ENGAGING PARTNERS TO PREVENT OPIOID OVERDOSE-RELATED DEATHS | 1 

Identifying Needs and 

Opportunities for Collaboration 

Opportunities for Engaging Partners to Prevent Opioid 

Overdose-related Deaths

Preventing opioid overdose requires collaboration with a diverse range of 

partners—some familiar and some new to the world of prevention. The 

table below presents different sectors prevention practitioners may want to 

engage in opioid overdose prevention efforts, along with opportunities for 

meaningful engagement. 

These sectors include: 

• Criminal Justice 

• Government 

• Harm Reduction Programs 

• Health Care 

• Law Enforcement 

• Medical and Pharmacy Schools 

• Medical Examiners and Coroners 

• Mental Health Providers 

• Parents 

• People Who Use Drugs 

• Pharmacies 

• Prescribers 

• Professional First Responders 

• Recovery Community 

• Treatment Providers 

• Universities/Colleges 

• Youth-serving Agencies 

Partner Sector Opportunities for Engagement

Criminal Justice (e.g., reentry 

program, correctional 

facilities) 

• Encourage representatives from criminal justice to share information 

on incarcerated individuals who may be re-entering the community 

and in need of treatment or recovery support services. 

• Work with representatives from criminal justice to incorporate 

overdose prevention education and naloxone distribution into 

correctional and reentry programming 
ENGAGING PARTNERS TO PREVENT OPIOID OVERDOSE-RELATED DEATHS | 2 

Partner Sector Opportunities for Engagement

Government (e.g., Mayor’s 

Office, city council, health 

department) 

 

• Enlist members of local government to become involved in efforts to

raise awareness of opioid misuse and overdose, serve as prevention 

champions, and mobilize community support. 

• Work together to identify opportunities for integrating opioid 

prevention efforts into other community efforts (e.g., into more 

general communitywide health improvement plans). 

• Educate stakeholders about the effectiveness of policies for 

preventing opioid overdose fatalities, such as Good Samaritan laws 

and naloxone training and distribution policies. 

Harm Reduction Programs 

(e.g., case managers, 

overdose trainers) 

• Collaborate with harm reduction program practitioners to learn more 

about the details of their naloxone distribution programs (e.g.,, 

numbers of kits distributed to clients, whether these kits were used). 

• Conduct key informant interviews with program staff to learn more 

about the clients they serve, factors they see as contributing to misuse 

and overdose, and staff training needs. 

• Invite harm reduction program practitioners to train prevention 

practitioners and professional first responders in overdose prevention 

and naloxone administration. 

• Engage practitioners in efforts to educate current users on issues 

related to preventing overdoses (e.g., loss of opioid tolerance after 

periods without opioid use). 

Health Care (e.g., hospital 

administration, emergency 

department leadership)

• Ask health care providers to share their procedures for screening 

individuals for opioid addiction/overdose risk and their response 

protocols for individuals identified as being at risk. 

• Request that emergency departments share emergency room 

overdose data. 

• Collaborate with emergency department leadership to develop and 

implement clear overdose survivor protocols (that is, follow-up steps 

for patients who have experienced a nonfatal overdose). 

• Work together to develop and implement staff trainings on overdose 

prevention and naloxone administration. 

• Collaborate to develop and disseminate patient education materials 

on the risks of prescription opioids. 
ENGAGING PARTNERS TO PREVENT OPIOID OVERDOSE-RELATED DEATHS | 3 

Partner Sector Opportunities for Engagement

Law Enforcement (e.g., police 

chief, officers)

• Work with law enforcement to: 

o Analyze drug seizure data and other information on illegal 

sales of opioids to determine drug access points. 

o Share information on the potency and purity of drugs being 

used (e.g., if heroin is often laced with fentanyl, prevention 

practitioners can notify naloxone administrators that more 

than one dose of naloxone may be required to reverse an 

overdose). 

o Establish agreements to institutionalize real-time data sharing 

(e.g., if law enforcement obtains information about a potent 

batch of heroin, alerts can go out to emergency medical 

services providers notifying them of the increased risk of

overdose). 

• Encourage law enforcement to inform the public about the current 

state of the opioid problem in the community and the protections 

under Good Samaritan laws by speaking at town hall meetings, city 

council meetings, community awareness events, and professional 

development opportunities. 

• Work together to develop and implement trainings in naloxone 

administration for law enforcement professionals. 

• Collaboratively develop resources and guidance for individuals who

witness an overdose (including future overdose prevention and 

support services). 

Medical and Pharmacy 

Schools (e.g., school 

administration, faculty) 

• Work with medical and/or pharmacy school administration to

encourage students to participate in community prevention coalitions 

(e.g., by providing incentives such as course credit or internships). 

• Work with school administrators to develop and provide continuing 

education opportunities on prescribing guidelines, best practices for 

prescribing opioids, and opioid reversal. 

• Work together to revise existing curricula to include information on

appropriate prescribing practices and how to identify misuse. 

