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What We Do

Hampshire HOPE’s mission is best summed up in two words: Save Lives.

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Hampshire HOPE is a broad, inclusive coalition of people from all walks of life in Hampshire County, located in the heart of the Pioneer Valley: public health professionals, medical and behavioral health providers, police officers, prosecutors, people in recovery, people who use drugs, harm reduction specialists, advocates, allies and family members, elected officials, corrections workers, municipal leaders.

 

We take a big tent approach to the substance misuse epidemic in our country, inviting a diversity of perspectives in order to change underlying conditions that led to an overdose death crisis in our region.

These key tenets guide our work: dismantle stigma, prevent overdose, promote harm reduction, humanize people who use drugs or are addicted, support recovery, reduce addiction. We believe each of these goals work together on our overarching mission of saving lives. 

 

 We engage our community in a variety of approaches informed by needs and guided by data, including:

  • wide distribution of naloxone and training on how to use it;

  • advocating for medication assisted treatment for opioid use disorders within correctional facilities and beyond;

  • responding to overdoses by specially trained teams of recovery coaches, harm reduction specialists and community police officers;

  • educating the community about the neurobiology of addiction and evidence-based treatments;

  • promoting safer drug storage, removal and disposal;

  • intensive training of people whose work brings them in contact with people who use drugs or struggle with addiction;

  • approaching people who use drugs with respect, dignity and compassion;

  • support of families and allies of people who use drugs or are in recovery;

  • promotion of peer-based recovery support and recovery-friendly communities;

  • advocating for policy changes, such as safer prescribing regulations and the Good Samaritan Law, that improve conditions for people dealing with substance use disorders;



Funded by a variety of state and federal grants and housed in the city of Northampton’s Health Department, Hampshire HOPE coalition staff and partners collaborate to bring public health approaches to the epidemic of overdose deaths across the 20 cities and towns of Hampshire County in rural western Massachusetts.    

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