Teach one skill
Make overdose response and naloxone part of ordinary community knowledge.
The campaign home
Make care easier to find.
Overdose Awareness Month is a chance to make useful knowledge visible: how to respond, where to find naloxone, how to talk without shame, how to gather safely, and how to remember people as whole people.
Adapt the plan with people who understand your community. No campaign is complete without the voices most affected.
Why a month matters
Attention can become infrastructure.
A month gives organizations time to do more than post a message. It creates room to train people, check resources, invite partners, and leave the next person with something practical.
Remove one barrier
Make a resource easier to find, a room easier to enter, or a conversation easier to begin.
Center lived experience
Invite people closest to the issue into decisions, not just onto a stage.
Carry something forward
Choose what will still be true after the calendar page turns.
A campaign line to keep
Awareness is not the finish line.
It is the moment we make the next helpful action easier to see. Share the resource. Carry naloxone. Ask the question. Keep the door open.
Open the resource hubA 28-day action plan
One action can be enough for today.
Use one idea each day, repeat the ones that help, or build your own sequence. The point is not to fill a feed; it is to widen access to care.
- 01Put naloxone where people can reach it.
Tell the people around you where it is and check the expiration date.
- 02Save the CDC response guide.
Make reliable emergency information available before an emergency.
- 03Learn the language your community prefers.
Ask what words feel accurate, respectful, and useful.
- 04Share a treatment locator.
Send FindTreatment.gov to someone who wants options without a lecture.
- 05Invite a peer voice into planning.
Budget for expertise and make decision-making real.
- 06Check one local resource.
Call or visit it so your public information is not built on a guess.
- 07Host a ten-minute conversation.
Ask what people would want a bystander to know.
- 08Make your event physically easier to enter.
Review seating, bathrooms, transit, noise, language, and mobility needs.
- 09Make a grief-safe plan.
Offer a quiet space, content notes, and a way to step out without explanation.
- 10Learn where local supplies come from.
Connect with a syringe-services or harm-reduction organization.
- 11Replace one stigma phrase.
Use “person who uses drugs” or “person experiencing an overdose” where it fits.
- 12Build a family support list.
Include peers, counseling, helplines, and practical respite—not only treatment.
- 13Learn the nearest naloxone access point.
Share the location with your team, school, workplace, or neighbors.
- 14Ask what “safety” means to the people present.
Do not assume the answer is the same for everyone.
- 15Make one resource multilingual.
Translate the action, not just the headline, with community review.
- 16Invite a local service provider to teach.
Pay them, credit them, and let them shape the session.
- 17Share a story without turning it into a warning.
Keep the person’s full life visible.
- 18Check your emergency signage.
People should know where to find naloxone and who to call.
- 19Offer a quiet way to participate.
Not everyone can attend, speak, post, or be seen.
- 20Learn the difference between information and advice.
Label medical, legal, and local guidance clearly.
- 21Give people a next step before they leave.
A phone number, map, card, or warm handoff beats a vague invitation.
- 22Plan what happens after the event.
Follow up with resources, support contacts, and a way to give feedback.
- 23Make room for remembrance.
Say names with permission and never require public disclosure.
- 24Read a harm-reduction resource together.
Replace assumptions with practical knowledge.
- 25Ask an organization what would actually help.
Offer time, money, supplies, or amplification based on their answer.
- 26Review your links.
Remove dead pages and show the date you last checked the rest.
- 27Thank the people who keep showing up.
Care work is work, especially when it is invisible.
- 28Choose one commitment that survives August.
Awareness becomes credible when it changes what happens next.
Host something well
Build the room before you build the poster.
A thoughtful event is not just a date and a logo. It is a promise about how people will be treated when they arrive.
Before
- Invite people with lived experience into decisions and compensate their labor.
- Confirm naloxone access, emergency contacts, and local support pathways.
- Write a content note and a clear invitation that does not require disclosure.
- Check accessibility: transit, seating, bathrooms, interpretation, quiet space, and cost.
During
- Open with the purpose, support options, and permission to step out.
- Use person-first, non-stigmatizing language.
- Do not photograph or share stories without clear consent.
- Offer more than one way to participate: speak, listen, write, remember, or leave.
After
- Share resources again while the conversation is still fresh.
- Check in with speakers, volunteers, and anyone who requested support.
- Ask what made the event safer and what needs to change.
- Keep one commitment visible after the campaign ends.
Build from evidence and experience
Campaigns earn trust by showing their work.
Use public-health guidance for facts, community organizations for lived knowledge, and local partners for what is actually available where you are.