Marin County Youth Opioid Response (YOR)

The Marin YOR Project is a collaboration between Marin County Probation, OD Free Marin, Marin 9 to 25, local CBOs and Marin County Schools to address Opioid Use Disorder (OUD) and Stimulant Use Disorder (StUD) in Marin County schools, through care navigation, clinical services, and harm reduction training and education.

YOR 1 Capacity Building (2019-2020)

  • Assessment to examine Marin County’s needs surrounding opioid use disorder and co-occurring condition prevention and treatment for high school-age adolescents (13 to 17 years old)

  • Key areas of interest included the prevention and treatment of co-occurring mental health conditions, and how high schools can be leveraged as part of any solution or strategy pursued to address this

  • Determined that identification of needs and navigation to services and supports are gaps that need to be addressed for school wellness

YOR 2 Implementation (2021-2022)

Through Marin YOR 2, Marin County Probation partnered with Huckleberry Youth Programs and North Marin Community Services to provide care navigation and clinical services for at-risk students at San Rafael High School and Novato High School.

YOR 2 Highlights:

  • 341 youth engaged in care navigation services and screened for mental health and substance use

  • 218 youth provided with case management services, 144 with behavioral intervention, 30 with family services, and 53 with recovery services

  • Critical partnership between schools, CBOs, and county agencies

  • Workgroup on meeting youth needs and identifying sustainable funding sources

Key Takeaways

  • Care navigators can support prevention and harm reduction

  • Need for more programs for substance use prevention and harm reduction and evidence-based curriculum to be implemented in schools

  • Need for data management system in schools to meet program needs and report data

  • Access to health insurance information would help with referrals and inform plan for sustainability

  • Critical that wellness staff are bilingual in English and Spanish

  • Ongoing Naloxone distribution and overdose training needed for school staff

  • Student engagement and youth leadership groups help support and add impact to school programs

YOR 3 Implementation (2023-2024)

  • Through YOR 3, Huckleberry Youth Programs plans to continue services at San Rafael High School and expand the program to to Terra Linda High School, Davidson Middle School and Madrone Continuation School

  • Marin YOR 3 aims to continue and expand the work of YOR 2, through the following activities: