With opioid overdoses rising, Santa Clara County is expanding substance abuse support at schools, distributing more naloxone and fentanyl testing strips and boosting youth inpatient treatment using money from a settlement with opioid distributors.
Approximately $1.5 million will go to help expand the School Linked Services Initiatives — which provides mental health services to students in high-risk areas — by adding peer support specialists and clinicians who can aid in substance abuse treatment and answer questions. Zelia Faria Costa, the county’s children’s director for behavioral health services, said the addition of peer-to-peer support in schools would help students by giving them “someone that would be along side them to talk about risks” and other opportunities.
The program will be rolled out in up to 27 local high schools in high risk areas, but Supervisor Joe Simitian worried that restricting it to those schools could leave out some youth who may need help, as well. Following a 300% increase in fentanyl overdoses in Santa Clara County in the last three years, according to county officials, supervisors also want to stock more vending machines with naloxone — a medication that reverses opioid overdoses — at bars, restaurants, libraries, community centers and colleges.