Tulsa County opioid assessment reveals challenges, outlines a roadmap for future behavioral health investments

An in-depth assessment by Healthy Minds Policy Initiative revealed significant mental health and substance use challenges for Tulsa County and barriers to care in especially vulnerable parts of the county.

An estimated 100,000 Tulsa County residents have a substance use disorder. But about 77% of those who need substance use treatment do not receive it. In 2023, Tulsa County had 298 fatal overdoses, an increase of 148% since 2019.  

Most safety net behavioral health services are located away from the county’s most vulnerable areas. And only about half of people with opioid use disorder in Tulsa County receive medications for opioid use disorder (MOUD), the gold standard treatment.

“We knew Tulsa County had significant struggles with the opioid epidemic and mental illness, but Healthy Minds’ assessment gave us a roadmap to begin to solve these problems,” said Commissioner Lonnie Sims, chairman of the Tulsa County Board of County Commissioners. “We now know where to direct our efforts to have the greatest impact for our residents.”

Download the full assessment

Through the assessment, Healthy Minds identified five key areas for improvement in Tulsa County:

• Aligning substance use services with changing trends
  For overdose prevention efforts to be effective, they must address the county’s increasing trend of co-use of opioids and stimulants such as methamphetamine. Over half of all 2024 overdose deaths in Tulsa County involved multiple drugs.  

• Addressing unmet need in vulnerable areas
  Several zip codes in Tulsa County are among the most vulnerable in the entire state. But most of the county's safety-net service providers are located away from its most vulnerable areas, such as North and East Tulsa. Another hotspot is Sand Springs, with high social vulnerability and limited access to services, especially without a car.

• Diverting people away from the criminal legal system
  Tulsa County has opportunities to divert more people away from the criminal legal system and into treatment for mental health and substance use problems — and save taxpayer dollars in the process. If the county had a fully scaled crisis system, it could see more than 3,400 fewer jail bookings and 2,500 fewer emergency room visits each year.

• Making high-risk transitions safer
  In the days and weeks after being discharged from hospitals or released from jail, people are at especially high risk for suicide and overdose. Better case management and coordination between providers can make these transitions smoother and safer.

• Preventing behavioral health problems among youth
  Upstream prevention for children and youth is critical to turning the tide on Tulsa County’s mental health challenges, but only four of the county’s 23 school districts have funding for prevention programming.

The Tulsa County Board of County Commissioners hired Healthy Minds to assess the impact of the opioid epidemic on Tulsa County as it begins to distribute grants from its pool of funding from opioid lawsuit settlements. To that end, the assessment serves as a guide for how the county can best spend opioid settlement dollars to save lives and improve the health of future generations.

The Board of County Commissioners recently announced the first recipients of opioid settlement funds, awarding a total of $4.5 million across 16 organizations.

County leaders used the findings of Healthy Minds’ assessment to score and select applications for projects that employ evidence-based solutions to address Tulsa County’s opioid-related challenges. Projects being funded include youth prevention programs, alternative court programs, improved coordination for first responders around opioid crises, reentry services for people leaving incarceration, naloxone distribution, and supported housing and employment programs, among others.

“These grants are a major opportunity not only to repair damage from the harms of the opioid epidemic over the past several decades, but also to make Tulsa County a healthier, safer place to live well into the future,” said Zack Stoycoff, Healthy Minds’ executive director. “We’re grateful to see the county take such a thoughtful approach to distributing the funds.”

About Healthy Minds Policy Initiative

Healthy Minds Policy Initiative is a non-profit, non-partisan policy organization that publishes research and analysis on mental health and substance use issues in Oklahoma, advocates for policy solutions that increase Oklahomans’ access to care, and convenes community partners to build stronger local mental health systems. The organization was founded in 2019 by The Anne and Henry Zarrow Foundation and has offices and staff members in Tulsa and Oklahoma City.

Healthy Minds' experts are available to advise communities on designing and implementing best-practice strategies for opioid abatement and overdose prevention.

Find Healthy Minds’ opioid abatement and overdose prevention resources at healthymindspolicy.org/overdose-prevention.