of medic-initiated Buprenorphine (Suboxone) in the field. This practice when used by other agencies shows extremely promising early results for post-overdose survival.