Johnson County Prevention and Recovery Coalition

In March of 2022, a group of community stakeholder came together to tackle the concerning trend of opioid and fentanyl misuse and death in our community. The coalition has grown to include members of diverse sectors including; healthcare providers, school professions, first responders, community advocates, treatment and recovery community, along with many more. The group produced a community assessment report to identify local conditions to guide priorities.

Through the leadership of Johnson County Mental Health Center, the coalition is utilizing the Strategic Prevention Framework, an evidence based process, to plan, implement and evaluate prevention efforts. Within the first year of establishment, the coalition has developed a leadership team, identified the mission and vision, and created workgroups to carry out the priorities.

Coalition Workgroups

Each workgroup is deciding upon initiatives and metrics/objectives and will be utilizing the next couple of meetings to make those decisions.

Prevention and Education

The Prevention & Education subcommittee strives to coordinate with community partners to provide all-inclusive messaging, information and strategies to address substance use and misuse as it relates to the current opioid epidemic.

Root Causes: Trauma and ACEs

Substance abuse and addiction almost always have underlying causes, and these roots of addiction must be addressed. The root causes subcommittee looks at these factors at the population level, aiming to identify interventions that ameliorate them, thus preventing individuals in the future from becoming addicted.

Harm Reduction

The Harm Reduction subcommittee is working to save lives in Johnson County by advocating, educating and providing tools to decrease overdoses/poisonings risk and death in our community.

Treatment

The treatment subcommittee is dedicated to identifying local resources for both Substance Use Disorder and Mental Health Disorders, and to make these resources available to the entire Johnson County community.

Recovery Supports

Recovery is possible by bringing the community together to help support those currently in recovery or finding their way to recovery. The recovery subcommittee is dedicated to assisting in the development of key initiatives that help bridge the gaps, increase access to care, strengthen the connection to community-based recovery support, educate our community and providers, and ultimately help all individuals know and believe that recovery is possible for them.

Coalition Meetings

All meetings are open to the community. The monthly meetings take place on Zoom on the third Thursday of the month, from 3 to 4:30 p.m. For the Zoom link, please email MNH-PRCoalition@jocogov.org.

Kansas Naloxone Program

DCCCA is providing free naloxone (Narcan) nasal spray and training to community organizations and any Kansas resident. DCCCA is funded for this project by the Kansas Department of Aging and Disability Services through the State Opioid Response grant initiative from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.

Note: This program offers free Naloxone/Narcan contingent upon continued Federal, State & Local Funding and available supply.

Request Naloxone Kit First Responders Naloxone Kit Request

Controlled Substance Public Disposal Locations within 15 miles of Olathe:

Note that these disposal locations are for medication (pills) only. For needle disposal, local hospitals and medical centers will typically have boxes for this.