The "Story Behind the Indicator" helps us understand why the data on unntentional opioid deaths in Mitchell County is the way that it is in our community. When we understand the root causes of our community problems, we have a better chance of finding the right solutions, together.

The story behind the indicator is that Mitchell County has a strong sense of pride in their youth. The Substance Abuse Task Force has a strong youth program in the schools that helps the children learn the dangers of substance abuse and teaches them how to properly combat issues revolving around substance abuse. This group uses their youth to youth program to educate the children and young adults in the area and this in turn could hopefully pay off by seeing a decrease in the frequency of drinking and other drugs that the youth in Mitchell County participate in.

What's Helping? These are the positive forces at work in our community and beyond that influence this issue in our community.

• Substance Abuse Task Force
• Youth to Youth Groups in Schools
• Mitchell Community Health Partnership

These three groups are of great help to the Mitchell County Community. Through these three factors there are multiple organizations that band together to help Mitchell County achieve a higher quality of life for the county. With multiple organizations coming together multiple times a month to tackle a growing concern in the county it is incredible the things that can get done with these two meetings that then help the youth to youth leaders know what to focus on for the children.

What's Hurting? These are the negative forces at work in our community and beyond that influence this issue in our community.

• Small Community with Limited Resources for Youth
• Easy Access to Alcohol and other Substances

A barrier that Mitchell County faces is the fact that the youth in the county don’t have many activities to participate in. This is a reason for the importance of youth to youth and other things that are attempting to get our youth involved in the community. Children in the community also have easy access to substances such as alcohol and prescription drugs because of the lack of education in the community concerning the harm that this can cause youth.

Partners in our Community Health Improvement Process: 

• Partners Aligned Toward Health
• Mitchell-Yancey Substance Abuse Task Force
• Blue Ridge Regional Hospital
• Mountain Community Health Partnership
• WNC Healthy Impact

These partners in the community work diligently to improve the health of our county and are valuable partners with the health department. With the help of the community we believe we will reach our goals concerning this particular health issue.

Partners with a Role in Helping Our Community Do Better on This Issue: 

• Mitchell-Yancey Substance Abuse Task Force
• Blue Ridge Regional Hospital

The two specific partners listed work closely with the health department and help us move forward on the issues presented by partnering in events, meetings, and other activities to improve the health of the community.

The following actions have been identified by our partners and community members as ideas for what can work for our community to make a difference on substance abuse and mental health.

Actions and Approaches Identified by Our Partners These are actions and approaches that our partners think can make a difference on substance abuse.

• Prevention Oriented Community
• Expansion of Alternative Pain Methods
• Drug Take Back Day

These actions have been selected by our partners as a way to greatly impact substance abuse in Mitchell County. Becoming a prevention oriented community and expanding the alternative pain methods could give relief to the community. Staring and continuing a drug take back day and having it regularly could also greatly impact the lives of the community by decreasing the prescription pills in the area.

What is Currently Working in Our Community These are actions and approaches that are currently in place in our community to make a difference on substance abuse.

• Needle Drop boxes in Health Departments
• Drug Lockboxes
• Tonier Cane Event (Creating Community Awareness)

The above approaches are currently working in the community and we believe will either begin making an impact or continue making an impact among the citizens.

Evidence-Based Strategies These are actions and approaches that have been shown to make a difference on substance abuse.

What Community Members Most Affected by Substance Abuse Say These are the actions and approaches recommended by members of our community who are most affected by substance abuse.

• Breaking Down Barriers among Recovering Addicts and the Community
• Continue growing recovery community and continue educating community professionals

The following was selected by community members as what they believe could help them and the community in general the most. The community sees a large barrier among recovering addicts and the community and repairing this barrier could help those who are trying to put their life back together after having broken apart from addiction. Continuing growing the recovery community and educating professionals on how to better help was also seen as something that would help our community.

Process for Selecting Priority Strategies

This list was prioritized in a multitude of ways. The process for making this list included speaking to community partners and gaining their input on what they believe is being done currently and what could be done in the future. It also includes input from recovering addicts who know what the population needs and what will help the community grow. This process finally included looking back over the last health assessments and action plans and finding what had an effect on the community and what needs to be continued and what didn’t have as large of an impact and could be discontinued.