This week covers free Narcan training and new campus naloxone stations, a WHO update expanding opioid treatment guidelines to include long-acting injectable buprenorphine, and two new co-response pilots, one in New Zealand pairing police with crisis clinicians, and one in Somerville, MA embedding public health professionals on mental health 911 calls.

Isle of Palms Fire & Rescue is partnering with nonprofit Wake Up Carolina to offer a free June 8 event at the Public Safety Building, where attendees can receive hands-on opioid overdose response training along with free Narcan nasal spray and fentanyl test kits.

The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga has completed the installation of 52 ONEbox naloxone stations across campus, placing them alongside AEDs in buildings throughout campus, with each box stocked with two doses of naloxone nasal spray and built-in video guidance for first-time responders.

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New Zealand has launched a mental health co-response team in Tauranga, pairing police officers with crisis clinicians and peer support workers to provide a more appropriate response to mental health-related emergency calls. Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey framed the initiative as a direct challenge to the status quo, arguing it is unacceptable that people in psychological distress are met with a law enforcement response when they have committed no crime.

The Bay of Plenty region was chosen for the early rollout due to high demand for crisis services, and within just one month the team had already responded to 52 people in crisis. The expansion builds on a successful Wellington pilot, which showed reductions in the use of Mental Health Act powers and fewer people being transported to emergency departments or police stations.

The World Health Organization has updated its opioid dependence treatment guidelines to now include a conditional recommendation for long-acting injectable buprenorphine, alongside its existing strong recommendations for methadone and oral buprenorphine, as part of a broader effort to address a global treatment gap in which fewer than 10% of the estimated 64 million people living with drug use disorders currently receive care.

The Somerville Police Department has launched a Co-Response Pilot Program that pairs officers with a public health professional from its Community Outreach Help & Recovery (COHR) program to respond in real time to 911 calls involving mental health crises, substance use, welfare checks, and behavioral disturbances.

The co-responder will operate during two four-hour shifts per week and can be requested by any officer on scene, while also helping connect individuals to follow-up care and wraparound services afterward. The pilot stems from years of community and cross-departmental work under the city's Public Safety for All initiative, and SPD will collect data throughout the program to inform a potential permanent, expanded version.