WVU medication-assisted treatment program supports individuals recovering from opioid use disorder
Through a medication-assisted treatment model, the West Virginia University Comprehensive Opioid Addiction Treatment (COAT) program has been supporting individuals in their recovery for more than 15 years.
An outpatient program for those struggling with opioid use disorder as well as those with co-occurring substance use and mental health disorders, treatment includes multiple levels of care in a group-based setting. Highly qualified program staff, including WVU Medicine Rockefeller Neuroscience Institute and WVU School of Medicine Department of Behavioral Medicine and Psychiatry physicians, nurse practitioners, clinical therapists, case managers and medical assistants, work closely together as members of the Healthy Minds network so participants can get the most out of their treatment.
“The COAT program provides compassionate, evidence-based care to patients as soon as we can,” Kathleen Chiasson-Downs, lead clinician for addiction services, said. “We want to get patients started the minute they call for help with their addiction. We want to get lifesaving medication into their hands as soon as possible and get them connected to treatment.”
Individuals can enter the COAT program through an Addiction Services Intake and Impact evaluation, or as a hospital discharge referral. Each follow-up COAT visit includes a check-in session with a medical assistant, a 30-minute medical management session with a physician/nurse practitioner, and 60-minute group therapy session.
“It’s incredibly important for patients to have access to healthcare in the format that works for them,” Chiasson-Downs said. “We are able to do that both in our community here in Morgantown at Healthy Minds – Chestnut Ridge and across the state through telehealth.”
Patients are enrolled into a multi-phased program starting with a weekly beginner group that requires 90 consecutive days without relapsing on any prohibited substance and/or alcohol use and without missing any drug screenings. Once the patient reaches 90 days of sobriety and demonstrates an active recovery lifestyle, they have the option to graduate to a biweekly intermediate group. Following the same sobriety requirements as the beginner group, intermediate group members have the option to move into the program’s monthly advanced group after one year and its bimonthly group after three years.
“Patients can remain in the program as long as they feel this is the right treatment for them,” and as long as they meet program requirements, Chiasson-Downs explained. “Some patients achieve sobriety in the first 90 days. For others it is a journey.”
During the program, which currently treats approximately 500 patients throughout West Virginia, participants are provided individual and group therapy, connections to peer recovery coaches, resources to attend peer recovery meetings, medications for opioid use disorder and access to referrals for other psychiatric needs.
“The patients get to learn about addiction and recovery alongside their peers,” Chiasson-Downs said. “They get to learn from each other, validate each other and understand they are not alone.”
The program also provides educational opportunities for WVU Medicine medical residents and faculty, School of Medicine third-year medical students and School of Nursing family and pediatric nurse practitioner and psychiatric mental health students.
“Reading and hearing about addiction is one thing, but being in a treatment appointment with someone who has substance use disorder is different,” Chiasson-Downs said. “The students get real-world training experience in how to talk to someone who is struggling with active addiction, how to talk to and empathize with someone who is in the stages of recovery and learn what it means to have opioid use disorder.
“There is a stigma for addiction in general, but specifically there is stigma about the need for medication to treat opioid use disorder. These students get to see first-hand how important these medications are for patients in recovery,” Chiasson-Downs said.
“Through this program, we are bringing evidence-based and compassionate care to West Virginia residents,” Chiasson-Downs said. “The founder of the COAT program, Dr. Carl “Rolly” Sullivan, said, ‘people with substance use disorder are the best kept secret in medicine because once they become sober and enter recovery, they are so incredibly inspiring to work with.”
Note: This is one in a series of new stories released during National Recovery Month that highlights initiatives at West Virginia University to combat the overdose epidemic. Additional stories can be found at health.wvu.edu/addiction/news.
Photo: An outpatient program for those struggling with opioid use disorder as well as those with co-occurring substance use and mental health disorders, the West Virginia University Comprehensive Opioid Addiction Treatment program at Healthy Minds – Chestnut Ridge has been supporting individuals in their recovery for more than 15 years. (WVU Photo/Sophia Darmelio)
-WVU-
sd/09/26/22
CONTACT: Jessica Wilmoth
Senior Communications Specialist
WVU Health Sciences
304-293-9528; jessica.wilmoth@hsc.wvu.edu