Technology can play a role in helping combat opioid addiction in rural America. In West Virginia, tools like data and even artificial intelligence are doing just that.
A big part of the state’s work in this area is Jobs and Hope West Virginia (Jobs and Hope WV), a program established by the governor in response to the substance use disorder crisis.
As Deb Harris, lead transition agent for Jobs and Hope WV, explained, the state increased its treatment and recovery offerings in response to its high overdose rate in 2017. But officials realized that without training or education, people had limited capacity to continue their recovery after treatment. Gov. Jim Justice announced Jobs and Hope WV in 2019, as a way to provide education and career training to help connect people in recovery with employment opportunities.
Its technology component is its case management system, using Quickbase technology since the summer of 2023. It allows for data input to do the work, and data output to report program success. This replaced a different case management system and an Excel spreadsheet that kept data about the program’s outcomes.
“We’re really seeing that payoff now,” Harris said of the newer system. It was installed in collaboration with Jobs and Hope WV staff, to ensure it was user-friendly and time-efficient for those who would be using it.
The program’s 23 transition agents use the platform daily to provide case management services to program participants. This includes initial intake, service referral and outcome record entry. Recording outcomes allows the program to demonstrate its impact with data, illustrating developments like how many people have been able to stop relying on state benefits; this points to a return on investment for the state, too.
The platform also plays a role in helping the formerly incarcerated re-enter society. Re-entry liaisons use it to support initiatives from correctional facilities, as part of another program that leads individuals into Jobs and Hope WV upon their release. By participating in the program, those released can have certain nonviolent criminal offenses expunged from their records. More than 30 people have completed that process through this program.
Jobs and Hope WV staff work with state-level agencies, community organizations providing services, and local workforce organizations to support participants’ rejoining the workforce.
“We use an individualized approach,” Harris said, explaining participants may have different goals for their recovery and career, which the program will try to support while balancing with market demand. “It really just depends on what the person comes to us saying they want to do.”
The program’s target population is individuals in recovery from substance use disorder or those re-entering from incarceration, but it is available to support any West Virginian facing a barrier to employment.
People in all 55 counties across the state are now participating, and officials plan to continue evolving the program. This is in part due to need, Harris said, as a demand for more re-entry services has been identified. The team is exploring funding opportunities to hire more staff to expand in that area of work, she said. Broader program expansion goals include maintaining and improving existing services.
“We want to better serve them; we want to help them be more successful and be contributing members of their community in our state,” Harris said.
