The state-designated alcohol and drug abuse authority covering Lexington County continues to bring in funding to bolster its efforts to curb substance abuse, including a new program specifically targeting the county’s five school districts.

LRADAC, which provides services to both Lexington and Richland Counties, was recently awarded a $400,000 annual grant set to last five years through the federal Partnership for Success grant by the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s (SAMHSA) Center for Substance Abuse Prevention (CSAP). That money will go toward a new program called Lexington United.

“This grant is a little bit different, honestly, than some of the traditional SAMSA grants that we've been accustomed to,” Ashley Bodiford, LRADAC’s director of prevention, told the Chronicle, “because it combines the importance of youth substance misuse prevention matched with mental health promotion awareness, essentially.”

She went on to explain that the grant-funded program will seek to foster partnerships that “create positive opportunities for youth to remain substance-free, while also being able to allocate resources and time to general mental health awareness among our young people, but also among our greater population for adults as well.”

Bodiford emphasized that LRADAC often finds itself having to popcorn around between focusing specifically on preventing substance misuse and fostering better mental health in the community, when they are two issues that are really inseparable.

She said one big thing they’ve seen success with in the past that they’d like to implement in Lexington County schools is establishing student-led clubs that allow students to identify their own leaders to help drive positive mindsets around mental health and substances while also providing ample opportunities for all interested students to be actively involved.

The program will also look to increase opportunities for people to be trained in understanding mental health struggles and situations, as well as identifying signs and symptoms that someone may be struggling with a mental health issue or episode along with providing contacts for who to reach out to when that happens.

“We don't want to make any assumptions around substance misuse or mental health issues,” Bodiford said. “We'd like to really hear from the community about what they are facing so that we can prioritize and be the most responsive with the best strategy for that specific issue.”

Indeed, combating errant asumptons about mental health and sustance use will be a key emphasis, as the stigmas surrounding the issue are a persistent difficulty.

“We want to work to collectively change that stigma to create a community that's understanding and accepting and working together,” Bodiford added.

She explained that the decision to target Lexington County’s schools with this money was based in large part on the strong relationships LRADAC has there.

“That makes it easier for us to get started promptly,” Bodiford said. “We have the commitment from the school districts that are going to allow us to do this work.”

LRADAC also recently received funding through an $85,000 Community Outreach Grant from Lexington Medical Center, $20,000 of which is earmarked for the group’s MOMS (Maternal Outreach Management Services Program), which looks to facilitate treatment and recovery for expectant mothers.

Per a release, the program allowed 14 babies to be born in 2023 with the moms being substance-free at birth and all remaining with the family after the babies were born.

The funding will also help support a full-time clinical counselor who will work with the hospital‘s Social Services and Psychiatry, helping to “assess, refer, and connect patients with substance misuse to the treatment and recovery services they need,” a release states.

“The outcomes of our MOMs program would not be possible without the continued support of the Lexington Medical Center Foundation,” Tifani Moore, development director for the LRADAC Foundation, is quoted in the reelase. “With the additional funding to help connect patients with appropriate recovery services, Lexington Medical Center and its Foundation continually prove their support and dedication to the mental and physical wellness of Midlands’ residents and working as a true agent of change in the lives of so many people.”