Manchester Program Featured In National Report On Addressing Opioid Crisis
The Manchester Police Department is pleased to announce that the Adverse Childhood Experiences Response Team (ACERT), a partnership between MPD, Amoskeag Health, and YWCA-NH is part of a new national report on evidence-based strategies and critical programs that can be replicated in communities throughout the country to address the opioid crisis.
The report, Evidence-Based Interventions to Address the Opioid Epidemic, published by Addiction Policy Forum (APF), highlights 24 strategies and interventions to support state and local jurisdictions in addressing the opioid epidemic and features ACERT as one model program.
The highlighted strategies in the report span children and family services, patient services, systems improvements, and policy changes. The report includes resources and the latest research to help policymakers, practitioners, and stakeholders improve practices and policies and institute solutions to the crisis.
ACERT is a response team that can be deployed to serve children who have been exposed to trauma. The team, which consists of a plain-clothes detective, a crisis services advocate that specializes in domestic violence, and a family advocate assess the situation and determines what resources would benefit the child most. This approach has been very successful, and has been replicated in other cities across New Hampshire.
“ I am proud of the work done by our officers who have dedicated themselves to the success of ACERT,” says Chief Allen Aldenberg. “The Manchester Police Department is committed to aggressively addressing the opioid epidemic, and ACERT is one of the many approaches we are using to combat the problem.”
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 107,622 Americans died from a drug overdose in 2021 -- the highest number ever reported in 12 months. With 295 people dying from drug overdoses each day, there is a critical and urgent need to focus on evidence-based strategies that address the substance use disorder epidemic.
