The Norman Public Schools Board of Education approved a resolution to apply for the Opioid Abatement Grant program to help students who are dealing with mental health or substance abuse during a special meeting Monday.
Opioid abatement grants can fund treatment and recovery programs, along with substance abuse education and prevention efforts. The funds are apart of a nearly $1 billion settlement between Oklahoma and opioid manufacturers, distributors and retailers.
Katrina Hime, NPS director of counseling and student advocacy, presented the resolution to the board and talked about the services the grant may offer.
This grant focuses on the expansion of treatment availability for individuals affected by opioid use disorders and substance use disorders. Hime said the grant maximum is $150,000, based on the district’s population size.
Hime said a portion of the grant will also focus on mental health issues related to addiction and the opioid crisis.
With this grant program, NPS will also educate students on reducing opioid-related distribution and dependence, which may affect a student’s physical, social and mental functioning.
“We have a lot of prevention within already built in and we’re working on expanding that within our district all the way up,” Hime said.
NPS currently has a partnership with the Virtue Center, which provides counseling and education on addiction. With this grant, Hime said it will expand the services with this center to where it could do school-based services to students at both Norman North High School and Norman High School.
The grant will also support positions that would assist both high schools in providing individualized support to students with higher risks.
Hime said a lot of students are potentially struggling with drug use or addiction, which can be affecting their social and academic lives.
“Needing to get that mental health support to ensure that they have someone to talk to and have someone that’s staying on top of them, meeting their goals in order to be reentered into a general setting,” Hime said.
A large part of the grant will also be used to expand Care Solace, a mental health school service, into the 2024-25 school year.
Hime said NPS already had a grant and recently started the services with Care Solace, but the contract will end on June 30.
Hime said, with this grant, NPS can anticipate focused substance abuse prevention, education and intervention to students at risk or already struggling with drug dependency.
This story was edited by Peggy Dodd and Ismael Lele.
