Changing the System for Mental Health and Addiction in Delaware
Challenge

Deaths of despair–from suicide, opioid overdose, and alcohol use–have been at an all-time high for the decade leading up to the pandemic–and skyrocketed during the pandemic by 23%. The state of Delaware had one of the top 5 rates of death of despair in the nation. In addition, Delaware like all states across the nation have a long history of criminalizing people with mental health and addictions, especially in communities of color. Delaware has a 15% higher absolute rate of criminalization of people of color than other states.

Why Does this Challenge Exist?

Financial insecurity, hopelessness for a better future, social isolation, all contribute to deaths of despair–along with the availability of street drugs like fentanyl which can lead to accidental overdose.

Who Came Together?

The Delaware Division of Substance Abuse and Mental Health (DSAMH)
Delaware Department of Public Health (DPH)
Delaware Division of Child Services
Delaware Division of Services for Children, Youth, and their Families
Delaware Department of Corrections
Delaware Medicaid
Health Management Associates (technical assistance partner)
Wellbeing and Equity (WE) in the World (strategy and technical assistance partner)
Community partners (schools, businesses, health care providers, etc.)

The Role of WE in the World

Supported DSAMH team to develop and implement a multi-sector system change strategy to improve the well-being and lives of people living with mental health and addictions challenges

What Changed

Care transformation for those at highest and rising risk

Changing culture and policies in policing and justice systems to transform addiction and incarceration pipelines into pathways of opportunity

Prevention and Planning ahead for people aging with mental health and addictions

Outcomes

  • Decreased the number of people reported suffering with mental health and addictions

  • Decreased the percentage of people who self-reported that they were suffering on Cantril’s ladder from 25% to 5%, n = 8,423

  • Overdose rate increased only 3.6% in Delaware in 2020 (compared to a national average of 23.2%)

How We Did It

Approach & Building Blocks

No wrong door access approach – meet people wherever they were at

Connection/realtime information exchange
D-TRN – closed loop information system to connect and refer people to services across sectors with information back about disposition

Stories to System Change – to identify how existing systems were serving people with mental health and addictions well–and where they were failing them–across sectors and over the course of someone’s life

Key Insight

LESSONS LEARNED

And Failings Forward

System transformation designed from the experiences of real people could lead to major changes in health and life outcomes within a relatively short period of time (2-3 years).

Political sustainability matters - Eventually, political and leadership changes led to a dismantling of these systems. Rates and incidents and deaths of despair rebounded.

“Until we could understand the system from the stories and lives of people going through the system, until we could understand how these systems were connected and working together to serve or fail people with mental health and addictions, we couldn’t change them”

– Elizabeth Romero, Division Director of DSAMH, 2019

THE RESOURCES LIBRARY

Framework and tools to strategically advance health equity for public health change agents

The WIN Measures is the first set of national measures for improving health, equity, and vital conditions. These measures are applicable across sectors and initiatives.

Our Mission And Approach

Advance intergenerational well-being and equity on a foundation of racial and economic justice.

Our Team

We are change agents passionate about igniting transformation for well-being and equity.

Our Partners

No one changes the world alone. Meet the broader “WE” that we’re building together.

Our Funders

Real change is only possible when we have the support of funders and investors who care about well-being and equity as much as we do.

Connect

Looking for community? Get plugged into resources and networks through WE.

  • WE in the World Changemakers
  • Communities RISE Together
  • The Wellbeing in the Nation (WIN) Network
  • Leading Causes of Life

Give

A world of mutual abundance unshackled from systemic injustice is within reach, but it will take all of our contributions to get there.

WE in the World is a non-profit supporting changemakers globally to change the system.

Invest

Investing in a better world for our grandchildren.

Stewarding natural resources. Creating space for all races and voices.

Invest in changing the system.

Join Our Team

Explore opportunities to become part of the broader WE in the World team!
  • Job opportunities
  • Consultants corner
  • WE changemakers

Events

No event found!

Latest News

MLK Day: 5 women who played a vital role in the civil rights movement

MLK Day: 5 women who played a vital role in the civil rights movement

Today we celebrate the legendary civil rights activist Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the many women who also played integral roles in the fight against racial, economic and gender inequalities in America. From lunch counter sit-ins to nonviolent marches, those...

Blog

Civil rights and genuine equity

Civil rights and genuine equity

photo by Steven Walker l Unsplash Two Americas In 1967, during the height of the fight for Civil Rights and equity for all, Dr. Malcom...

Making an Equitable Economy Real

Making an Equitable Economy Real

What is a restorative well-being economy? A well-being economy is built on the basic goal of all people and places thriving together. It is an economy that is just, regenerative, and multiracial.  A well-being economy  rebalances power to provide what everyone needs...

Organizing Across Differences

Organizing Across Differences

Our ability to organize across differences is a unique superpower in which we exercise curiosity and share values, goals, and purpose. These superpowers consist of the ability to engage and foster relationships with a mindset and narrative change focused on...