Promising Practice

Jenna’s Project – UNC Horizons

State/Jurisdiction: North Carolina
Setting: Community
Population: Women & Maternal
Topic Area: Mental Health & Substance Use Care Coordination
NPMs:

Approximately 55,000 pregnant women are incarcerated yearly and it is estimated that 26%-50% have opioid use disorder (OUD). Transitioning from pregnancy to postpartum and from incarceration to the community increases opioid overdose risks. Non-pregnant women returning to communities within two weeks of prison release were 129 times more likely to die from an overdose compared to the general public. In North Carolina (NC), formerly incarcerated people were 40 times more likely to die of opioid overdose two weeks post-release from prison than those without an OUD.

This project was developed following the death by overdose of a former UNC Horizons patient who was released from prison, received opioids from a significant other, and died before receiving help. Our Horizons care team was devastated by her loss and vowed to create a project in her name to prevent this tragic event from happening to future women.

Jenna’s Project aimed to examine if care coordination and treatment resource provision decreased rates of self-reported and verified fatal overdose and prevented reincarceration among pregnant or postpartum women prior to incarceration and six months post-incarceration. Secondarily, given that another important overdose triggering event may be a child’s removal from parental custody, care coordination included support for open Child Protective Service (CPS) cases and measuring CPS outcomes.

To date, we have served over 430 women and have replicated the finding that we have had no fatal overdoses post-release at 6 months. In sum, our aim is to help those leaving women’s prison across the reproductive life span to stay alive and thrive though connection to individualized tailored case management services.

The Perinatal Substance Use Disorder Implementation & Policy Hub project is supported by the Foundation for Opioid Response Efforts (FORE) and Perigee Fund. The content presented is the responsibility of the featured practices and policies and does not necessarily reflect the views of FORE, Perigee Fund, or AMCHP.

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CONTACT INFORMATION
UNC Horizons
Dr. Hendree Jones
hendree_jones@med.unc.edu

Practice Website


For more information about this practice, please email evidence@amchp.org