Aroostook Mental Health Services, Inc. has been awarded $7.5 million in multi-year federal grants to expand treatment, outreach, overdose prevention and recovery services across Aroostook, Hancock and Washington counties. The awards represent a significant multi-year investment in addressing the opioid and substance use crisis in some of the state’s most rural and underserved communities.
The funding includes a $4.5 million, five-year grant from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration and a $3 million, four-year award through the Health Resources and Services Administration’s Rural Communities Opioid Response Program. Together, the grants will strengthen AMHC’s ability to reach individuals who are often disconnected from traditional healthcare systems, including people experiencing homelessness, individuals leaving incarceration and those identified following an overdose or emergency department visit.
“Recovery can’t happen if people are outside our systems of care,” Christy Daggett, CEO of AMHC, said. “These awards allow us to bring treatment, outreach and recovery support directly into communities, meet people where they are and help them stay engaged in care. For a rural region facing persistent workforce shortages, transportation barriers and increasing substance use needs, this funding is transformative.”
The SAMHSA project is designed to expand same-day, low-threshold access to medications for opioid use disorder, add dedicated peer outreach across all three counties and strengthen connections from hospital emergency departments, county jails, drug treatment courts, shelters, peer recovery centers and community settings into ongoing care. The project will also support overdose prevention, integrated screening and treatment for co-occurring mental health and substance use needs.
The HRSA RCORP-Impact project will build a broader rural support system around treatment. Navigators will meet people in the field and help address practical barriers that can interrupt recovery, including health insurance, transportation, housing, employment and benefits and food access.
The investment comes at a critical time. While Maine has made significant progress in reducing fatal overdoses from record highs in recent years, substance use disorder remains one of the state’s most urgent public health challenges. More than 7,700 Mainers have lost their lives to overdose in the past 30 years. Maine’s opioid epidemic, fueled in part by a nationwide wave of aggressive prescription opioid distribution, has evolved into an increasingly complex crisis involving fentanyl, polysubstance use, homelessness, mental illness and barriers to treatment. Today, even as overdose deaths decline, nonfatal overdoses continue at alarming levels. Over 4,000 nonfatal overdoses were recorded in the first half of 2026 — demonstrating that the need for treatment, outreach, recovery supports and overdose prevention remains as urgent as ever.
Daggett continues, “We are winning battles, but we haven’t won the war. There is a risk that people see overdose deaths coming down and assume the crisis is behind us. It isn’t. Thousands of Maine families have lost loved ones over the past two decades, and every day we continue to see people struggling with addiction, homelessness, mental illness and repeated overdoses. The progress we’ve made proves that treatment and recovery services work. These federal investments allow us to build on that progress rather than lose ground – especially as nonfatal overdoses are on the increase, and more dangerous and unpredictable drugs are entering our communities.”
With more than 60 years of dedicated service, AMHC is a major behavioral health nonprofit in northeastern Maine, operating 25 service locations across Aroostook, Hancock and Washington counties. The agency annually supports up to 5,500 clientele, with a team of 350-plus employees delivering a comprehensive range of services in mental health, substance use, crisis, sexual assault, prevention, brain injury and programs for adults with intellectual disabilities. Guided by our mission, we strive to provide integrated healthcare services that empower individuals to recover and enhance their overall quality of life. For more information visit www.amhc.org.
