One of the most powerful resources that UNCG provides to the effort, is students.
Jim Albright, director of Guilford County Emergency Services
UNCG’s Center for Housing and Community Studies offered Jim Albright, director of Guilford County Emergency Services, the technical know-how to create a system that takes relevant patient data from Guilford County Emergency Services and makes it securely available to GCSTOP social workers. They handle outreach – by phone, by text, or in person – to people who’ve been treated for overdoses.
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One of the most powerful resources that UNCG provides to the effort, Albright says, is students.
Students in UNCG’s undergraduate and graduate social work programs are required to do internships to gain practical experience before they graduate. These internships allow GCSTOP to help more people.
Mike Thull, assistant professor of social work and GCSTOP’s clinical director, oversees selection and training of students who work with GCSTOP. The program has six to eight interns – half undergraduate, half master’s – at any given time.
“As they come in, they go through a pretty intensive training,” Thull says. New interns also spend time – after initial training – shadowing outgoing interns and are equipped with a “decision tree” to clarify when they need to call in someone more senior.