Franklin, Norfolk Partner with SAFE on Opioid Crisis

SAFE has contracted with the towns of Franklin and Norfolk to deliver community-wide lifesaving opioid use prevention, education, and recovery services in 2025.   

The services will be funded by the towns' respective municipal opioid abatement funds, which are intended to help communities overcome harms caused by the opioid epidemic.

Funding will enable SAFE to remain the only nonprofit in southeast Massachusetts offering wraparound, zero-cost substance use and mental health services to individuals and families. Thanks to the opioid abatement funding, SAFE will relaunch key programming specifically for Franklin and Norfolk residents and expand capacity for key services. In addition, Franklin and Norfolk teens will now have free access to SAFE’s substance use prevention and recovery program, Up in Smoke. 

“The opioid epidemic is still impacting our friends, neighbors, and communities” says SAFE Community Outreach Counselor Dr. Stephanie Heath. “Overdoses are still happening, and families are impacted forever. We want to help people before they get to that point, and we want to help the people who have gotten to that point.”

The funding represents a significant investment in a rising crisis. While statewide opioid overdose and death have decreased in recent years, numbers in Franklin and Norfolk are growing. Franklin experienced the larger surge, with a 66% increase in opioid-related deaths between 2022 and 2023. 

“Nearly half of adults in Franklin are unable to access substance use services” says Heath. “This is preventable, and we’re finally able to offer that help.” 

SAFE’s strategy will be tailored to specific needs in Franklin and Norfolk, bringing together solutions designed to help community members with everything from education and prevention to harm reduction, recovery, grief support and family care.

Residents can expect to see the growth of SAFE’s presence in the community, offering increased support for everything from preventative courses for teens to walk-in counseling hours at SAFE, expanded support groups like family recovery and grandparents raising grandkids, grief counseling, medication take-backs, and walk-in Narcan training.  

SAFE will also further existing partnerships with other community support organizations like Wayside Youth & Family Support Network, Turning Point Recovery Support Center, Learn to Cope, Hockomock Area YMCA, Franklin Police Department, and Norfolk County Sheriff’s Office. SAFE works with its partners to coordinate referrals and build lifesaving support systems.   

Opioid abatement funds typically seek to impact the opioid misuse and addiction crisis through several key strategies including supporting people in treatment and recovery, building greater connections to care, offering harm reduction (like Narcan, fentanyl test strips, and safe syringe programs), supporting parents and families, and preventing misuse through prevention education. 

To date, SAFE has partnered with twelve municipalities across southeastern Massachusetts to advise, coordinate, and deliver community services related to opioid abatement funds.  

Massachusetts has participated in nationwide financial settlements with several companies as part of the historic legal efforts to demand abatement of the harms caused by the opioid epidemic. These settlements combined will bring over $900 million into Massachusetts for substance use prevention, harm reduction, treatment, and recovery support.