Local groups collaborate to address substance use recovery

Adam McQueen is an active member of TASC, the Taking Action to Address Substance Use in Communities program. Through TASC, McQueen has made professional connections to help improve recovery service for individuals on community supervision.

“When you meet someone, you don’t know how important that relationship will become down the road,” McQueen, an assistant chief probation officer at Wayne County Probation, said.

Funded by the North Central Cooperative Extension Association, Purdue faculty and staff developed TASC to provide a framework for communities addressing substance use disorder.

The TASC program was created and launched by Nicole Adams, clinical associate professor at the Purdue School of Nursing, and Michael Wilcox, senior associate at the Purdue Center for Regional Development and assistant director and program leader for Purdue Extension Community Development.

Adams and Wilcox co-created the program with Elisa Worland, community development and health and human sciences educator in Wayne County, to give communities tools to take a proactive and inclusive stance on substance use.

TASC creates spaces for coalition members like social services, education, law enforcement and the recovery community to connect and develop effective community-based intervention initiatives.

TASC equips Extension educators to help local coalitions work toward a community-wide, recovery-oriented system of care.

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration describes a recovery-oriented system of care as “a coordinated network of community-based services and supports that is person-centered and builds on the strengths and resiliencies of individuals, families and communities to achieve abstinence and improved health, wellness and quality of life for those with or at risk of alcohol and drug problems.”

For example, McQueen helped increase the accessibility of NaloxBoxes, an emergency intervention tool for opioid overdose.

“When you focus down at the community level, you’re looking at the values, cultures and resources of each community and their people,” McQueen said. “The program focuses on the assets communities already have and provides the curriculum to help make meaningful change.”

In addition to Wayne County, TASC has been implemented in Clark, Newton, Jasper and Tippecanoe counties.

Collaborators from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, The Ohio State University and Turtle Mountain Community College are implementing community-shaped iterations of the program beyond Indiana.