OSCEOLA COUNTY, Fla. — Osceola County officials are taking steps to provide more help for people in need of recovery services who suffer from substance use disorder by establishing the “Uplift Osceola County Drug-Free Coalition.”
What You Need To Know
Osceola County is getting a drug-free coalition called Uplift to serve people who are at risk of or struggling with a substance use disorder
Uplift will prioritize opioid abatement strategies, which will allow experts to engage with schools, healthcare providers, law enforcement and community members through prevention efforts
The coalition’s efforts will include bilingual education on how to use naloxone to save lives and prevent overdoses
Recovery and behavioral health experts in the Central Florida region called this “a positive step” towards helping Osceola County, a county that experts said has “lacked resources” for years
During Monday night’s commission meeting, the commission approved the new agreement and Uplift, spearheaded by the Brevard Prevention Coalition, to provide more prevention efforts as part of the county’s Opioid Settlement Plan.
“It’s nice to finally see some real prevention and intervention services coming to the community. We know that Osceola County has for quite a long time now, been one of the areas in our community that has been underfunded, that has not as many resources available to the citizens there,” Mental Health Association Central Florida President and CEO Marni Stahlman said.
Uplift will start on April 1, and this new drug-free coalition will allow experts to engage in schools with healthcare providers, law enforcement and community members through prevention efforts. This includes bilingual education on how to use naloxone to save lives and prevent overdoses.
The new $200,000 agreement can be used for Uplift services up until June 2027. A renewal of this funding is subject to county approval.
Specifically, the Mental Health Association serves people without health insurance. Stalman said this is an added addition that will help uninsured people.
“Opioid addiction is fundamentally a mental health issue. Substance use disorders are classified as mental health conditions. When we see a county like Osceola investing in overdose prevention, treatment access and recovery support, it’s going to directly strengthen the behavioral health care system overall,” Stahlman said. “Addiction isn’t a moral failing. It’s a chronic, treatable illness that requires coordinated care.”
Park Place Behavioral Health Center in Kissimmee serves 9,000 people, and one-third of the individuals they help are children.
Melissa Tirado, Park Place’s substance abuse director, said more recently, they’ve expanded to include an adolescent detox withdrawal management program to help youth struggling with substance use disorder.
“We’ve served adults. We provide them an opportunity to have withdrawal management programs and also transition to different programs. However, we didn’t have that available for adolescents,” she said. “We’ve also partnered with the Osceola School District. We’ve been able to serve individuals, primarily students, that are at risk of substances. Instead of being expelled from the school district, they’re provided an opportunity to participate of a diversion program with their guardian.”
Tirado said the new Uplift agreement will allow Park Place to better reach youth and adults in need of recovery services.
“So, aside from the substance abuse struggles, a lot of individuals, they lack support, they lack housing, they lack social supports,” Tirado said. “We’re treating individuals with substance use disorders, we’re treating them the whole individual and providing them with assistance in their basic needs as well.”
Actively, Park Place is constructing a new residential center to serve people in need of long-term residential care, anywhere from a three-month stay to a 15-month stay, to help them reenter the community.
Natalie Mullett, director for business development at Park Place, said a “people first” approach is a must when addressing mental health and substance use disorder-related struggles within Osceola County.
“We were the only county in Florida that had never had a drug-free community coalition because that was back in the early ’80s, and Osceola County just never had had one. So, we were really excited to get one started,” Mullett said.
Mullett was the chair of the original Drug-Free Coalition effort in Osceola County, which she noted failed after the pandemic. She said the Uplift Coalition coming to Osceola County will provide a new framework to meet county-wide needs.
“So, we’re extremely excited about Uplift, being able to come in and start a community coalition for us here with an experience of having a community coalition, they’ll bring all the better campaigning and stuff that they have already in play, as well as adding new stuff and having the Osceola Opioid Task Force help as members,” she said.
George Margoles is the president and CEO of Recovery Connections. Recovery Connections actively works in partnership with Park Place to serve Osceola County.
“I do believe that there is hope, and that that’s really the message that our peers and recovery connections bring to the table,” Margoles said.
He added that there must be a focus on PEER support services to continue providing accountability through relationships for people working to enter into recovery.
“So, the PEER is an individual that has lived experience and they’re in recovery themselves. Over time, we’ve found that those individuals are better able to connect with folks that are trying to get and gain recovery,” he said.
Recovery Connections was just awarded a $600,000 grant from Brevard County to bring services to the county. They serve Orange, Osceola, Seminole, Brevard and Polk counties.
“We’re able to provide recovery support services from our organization, but also, we act as a general contractor for other organizations that provide medically assisted treatment. We provide Uber transportation and housing, sober living kinds of things,” Margoles said.
He added, “The opioid settlement funding has helped us tremendously, provide services right now in Seminole County and in Orange County, and actually here in Osceola County, where we are working with Park Place Behavioral.”