'Hey, it's not a police sting.' How a nonprofit fights addiction in and around Norwich.

NORWICH - The scene unfolds each week on Tuesday around mid-morning, when a nondescript white van pulls into the parking lot behind the old YMCA, backing into a corner spot adjacent to the train tracks.

Windows obscured with reflective material make it impossible to see inside, until the side-sliding and back doors are pulled open by the van's driver, Stephen Feathers, and his team of two.

“We will be down here and if somebody stops by we will get them [the] supplies,” said Feathers, a case manager and outreach lead for Perception Programs Inc., the non-profit substance use and mental health treatment organization based in Willimantic and serving Windham County and Greater Norwich.

“Anyone can show up to get supplies or to get testing,” he added.

The “supplies” are things like clean syringes, fentanyl test strips, and the overdose-blocking drug naloxone, often referred to by brand name Narcan. Clients of Perception Programs struggling with substance abuse can use these to reduce some of the risk associated with their addiction.

“Testing” refers to rapid HIV and Hepatitis C tests that Feathers and his colleagues can administer in the back of the van, with results arriving in about 20 minutes.

People who connect to a Syringe Service Program, including the one run locally by Perception Programs, Inc., are five times more likely to enter treatment and three times more likely to stop using substances than those who don’t contact those programs, CDC statistics show.

“It sometimes takes a long time but you can see the difference that gets made in peoples’ lives,” Feathers said.

The risk reduction outreach team Feathers leads also makes home deliveries around the city, in addition to visiting homeless populations, all as a way to connect them with the services they may want to explore. Services include housing, mental health counseling, or even basic needs like food, Feathers explained.

“If they are willing to talk with us, we will try to find out where they are and try to figure out what their need might be and connect them with resources for that,” he said on Tuesday.

The risk-reduction outreach approach is one increasingly used across the country as a way to help individuals find treatment options and save lives, but the continuing impact of an evolving opioid epidemic makes it more important than ever.

Feathers started working in his role in 2016 and he reflected on the change in dynamic of the opioid crisis by noting an “increased willingness on the part of [local] communities to actually be willing to engage and talk” about the issues.

For example, he pointed to the pervasiveness of naloxone being used by first responders and other health professionals, an increasing amount of local store owners and even pharmacies, as well as many who use the drug themselves.

Good Samaritan laws protect those who report overdoses from criminal charges related to drug paraphernalia that may be found at the scene, he added; and there are even apps like Never Use Alone, Canary Overdose App, and Be Safe Community App, which can also save lives, particularly among those using opioids by themselves.

Still, the limited progress around de-stigmatization does not necessarily make his team’s task easier.

In 2014, state health officials in Connecticut reported 623 fatalities compared to 1,214 in 2019, according to data provided by the State Unintentional Drug Overdose Reporting System, SUDORS.

In Norwich, the same data source shows unintentional overdose deaths increased last year to 35 from 25 recorded in 2019, and the city has recorded 18 unintentional overdose fatalities through the first ten months of 2021.

The overdose statistics are complicated as of late by the pervasiveness of more lethal, black market pain killers.

Since 2014, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, CDC recorded a 430% increase in the number of counterfeit pills seized by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, with roughly a quarter of those pills containing a lethal dose of the powerful synthetic opioid, fentanyl.

More:A Norwich opioid recovery program has found success

The deaths make the challenges Feathers and his colleagues face more urgent.

“There is still a significant stigma around substance use and even within substance use, people who are injecting have a lot more stigma placed on them by everyone, simply because of the way they are using the substance,” Feathers said.

To counter that trend, Feathers and his team seek to build relationships with clients they currently work with in order to get the word out to others that, “hey, it’s not a police sting,” he said.

“We had somebody that we met with in a graveyard for years and then two years later it was like, ‘alright just come to my house – I don’t care," he recalled.

To learn more about Perception Programs, Inc., contact Stephen Feathers at 860-208-0888, or via email at: stephen.feathers@perceptionprograms.org

To learn more about local programs aimed at recovery in Norwich, you can reach out to the Norwich Task Force for Opiates at 860-823-3782.   

A Recovery Coach Program funded by Norwich Human Services and contracted through Reliance Health is also available for those seeking services and can be reached at 860-383-7425.

Trevor Ballantyne is the City Reporter for the Norwich Bulletin. Email him at tballantyne@norwichbulletin.com or reach him directly at 774-405-2898.