Overcoming SUD Stigma - A Rural Community Approach

Welcome to a community conversation on opioid use disorder. UR Medicine Recovery Center of Excellence has been working with rural communities around the country to hold Community Conversations workshops, because we believe that ending stigma starts with a conversation. (gentle music continues) The goal of these workshops is to shed light on stigma, its impact on the lives of people with substance use disorder and how it affects their path to recovery. This is not an academic workshop.

It allows participants to explore stigma, how we support people with substance use disorder in their families, and how we work together in our communities to reduce stigma. Through video interviews, discussion, and sharing experiences, we explore the roots of stigma and recognize its impact on individuals, families, providers, and our rural communities. We explore negative and positive beliefs around substance use disorder and recovery. We identify ways to overcome barriers and challenges to addressing stigma, and we learn about the different ways to focus on recovery-oriented approaches to reducing stigma.

Finally, we seek to build on relationships with each other within the workshop to learn from and use as a resource to reduce stigma in our rural communities. We invite everyone from the community to participate, and that includes people with lived experience, families and friends of individuals with substance use disorder, service providers, emergency service and health care providers, and we hope community leaders and elected officials will attend. We want everyone in the community to participate in creating a vibrant conversation by sharing resources, building relationships, learning from and supporting each other, and continuing our work together to reduce stigma in our rural communities.

Community Conversations on Opioid Use Disorder

The goal of Community Conversations on Opioid Use Disorder (OUD) workshops is to shed light on substance use disorder (SUD)-related stigma as a barrier to recovery and to collaborate with rural communities to develop local solutions that reduce it.

These are not academic workshops. They are conversations where participants explore stigma, how we support people with SUD and their families, and how we work together in our communities to reduce stigma.

Workshops define stigma and discuss its impact in rural areas. Participants explore ways to reduce stigma, biases, and negative perceptions that impede or discourage recovery. We use portraits and videos featuring rural community members to facilitate an interactive discussion.

In the workshop, participants:

Create a common understanding of the roots of stigma and recognize its impact on individuals, families, providers, and their rural community
Explore negative and positive beliefs around SUD/OUD and recovery
Identify ways to overcome barriers to addressing stigma and to build a recovery-oriented approach to reducing it
Review support resources and connect with fellow workshop participants, sharing knowledge and building networks to help reduce stigma in their rural community

Community Conversations Workshop — Community Conversation in Wenatchee, WA, hosted by Thriving Together

Who attends in rural communities

Individuals with lived experience of SUD
Family and friends of individuals with SUD
Service providers and health care providers
Community leaders
Interested community members

How it works

Research shows stigmatizing beliefs around SUD can be reduced by bringing people into contact with a person who has the stigmatized medical condition while emphasizing the effectiveness of treatment in recovery.
Activities encourage participants to analyze their beliefs, identify opportunities for change, and develop specific action plans for the future.

Becoming a Facilitation Leader in your community

Anyone who participates in the Community Conversations workshop is invited to become a trained Facilitation Leader through the Facilitation Leader training workshop.
The Facilitation Leader training prepares participants to implement a Community Conversations workshop in their community. It familiarizes them with the curriculum and discusses ways to engage audiences as a facilitator and involve the community in workshop planning.
Ongoing support is provided to Facilitation Leaders to build confidence and ensure fidelity to the workshop.

What participants say

Together as a community we have to take the responsibility to facilitate a change in the OUD/SUD epidemic. It is everyone’s ‘problem’, this is not an exclusion of ‘anyone.’ Remember to have empathy and open-minded thoughts towards this situation and all the individuals involved both now and in the future.

I feel so emotional. There is so much I want to do to help. It gives me hope that so many people are committed to helping and it makes me more determined to fulfill my role. I appreciated the insight into how someone in recovery thinks and their struggles because knowing those stories will help me do my job more effectively.

There is not a ‘one size fits all’ for any aspect of recovery. Everyone is unique and has various needs and background—using a variety of methods of understanding is crucial to being able to make connections with people.

Indigenous Community Conversations

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s 2022 National Survey on Drug Use and Health reported that American Indians and Alaska Natives—or AIANs—have the highest rates of substance use disorder (SUD), among the highest rates of illicit drug use, and the highest need for SUD treatment. AIANs also have high mortality rates due to drug overdose and alcohol-associated liver disease.

Seneca Scientific Solutions+ and the RCORP-Rural Center of Excellence on SUD Prevention at the University of Rochester launched Indigenous Community Conversations (ICC), which takes a community-based participatory approach to addressing SUD. ICC combines Indigenous storytelling, where individuals share their personal experiences with SUD, with evidence-based treatments like medications for opioid use disorder (MOUD), highlighting their recovery journeys. These stories are shared through video presentations. ICC is intended to reduce stigmatizing beliefs around SUD by engaging an array of community members, leaders, and professionals in SUD-related conversations. We draw attention to stigmatizing beliefs so people can understand their impact and provide support for community members who may consider seeking help. Facilitated in a safe environment, the workshop aspires to empower people with the skills, confidence, and motivation to combat stigma throughout their communities. We want participants to continue the conversation, normalize support-seeking behavior, and inspire change. We emphasize the importance of community in recovery and sharing of Indigenous recovery stories.

The broader goal of ICC is to enhance community capacity to support individuals with SUD in a manner that upholds Indigenous self-determination. Specific key aims include:

Raise Awareness: Increase public understanding of the impact of SUD on individuals, families, and communities.

Reduce Stigma: Address stigma associated with SUD. Stigma often serves as a barrier to seeking treatment and increases negative experiences of individuals experiencing SUD.

Promote Prevention and Treatment: Highlight the importance of prevention strategies and promote access to evidence-based treatment and recovery.

Engage Communities: Encourage community engagement and sharing of local resources and strategies to address SUD.

Facilitate Dialogue: Create a platform for open dialogue where community members can discuss challenges, share experiences, and explore solutions related to SUD.

Support Recovery: Emphasize the possibility of recovery and the availability of support systems to help achieve and sustain long-term recovery from SUD.

Reach

170

Workshops

1974

Workshop Participants

Facilitator Workshops

722

Facilitators Trained

States

154

Counties

Project spanning November 2021-June 2025

Updated July 2025