As communities across Virginia continue to grapple with the lasting effects of the opioid epidemic, Louisa County is receiving additional state funding aimed at expanding local treatment and recovery services while strengthening efforts to prevent overdose deaths.

The Virginia Opioid Abatement Authority (OAA) recently approved more than $35.2 million in opioid settlement fund investments for Fiscal Year 2027, supporting 150 evidence-based projects focused on prevention, treatment, recovery, harm reduction, workforce development and criminal justice initiatives throughout the Commonwealth.

Among the recipients is Louisa County, which was awarded $82,948.90 through the OAA’s Individual Distribution program. The funding will help continue the partnership between Louisa County and Region Ten Community Services Board, supporting a clinician position and expanding services available to residents affected by substance use disorders.

The award comes as Region Ten continues to build on opioid abatement efforts in Louisa from its new facility at 206 Elm Avenue. Funding is being used to support education, treatment and substance-use prevention initiatives that are eligible under OAA guidelines. Region Ten filled the clinician position in August 2024, allowing the Louisa Counseling Center to serve additional individuals each year.

The request was submitted by Deputy County Administrator Wanda Colvin. In a budget summary submitted to the OAA, Region Ten’s projected year-end expenditures for Fiscal Year 2026 opioid abatement efforts in Louisa County totaled $166,513. Including OAA funding sources and non-OAA funding sources, Louisa County was awarded $167,476.85, leaving $963.85 as a carryforward available.

The new funding is part of a larger statewide initiative overseen by the Virginia OAA, an independent body established by the General Assembly in 2021 to distribute opioid settlement funds and support efforts to treat, prevent and reduce opioid use disorder across Virginia. Since its inception, the authority has awarded more than $150 million to cities, counties and state agencies.

“Behind every one of these awards is a community that refused to accept the status quo,” said Senator Todd Pillion, chair of the OAA Board of Directors. “Virginia continues to lead the nation with its opioid settlement fund investments which are doing exactly what they were intended to do — reach people where they are, expand access to the treatment and recovery they need, and give local leaders the resources to solve problems they know better than anyone.”

Region Ten officials have previously noted that while the organization serves individuals with a variety of mental health diagnoses and substance use disorder involving alcohol and cocaine/crack, opioid use disorder remains a persistent challenge within the region. Since 2024, Region Ten has engaged more than 1,000 individuals through harm-reduction outreach efforts and distributed hundreds of naloxone kits and fentanyl test strips to Louisa residents.

Naloxone can reverse the effects of an opioid overdose, while fentanyl test strips allow individuals to detect the presence of fentanyl in substances before use. Both tools have become central components of local overdose prevention efforts.

Region Ten Executive Director Dr. Lisa Beitz completed her Doctorate of Social Work degree and graduated with honors from the University of Southern California. She explained one of the programs funded through opioid settlement dollars is an outreach peer specialist who works directly in the community, providing harm-reduction supplies and connecting residents with treatment resources.

“She may do that in the Exxon Station, you’ll find her at the Food Lion, she is [at] all the places that the community has let her know are places she can hand out harm reduction kits with little stigma, and she can have informal conversations about connection to services and how to stay safe,” Beitz shared to the Louisa Board of Supervisors in 2024.“The reason the fentanyl test strips are important is because people are overdosing and dying on fentanyl at extremely high rates, and it’s because people are ingesting fentanyl without knowing it—they may be using a different drug and fentanyl has been put in it, and people are dying…we need to prevent drug use, we need to treat drug use, and we need to be clear that we need to have folks not die while we try to engage them in services so they stop using drugs.”

According to Beitz, there were five overdoses during a single week in August 2024, all of which were reversed through the use of Narcan kits distributed by an outreach peer specialist.

The impact of opioid settlement funding extends beyond Louisa County. Orange County received a Cooperative Partnership Award of $323,262.67 for its Rural Recovery Court Recovery Capital Project, as well as an Individual Distribution Award of $46,027.91 for an Orange County Opioid Response Program Coordinator.

For recovery professionals working in the region, the continued investment is essential to maintaining services.

Matt Britt, a Louisa County High School graduate and Certified Peer Recovery Specialist (CPRS) with the Region Ten Community Services Board’s Recovery Support Team, provides outreach services in Louisa, Greene, Nelson and Fluvanna counties. Britt said opioid settlement funding directly supports the work being done on the front lines of recovery, and he considers himself living proof of its impact.

Britt’s path to becoming a CPRS was shaped by his own experiences. After living more than a decade of war stories that consisted of severe drug and alcohol addiction, he was eventually diagnosed with end-stage liver disease. With the help of a GoFundMe campaign that raised more than $20,000, Britt was able to prolong his life and begin using his story as both a cautionary tale and a source of inspiration for others.

Following his sobriety date of Nov. 27, 2020, Britt said he transformed from a “dope fiend to a hope fiend.” In 2022, he completed his training and became a registered CPRS.

According to Britt, funding provided through the VA OAA represents far more than numbers on a spreadsheet. He said those investments make positions like his possible and help ensure that recovery resources remain available to those who need them most.

“A lot of people hear the word ‘grant’ and immediately think government spending, paperwork or bureaucracy,” Britt shared. “Full disclosure, that’s what I originally thought as well, but now I see people. I see someone getting connected to treatment. I see a CPRS not unlike myself helping someone navigate early recovery. I see a parent getting support. I see someone getting transportation to an appointment they otherwise would’ve missed. I see recovery housing, support groups, outreach programs and people getting a second chance. Ultimately, I see the one thing I think we need most — hope.”

Britt said individuals in recovery should not be forced to choose between treatment and recovery support services. He emphasized that a continuum of care is necessary for sustained recovery rather than, as he described it, “putting band-aids on a compound fracture.” He added that the creation of a new clinician position and the expansion of services through Region Ten represent a worthwhile investment, particularly because access to care continues to be a challenge in many rural communities.

“I like to think the efforts are to streamline support at a state and legislative level. I’d love to see the standard of care keep raising as such because, at the end of the day, addiction doesn’t care what county you’re from,” Britt said. “The challenges we’re seeing exist across the region and beyond borders. Whether it’s Louisa or anywhere in VA, we’re all dealing with many of the same issues and trying to find solutions together.”

While Britt believes public perception of addiction has improved over the past decade, he said a significant stigma still remains. Through his work with Region Ten, he continues to help dispel misconceptions surrounding addiction and educate others about the cognitive and neurological factors involved. He noted that addiction is often influenced by biology, psychology, and environment rather than simply being a matter of willpower.

As more people experience the effects of addiction, Britt said there is a growing understanding that recovery extends far beyond a 30-day treatment window; it’s a lifelong process that requires unconditional positive regard and personcentered care.

“I think society is often more comfortable celebrating people once they’re in recovery rather than supporting them while they’re actively struggling. We love a comeback story, but we sometimes struggle to show true compassion in the middle of someone’s darkest moments, when they’re at rock bottom,” Britt said. “There was a time in my life when I felt hopeless, ashamed and completely isolated with no future. If you had told me six years ago that I’d be working in recovery, speaking at conferences, helping people professionally and being interviewed for our local newspaper about opioid abatement funding, I would’ve laughed … or, at the very least, thought it would be in a ‘gotcha’ paper. Today, I get to help people every day because someone gave me a chance when I needed one. Recovery is real—I’m fortunate to be living proof of that, and I’ve had the privilege of watching countless others prove it too. Daily.”