Medical Examiners and 

Coroners

• Encourage medical examiners and coroners to share death certificate 

data and provide guidance as to what this data can tell us (that is, how 

it can be used to identify populations at risk, contributing risk factors, 

and where overdoses are occurring). 
ENGAGING PARTNERS TO PREVENT OPIOID OVERDOSE-RELATED DEATHS | 4 

Partner Sector Opportunities for Engagement

Mental Health Providers • Invite mental health providers to share their insights into the 

relationship of mental health and substance use (e.g., considerations 

for treating individuals with co-occurring mental health and substance 

use disorders, especially when continued medication is 

recommended). 

• Seek out their expertise in helping to understand the role of mental 

health in intervention, treatment, and recovery for individuals with

substance use disorders. 

• Engage their support in identifying individuals who are misusing or 

addicted to opioids.

Parents • Invite parents of individuals with opioid addiction or who have recently 

overdosed to become spokespeople for prevention efforts. 

• Train parents to become peer educators for naloxone distribution and 

other prevention education programs. 

• Educate parents about safeguarding medications.

People Who Use Drugs • Invite people who use drugs to participate in a focus group to identify 

factors contributing to opioid misuse. 

• Invite people who use drugs to join your coalition or task force. 

• Engage people who use drugs in efforts to raise awareness of opioid 

risks among other active users. 

• Invite people who use drugs to educate members of health care and 

treatment systems about gaps in care they have experienced. 

• Train people who use drugs in overdose prevention and naloxone 

administration.

Pharmacies (e.g., community 

pharmacies, chains) 

• Conduct key informant interviews with pharmacists and pharmacy 

staff to better understand pharmacy protocols and policies related to 

naloxone distribution. 

• Engage pharmacists in discussions about prescription drug monitoring 

programs (e.g., ways to strengthen these programs and/or improve 

utility). 

• Work together to identify patients who are at risk for overdose and/or 

who may need naloxone, and educate individuals on best practices for 

safely storing and disposing of prescriptions.
ENGAGING PARTNERS TO PREVENT OPIOID OVERDOSE-RELATED DEATHS | 5 

Partner Sector Opportunities for Engagement

Prescribers (e.g., physicians, 

dentists) 

• Ask prescribers to share their protocols for appropriate dosing for 

prescription opioids and prescribing naloxone. 

• Work together to identify opportunities for integrating patient 

education into prescribing practices and increasing use of PDMPs. 

• Engage prescribers in efforts to increase screening for prescription 

opioid misuse and/or prescribe naloxone (e.g., collaborate on the

development of educational pamphlets for prescribers to encourage 

co-prescribing opioids and naloxone).

Professional First Responders 

(e.g., emergency medical 

technicians, fire department 

• Encourage emergency medical services (EMS) to share data on the 

number of opioid overdoses they respond to, the locations of these 

overdoses, and whether naloxone was administered. 

• Invite first responders to help identify issues that might be contributing 

to the opioid problem in the community. For example, first responders 

may be the first to become aware of the presence of a new, more 

potent batch of opioids in the community if they find themselves 

encountering individuals who require multiple doses of naloxone to 

reverse their overdose. 

• Work together to develop post-overdose prevention strategies (e.g., 

post-overdose “door knocks” where teams of first responders and 

mental health professionals visit individuals who have recently 

overdosed to provide education and connect them to support 

services) 

Recovery Community (e.g., 

recovery coaches, after-care 

counselors) 

• Invite after-care counselors and other recovery professionals to staff 

meetings to talk about the needs of people with opioid use disorders. 

• Help members of the recovery community communicate the needs of 

individuals in recovery to primary care providers (e.g., prescribing 

guidance for individuals in recovery experiencing pain). 

• Work together to develop and implement trainings in naloxone 

administration.

Treatment Providers (e.g., 

substance misuse treatment 

directors, treatment 

specialists administering 

medications for opioid use 

disorder) 

• Invite representatives from the treatment community to share data on

treatment admissions and completions. 

• Collaborate with treatment providers to educate prescribers about 

medication-assisted treatment. 
ENGAGING PARTNERS TO PREVENT OPIOID OVERDOSE-RELATED DEATHS | 6 

Partner Sector Opportunities for Engagement

• Train treatment program staff and administrators in naloxone 

administration in case clients experience an overdose while on site.

Universities/Colleges (e.g., 

school administrators, 

campus health center 

directors, student support 

services leadership)

• Encourage universities and colleges to share data on student overdose 

rates and drug use. 

• Work with your local college or university’s office of prevention to

educate the student population on the dangers or opioid misuse, 

abuse, and addiction. 

• Collaborate with college staff to train student support services (such as 

residential life) on overdose prevention and naloxone administration. 

Youth-serving Agencies • Collaborate around efforts to educate parents and guardians about 

the risks of opioid-related overdoses and strategies to prevent them. 

SPTAC@edc.org | samhsa.gov/SPTAC