How Psychologists Can Impact the Opioid Epidemic

Professional psychologists have an important role in addressing the current United States opioid epidemic through community engagement, collaboration, clinical practice, education, and scholarly activity. We review the contemporary opioid epidemic, with a special emphasis on the impact of opioid addiction in rural communities. The Utah State University Health Extension: Advocacy, Research, and Teaching (HEART) Initiative, based in nine counties in Utah, including rural Carbon and Emery counties, is uniquely reviewed as an example of a local, rural opioid prevention and intervention program. We discuss the why and how of multisystem, collaborative efforts as critical to combatting the opioid epidemic, and we drill down to psychologists playing a leading role in multidisciplinary, community action teams, leveraging their expertise in education/training, scholarly research, and evidence-based approaches in preventing and treating substance use disorders and specifically opioid use disorders. Psychologists are well poised to make significant positive impacts in our communities, states, and nationally. Public Significance Statement The United States is being devastated by an epidemic of opioid-related deaths. This article reviews existing data and literature and gives an example of a local opioid-focused initiative to combat the opioid crisis. We discuss how and why psychologists are well positioned to make positive impacts on this national crisis through collaborative and community-based efforts. Our review focuses on experiences in rural Carbon and Emery counties, Utah through a new Initiative model.