Bridge Program Award to Support Peer-Based Opioid Addiction Services

The Bridge Program, a service of South Shore Health’s Grayken Center for Treatment, is one of six “promising community-driven projects,” to receive a RIZE Massachusetts Foundation grant, dedicated to funding and creating solutions to end the overdose crisis.

Together We RIZE, a campaign created to mark the organization’s fifth anniversary, supports initiatives that bolster the behavioral health workforce, build up harm reduction services and boost healthcare access and equity. Each recipient has received a one-year grant ranging from $98K- $100K.

“South Shore Health’s Grayken Center for Treatment is thrilled to be selected for Together We RIZE funding. Our organizations share a common goal: to address the opioid epidemic through initiatives that remove barriers to care and services, while addressing fear, uncertainty and indecision about treatment,” said Dr. Todd Kerensky, Medical Director, Addiction Medicine at South Shore Health.

“Our novel peer support program, bolstered by this generous grant, aligns patients with those who are already in recovery, to lend support, help reduce stigma and share first-hand experiences with medication treatment for opioid use disorder and recovery, in real time."

South Shore Health provides hospital-based addiction services through the Grayken Center for Treatment, as well as outpatient, office-based, and mobile addiction treatment services. With this grant, the health system will increase hospital initiation of methadone – which has been proven to reduce illicit opioid use and risk of overdose – and connection to treatment. The model calls for peers following up with patients to ensure early retention in the program when the risk of dropout is high.

Together We RIZE grants were also awarded to the following organizations: Berkshire Harm Reduction, Pittsfield; Brockton Neighborhood Health Center, Brockton; Grayken Center for Addiction at Boston Medical Center, Boston; North Suffolk Mental Health Association, Chelsea; St. Francis House, Boston

About RIZE Massachusetts 

RIZE Massachusetts Foundation is an independent nonprofit foundation committed to achieving zero stigma and zero deaths related to opioid use disorder by investing in meaningful solutions and employing broad perspectives that will save lives, reduce harm and end the opioid epidemic in Massachusetts.