Addressing Community Trauma and Building Community Resilience to Prevent Opioid Misuse and Addiction

Abstract

Any strategy to end the opioid epidemic must include recognizing and addressing the role of widespread individual and community trauma and the need for solutions that build protective factors and agency within communities while supporting long-term treatment and recovery for those experiencing substance use disorders. In this chapter, the authors describe how a community trauma–informed approach can be applied to address and mitigate the exposures, behaviors, and high levels of hopelessness that are fueling the opioid crisis. Further, the chapter explores how primary prevention strategies can complement opioid treatment and long-term recovery interventions and address other conditions that co-occur in communities experiencing trauma.