Bringing Substance Use and Mental Health Treatment on the Road By Albany County Executive Daniel P. McCoy
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hen it comes to mental health and substance abuse programs and services, we can’t look to the past for solutions. Looking back shows us what we should not repeat, because those outdated policies have been a clear and resounding failure in terms of what we are seeing today. Furthermore, the events of the last 26 months have only made that conclusion even more obvious, as the isolation and financial turmoil caused by the pandemic and economic shutdown has only made these matters much worse. Consider that in Albany County alone there were at least 110 opioid overdose deaths in 2021. Compare that to the 99 deaths in 2020 and the 62 deaths in all of 2019. That is a 77% spike in annual overdose deaths between 2021 and 2019, and I know these alarming statistics are not unique to Albany County. These horrible tragedies are occurring at far greater rates across the state and the country. In 2021, more than 7,500 individuals received some form of service provided by our Albany County Mental Health Department during over 40,600 unique interactions.
We know the public need for assistance is there, so it’s our responsibility to be creative when it comes to how we are helping people struggling with addiction or mental health challenges. The old way of thinking in government was to wait for people to come to us to get assistance, and while it’s important to have headquarters and convenient satellite offices with doors wide open, we also need to find ways to bring services to people directly. Which is why Albany County has developed two important and innovative programs that bring mental health and substance abuse services on the road. The first is the Mobile Outreach Treatment Overdose Response (MOTOR) Program. The Albany County Department of Mental Health streamlined its community outreach and response efforts in April of last year. A team of addiction professionals and peers is available to provide support, linkage, and treatment to all parts of Albany County. Additionally, in a unique partnership with local law enforcement, MOTOR reaches out to overdose survivors with targeted interventions designed to provide rapid links to treatment. Currently, MOTOR is operating in the Towns of Guilderland and Colonie, with expansion planned for Albany, Cohoes, and Watervliet.
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NYSAC News | Summer 2022
