Talking Stigma, Recovery, and Prevention Programs with Mendonoma Health AllianceTalking Stigma, Recovery, and Prevention Programs with Mendonoma Health Alliance
Rural Roads- The RCORPodcast.
Tim Rabelt speaks with Micheline White about how Mendonoma Health Alliance tackles addiction in a very remote rural community. They discuss anti-stigma efforts, youth prevention, a peer recovery team, and the launch of a mobile health clinic to bring care closer to residents.
23:17•12 Sept 2023
Fighting Stigma and Building Rural Recovery with Mendonoma Health Alliance
Episode Overview
- Severe service gaps in a remote rural area led Mendonoma Health Alliance to use telehealth and shared office space to host multiple providers and programmes.
- A peer-led recovery approach with trusted community health workers has strengthened relationships and made it easier for people to seek help.
- School-based prevention since 2018 uses evidence-based lessons, student surveys, and naloxone distribution to address real youth risks around opioids and other drugs.
- A mobile health clinic, supported by state and federal funding, aims to bring primary care, telemedicine, and substance use support directly to outlying communities.
- The #OvercomingAddiction campaign, featuring people in addiction, recovery, and healthcare, has reduced stigma and helped move multiple local residents into treatment.
“In the first year after that campaign was launched, our little community sent 14 community members into treatment successfully.”
How do people find strength in their journey to sobriety? This conversation gives a rural answer to that question, following how one tiny, isolated community in coastal California is reshaping its response to addiction. Host Tim Rabelt chats with Micheline White, Executive Director of the Mendonoma Health Alliance, whose service area has no local hospital, pharmacy, or treatment centre within a two‑hour drive.
Micheline explains how this reality pushed the team to get creative with care, from telehealth in their office to acting as a hub for public health, child protection, and other outreach services. You’ll hear how their peer recovery programme runs with four community health workers, including a peer recovery coordinator in long‑term recovery. Micheline talks about the trust they’ve built over six years and how that trust has helped people feel safe asking for help with substance use.
A big focus is prevention with young people. Since 2018, Mendonoma staff have been in schools using evidence‑based lessons about opioids and other drugs, giving honest guidance on real‑life situations, and even distributing naloxone. Annual student surveys help them adjust the sessions based on what teens are actually facing at home and at parties. Micheline also walks through their mobile health clinic project, funded in part through state and federal support.
With the vehicle arriving and policies, workforce training, and long opening hours planned, the aim is to bring primary care, telemedicine, and substance use care directly to outlying communities. Perhaps the most moving part is the #OvercomingAddiction anti‑stigma campaign. Using videos, print ads, and social media featuring people in active addiction, recovery, and healthcare, the campaign has shifted attitudes county‑wide.
As Micheline shares, “In the first year after that campaign was launched, our little community sent 14 community members into treatment successfully.” If you’re curious how rural teams can make meaningful change with limited resources, this story might spark ideas for your own community work.
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