Adults with Substance Use Disorder (SUD), particularly those in underserved communities, face many barriers to receiving treatment. The diverse needs and experiences of individuals in these communities highlight the importance of developing integrated, user-centered models of care. The Virginia Patient Engagement Resource Center (VPERC) is a five-year project, funded by the National Institutes of Health, focused on understanding the needs and treatment barriers faced by adults with SUD in underserved communities in Richmond, Virginia. The theory of change guiding this project emphasizes the value of understanding patients’ experiences and preferences, creating opportunities for meaningful collaboration among patients, researchers, and service providers to support more responsive and effective interventions.
VPERC’s primary goal is to establish proof of concept regarding the impact of patient advisory panels on shaping SUD interventions and the primary objective is to inform SUD treatment services research. The project will gather diverse perspectives on the feasibility, accessibility, and responsiveness of current SUD services to inform program modifications tailored to underserved populations — ultimately aiming to improve SUD treatment initiation and retention rates.
Key project components include:
Establishing and sustaining a patient advisory panel to ensure ongoing input from individuals with lived experience with SUD to guide research and intervention design;
Surveying individuals who use substances to better understand the challenges in accessing and completing treatment;
Implementing qualitative, participatory, arts-based approaches — including a series of creative workshops and in-depth qualitative interviews — to empower marginalized participants to explore and express their experiences with SUD and treatment systems.
Insights gathered from these collaborative, community-informed efforts will inform the design of two pilot interventions, which will introduce new approaches and/or adapt existing evidence-based strategies to improve SUD treatment initiation and retention, with likely emphases on care delivery, patient education, and innovative dissemination approaches.
By centering patient voices and fostering collaboration between community members, researchers, and providers, VPERC aims to create a replicable, responsive framework for SUD treatment that supports long-term recovery and health equity.
Patient Advisory Panel:
The patient advisory panel, referred to as the Peer Recovery Collective, is composed of peer navigators and individuals from the Richmond area with lived experience with SUD and who are in recovery. Panel members participate in capacity-building activities, such as targeted trainings, discussions on SUD-related topics, storytelling, and foundational education on research processes. These efforts are intended to equip panel members to serve as informed consultants to improve SUD research and contribute to the design or adaptation of future interventions aimed at increasing SUD treatment initiation, enhancing retention, and supporting long-term recovery.
Consultation Model:
Under development
Contact form:
If you are interested in learning more about consultation from the Peer Recovery Collective, please fill out this Google form.