How Psychologists Can Impact the Opioid Epidemic

Professional psychologists have an important role in addressing the current United States opioid epidemic through community engagement, collaboration, clinical practice, education, and scholarly activity. We review the contemporary opioid epidemic, with a special emphasis on the impact of opioid addiction in rural communities. The Utah State University Health Extension: Advocacy, Research, and Teaching (HEART) Initiative, based in nine counties in Utah, including rural Carbon and Emery counties, is uniquely reviewed as an example of a local, rural opioid prevention and intervention program. We discuss the why and how of multisystem, collaborative efforts as critical to combatting the opioid epidemic, and we drill down to psychologists playing a leading role in multidisciplinary, community action teams, leveraging their expertise in education/training, scholarly research, and evidence-based approaches in preventing and treating substance use disorders and specifically opioid use disorders. Psychologists are well poised to make significant positive impacts in our communities, states, and nationally.