Heal(th) From Within: A Research Collaborative to Share our Journeys to Wellness

The Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium’s (ANTHC) vision is that Alaska Native people are the healthiest people in the world. Alaska is homeland to an estimated 151,405 Alaska Native people who belong to culturally distinct communities in rural and urban areas of the state. In 2022, Alaska Native people experienced the highest rate of fatal drug overdose in Alaska with 78.2 deaths per 100,000.This is a sharp increase from 36 per 100,000 in 2020. ANTHC has a 65-year record of successfully conducting health research to improve the health and wellness in collaboration with Alaska Native tribes. Phase I goal of Heal(th) From Within: A Research Collaborative to Share our Journeys to Wellness is to increase ANTHC’s research capacity and infrastructure to conduct health research in the areas of substance use, overdose, mental health and pain and identify local approaches and strategies that can be successful in promoting wellbeing and healing. Completion of this first phase of the proposed project will provide the foundation for moving forward with conducting intervention research to develop evidence-based approaches in substance use, overdose, mental health or pain among Alaska Native tribes and communities during Phase II of the N CREW Program. This study is part of the NIH’s Helping to End Addiction Long-term (HEAL) initiative to speed scientific solutions for the overdose epidemic, including opioid and stimulant use disorders, and the crisis of chronic pain. The NIH HEAL Initiative bolsters research across NIH to improve treatment for opioid misuse and addiction and acute and chronic pain.