Andrea Johnson/MDN Laura Larson, behavioral health director, and Jennifer Burman, family nurse practitioner at Northland Health Centers in Minot, said the clinic now offers medication assisted treatment for people with opioid use disorder at its clinics in Minot, Rolla and Rolette.

Northland Health Centers has launched a new program to help people who are battling addiction to opioids.

The clinic, located in the Arrowhead Shopping Center, offers medication assisted treatment for people who have been formally diagnosed with Opioid Use Disorder.

Laura Larson, a licensed professional clinical counselor and director of behavioral health, and Jennifer Burman, family nurse practitioner, said the treatment provided will help ease the pain of withdrawal without making patients high.

“We’re saving lives and we’re improving their daily life functioning,” said Larson. “They can go to work, they can sustain family relationships and mainly we’re saving lives, that’s what we’re doing.”

The medication used in the program is mainly a buprenorphine and naloxone combination called Suboxone, a prescription medication.

The new program is currently offered at the clinic in Minot as well as at Northland Health Centers in Rolla and Rolette. It will later be expanded to some other Northland Health Clinics in the region, said Larson.

The clinics are federally qualified health centers that offer medical, mental health and dental services. Other clinics are located in Turtle Lake, McClusky, Ray, Bowbells, and Bismarck.

Fees are charged on a sliding fee scale for those who meet guidelines based on household size and income. The clinic also offers services for people with higher incomes and accepts most insurances.

Larson and Burman said there is still a stigma, but research has shown that people with the chronic medical condition can be successfully treated through medication assisted treatment.

Northland Health Clinic can also help patients access other services in the community that might help them.

The Minot clinic has medical and primary care and mental health care at the Arrowhead Mall clinic. It also offers dental care at a clinic in downtown Minot.

For more information about the program and other services, call 852-4600.