Brain Injury After Overdose Toolkit

This toolkit is intended for deflection teams, first responders, and partners involved in post-overdose response. It provides practical guidance for identifying potential brain injury after overdose and adjusting outreach, communication, and expectations to reduce harm and support engagement.

People may experience brain injury during an overdose even when there are no obvious signs at the scene. These injuries can affect awareness, behavior, and decision making in ways that shape how individuals interact with services and systems on scene and over time. This guide is designed to help practitioners recognize those patterns and respond in ways that are practical, trauma- informed, and grounded in real-world deflection and first responder work.

This project was developed through a collaboration between Northeast Ohio Medical University Criminal Justice Coordinating Center of Excellence’s Substance Use Deflection Initiative and the Ohio Domestic Violence Network.