Opioid crisis meets COVID-19: a school of social work response

The growing opioid epidemic and the crises associated with COVID-19 have called for a workforce of mental health providers, specifically social workers, to be prepared to provide comprehensive human service delivery and practice interventions to assist consumers with opioid and substance addictions. This article presents how one school of social work responds to addressing this workforce deficit by developing future social work practitioners to work with this vulnerable population. This response is an attempt to bridge the existing gaps between mental health and substance abuse service provision.