10/07/2026
Last week, MTSU Center for Health and Human Services and partners had the opportunity to present at the Tennessee Public Health Association Annual Conference on work underway to expand access to opioid use disorder treatment in rural Tennessee. Our presentation, “Expanding Mobile MAT Access and Assessing Community Stigma in Rural Tennessee,” highlighted a collaborative initiative serving six rural Tennessee counties: Claiborne, Franklin, Giles, Hickman, Lawrence, and Marshall.
Through our partnership with Cedar Recovery, mobile medication-assisted treatment services are helping bring evidence-based treatment closer to individuals and communities that may otherwise face significant geographic, transportation, and other barriers to care.
As part of the broader initiative, the MTSU Public Health Program partnered with the Center for Health and Human Services to lead the regional stigma assessment, including a household survey examining community perceptions of opioid use disorder, medication-assisted treatment, and stigma with Kahler Stone DrPH, MPH leading the research activities with support from public health student Sara V. Rodriguez Molina and others.
As the accompanying infographic illustrates, there are encouraging signs of greater understanding and acceptance of OUD treatment- but stigma remains an important barrier.
A key takeaway from this work: expanding treatment access is only part of the solution. Community education, trusted local voices, and intentional stigma-reduction efforts remain essential to connecting people with care.
Thank you to those who presented this work: Cynthia Chafin, Ph.D., MCHES, NBC-HWC, Director MTSU Center for Health and Human Services and Project Director, Kahler Stone DrPH, MPH Associate Professor, MTSU Public Health Program, Christina Tayler Byrd, MPH, CHES, CPT, Senior Program Coordinator and Project Co-PI, MTSU Center for Health and Human Services, and Paul Trivette, Cedar Recovery.
We are grateful for our ongoing partnership with Cedar Recovery and for the many community partners across rural Tennessee helping us meet people where they are.
