A box of overdose-reversal medication sits within arm’s reach of Christine Smith’s desk — a daily reminder of the stakes of her work.
Smith is the director of prevention and crisis services at the Missouri Department of Mental Health.
Sometimes known as the “Naloxone Queen” by her peers because of the box and her job, Smith helps coordinate DMH’s efforts to make sure Naloxone is made available in communities to prevent fatal overdoses.
The department is trying to make sure the state is “saturated” with Naloxone, so if people need it, it can be easily accessed, she said.
“For the past few years we’ve seen a drastic decline in overdose deaths, so that’s something we can’t let up,” she said.
If people have questions about where they can find Naloxone in their communities, information is available on an interactive map at getmissourinaloxone.com/pick-up-today.
Smith also works in primary prevention work, which includes substance use prevention.
Her department works with about 10 contracted prevention resource centers and about 150 community coalitions across the state working in substance use prevention.
“It’s really just trying to reduce harmful effects and make sure we have healthy communities and reduce the onset of a substance use issue,” she said.
Smith and her team are also working with health care systems and provider agencies to prevent suicides.
DMH operates under a Zero Suicide Grant and is implementing the Zero Suicide Model across multiple health systems, focusing on improved care coordination in emergency departments and hospitals, strengthening the state’s crisis hotline system and expanding suicide prevention training, Smith said.
The department also works with service members and their families on suicide and substance use prevention.
Smith said she likes making an impact in the area of prevention and crisis services. She began working in the field through one-on-one help through counseling and case management earlier in her career. Now she is taking her field experience to help make an impact across the state and system.
She attended the University of Missouri, where she worked as a work-study student at a substance use residential treatment program. She performed clerical duties there and was offered a full-time position after graduation.
Working at the facility “helped her connect some dots,” she said, especially as she reflected on family members who had struggled with substance use.
She later worked as a drug court counselor before becoming an HIV case manager and other roles for the Department of Health and Senior Services.
One of the things that now keeps Smith up at night is the tight budget years where funding support gets cut or reduced. For example, this season there is ongoing budget discussions about funding for Naloxone distribution going on in the Missouri legislature.
“(We are) just really making sure that we have that funding support to continue the efforts and the really good foundations that we have with our programs here,” Smith said. “I would say that’s a worry for me and just the resources to continue what we’ve implemented and what’s working.”