With Substance Use Disorder, there are many paths to recovery.
Crisis & Counseling Centers is on a shared mission with partners throughout Maine to save lives and strengthen communities, and we’re putting all the options on the table. Because if we want to give people a fighting chance, we need to keep them alive, safe, and supported throughout their journey of active use and recovery.
Eligibility Requirements
This service is available to anyone at risk of overdose or who has recently overdosed. Insurance is not required for this service, it is free to all who need it.
This service is available in the following regions:
- Penobscot County
- Piscataquis County
Support is available statewide through other OPTIONS partner agencies. Visit KnowYourOptions.ME to connect.
This service is provided at no cost thanks to funding from the Maine Department of Health and Human Services.
Know Your Options
The Overdose Prevention Through Intensive Outreach Naloxone and Safety (OPTIONS) initiative is a coordinated effort of the Maine Office of Behavioral Health (OBH) and other state agencies aiming to improve the health and wellbeing of Mainers with substance use disorder through encouraging harm reduction strategies, connecting Mainers to recovery care, and dramatically reducing the number of drug overdoses.
What to Expect
OPTIONS Liaisons are licensed behavioral health clinicians that work in partnership
When you work with OPTIONS, you’ll meet with an OPTIONS Liaison, who will help you navigate recovery or provide you with harm reduction tools, such as naloxone (also known as Narcan).
OPTIONS Liaisons are licensed behavioral health clinicians that work alongside local emergency medical services (EMS) and law enforcement professionals in all Maine counties. These co-responders work with first responders to:
- Engage in post-overdose follow up and refer patients to recovery services and support, such as insurance, housing, treatment and harm reduction resources;
- Conduct proactive outreach with individuals, families, and other community members affected by opioid use disorder in Maine;
- Distribute naloxone (Narcan) and educate community members on how to properly administer this life-saving medication;
- Provide short-term counseling interventions as appropriate; and
- Offer anti-stigma education with healthcare providers throughout Maine.
Each OPTIONS Liaison is available to their entire assigned county.
Understand Your OPTIONS
The OPTIONS initiative aims to better support people who suffer from substance use disorder in Maine, while also connecting individuals and families with overdose prevention resources and recovery care and support.
The OPTIONS program is available in every Maine county, and has an active mobile response team that works directly with community members to:
- Promote substance use prevention;
- Encourage harm reduction strategies that reduce the risk of both fatal and non-fatal overdoses;
- Connect individuals directly to recovery treatment and support;
- Distribute naloxone (Narcan);
- Increase the public awareness of Maine’s Good Samaritan Law, which protects both a person experiencing an overdose and/or someone who reports an overdose in good faith from prosecution for certain drug-related offenses; and
- De-stigmatize substance use disorder in Maine, which can decrease patient apprehensiveness about seeking treatment and support.
Additional Resources
Maine Drug Data Hub
The Maine Drug Data Hub is a collaboration between several Maine state departments, the Governor’s Office, and the University of Maine. The Hub compiles state and community data regarding drug use and overdose, and provides resources and data visualizations for this information. This site informs Mainers about current statewide harm reduction, and tracks Maine’s progress toward reaching Governor Mills’ Maine Opioid Response Strategic Action Plan goals.
Where to Find Naloxone
State supplied naloxone is available to Maine organizations and community members that wish to add the life-saving medicine to their first aid kit in case of an overdose emergency, or distribute to people who use opioids or their family members. Since the program’s inception in 2019, the Maine Naloxone Distribution Initiative and the Maine Attorney General’s Naloxone Distribution Program has distributed over 110,000 doses of naloxone to Maine communities.
Explore Your OPTIONS
The Overdose Prevention Through Intensive Outreach Naloxone and Safety (OPTIONS) initiative is a coordinated effort of the Maine Office of Behavioral Health (OBH) and other state agencies to improve the health of individuals using substances through harm reduction, overdose prevention, and outreach.
