$1.05M Grant Expands Dual Diagnosis Treatment in North Carolina

A new six-county consortium in southeastern North Carolina expands dual diagnosis treatment with $1.05 million from the Kate B. Reynolds Charitable Trust. The fund creates the Southeastern Prevention and Addiction Recovery Resource Center Regional Opioid Consortium. It’s headed by SPARC, the program housed at UNC Pembroke that has served Pembroke since 2021.

Robeson County is joined in the consortium by Bladen, Columbus, Cumberland, Richmond and Scotland counties. SPARC has partnered with 70 nonprofits, police departments and local government agencies to provide care, early intervention education and naloxone.

Mental Health Connects to Addiction

Dual diagnosis occurs when mental health conditions and substance use disorders are in the same person. Integrated treatment ensures clinicians don’t address only one condition and leaves the other untreated. Doing so raises the risk of relapse, overdose and suicide. The consortium’s harm reduction and peer-based model revolves around that reality.

Stigma surrounding drugs remains the biggest barrier to care in the region, noted reps at the consortium’s kickoff. Many residents still regard naloxone as a harmful drug.

Ignoring the risks can lead to death. “Folks are losing their lives because they’re suffering in silence because they don’t have access,” noted Amanda Holland. She’s the director of the Scotland County Department of Health and Human Services. 

Being quiet often masks co-occurring depression and trauma that go in hand with opioids. One or all usually go untreated because stigma keeps people away from care.

Treatment Grows

The consortium plans to grow to at least 40 members, with a committee of 12 who’ve experience with substance use disorders such as fentanyl to direct the group. Member counties will share successful approaches and push for system changes region wide rather than one at a time.

“It’s not a top-down approach,” pointed out Summer Woodside, SPARC lead investigator.

Kate B. Reynolds funding covers member stipends, consortium meetings, a legislative consultant and workforce development strategies. A separate $200,000 federal Health Resources and Services Administration grant pays for a new data coordinator.

Numbers Behind the Grant

North Carolina’s overdose death rate fell to about 23 per 100,000 residents in 2025, down sharply from a peak of 40 in 2023. Health experts credit wider naloxone availability and treatment options as one factor in the decline.

Southeastern counties improved but still reflect the state’s highest rates. Bladen and Scotland counties posted the second- and third-highest overdose death rates in the state at 57 per 100,000 residents. Robeson County recorded 67 overdose deaths in 2025, up from 62 in 2025, despite expanded treatment.

Woodside noted that rural counties have larger treatment gaps than urban counties because of population size. Local governments have tight budgets as federal funding shrinks nationwide.

Consortium leaders plan to advocate for member counties at the N.C. General Assembly. “Potential for a louder voice, maybe a larger seat at the table,” Woodside hoped.

Care Beyond The Tar Heel State

People with opioid use disorder and a co-occurring mental health condition can take heart that integrated care is available. Our browsable directory lists dual diagnosis programs and mental health treatment facilities in the entire USA. 

Feel free to also dial 800-908-4823 (Sponsored) to learn more about comprehensive mental health and addiction treatment options alongside an expert.

Author

Terri Beth Miller, PhD

Author, Award-Winning Post-Secondary Teacher

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Terri Beth received her PhD in English literature from the University of Tennessee Knoxville and is an educator and disability studies scholar. For more than a decade, she has written extensively in the fields of mental health and addiction recovery and fiercely advocates for the destigmatization of mental illness.

Editor

Peter Lee, PhD

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Peter W.Y. Lee is a writer and historian of American history during the Cold War. His primary focus is the relationship between youth and popular culture and its impact on U.S. society during the twentieth century. He has published widely on how the public has used popular culture as a mechanism to address political and social shifts throughout time