In 2013, two overdose deaths in the space of a week in the Somerset Hills towns of New Jersey led to the beginnings of a powerful movement of volunteers committed to ending opioid overdose deaths. A community coalition consisting of a wide range of local leaders, stakeholders and faith-based organizations mobilized and, using the 2014 Governor’s Council on Alcoholism and Drug Abuse’s (GCADA) evidenced-based report on the burgeoning heroin/opioid epidemic as its foundation, created working groups united in fighting the crisis. We are one of only a few federally-funded Drug Free Communities (DFC) coalitions singularly focused on the opioid crisis. We are primarily volunteer driven, with a widely diverse group of approximately 100 volunteers.
The Community Hub, the new home for Community in Crisis, is located in 9 Church Street in Bernardsville. The Hub offers a welcoming environment to everyone seeking information, resources and volunteer opportunities that can help support them and others in the face of the opioid epidemic. With a focus on fostering healthy lifestyles, the Hub will offer our youth, adolescents, adults and families workshops, coffee and conversation, speaker series, volunteer programs and presentations. The Hub will also provide, in a non-judgmental location, workshops and resources for individuals in post-acute care recovery and their families as they integrate back into their environment and support system.
