Pictured: Reb Close, MD, and Amber Parker stand next to the outreach supply truck used to serve the Monterey community as they connect people with CA Bridge Connect.
Finding a Way Forward — Connecting People to Care When They Need it Most
A father trying to support his adult daughter through her substance use. A case manager who has spent hours calling providers. Someone who has survived an overdose, looking for peer support.
These are all different callers contacting CA Bridge Connect with different questions – reaching a Navigator on the other end of the line ready to find an answer.
Available statewide, free, and confidential, CA Bridge Connect is a helpline connecting anyone in California with trained Navigators who help people understand and access options for addiction care, whether it’s medications for addiction treatment (MAT), overdose prevention, or another resource.
In 2023, more than 7,500 Californians died of an opioid-related overdose, and yet, 90% of people living with opioid use disorder (OUD) lack access to lifesaving MAT, like buprenorphine and methadone. Barriers such as stigma, fragmented systems, and long wait times stand in the way of people accessing the substance use resources they need – the moment they need them.
Through CA Bridge, California has made tremendous progress in expanding access to MAT in 280+ emergency departments across the state and connecting patients with ongoing care. CA Bridge Connect extends that support beyond the emergency department, serving as a central line helping people navigate barriers to addiction care, no matter where they are across the state.
Rather than expecting people to navigate a patchwork of providers, insurance requirements, and county systems on their own, the helpline provides expert guidance tailored to each person’s unique circumstance.
“What sets us apart is that we are statewide, anyone can contact the helpline…some people may have insurance in one county but are currently in another and have run out of their buprenorphine, they need to know how they can get it today,”said Bridge Center co-founder Arianna Campbell, DMSc, MPH, PA-C, during the CA Bridge Connect Virtual Kick Off.
Despite decades of research showing that MAT saves lives, too many Californians still struggle to access it, not because treatment doesn’t work, but because navigating the system can be overwhelming. Not knowing of a pharmacy in walking distance that carries buprenorphine or of a provider that would accept a specific insurance could be the difference between someone starting treatment and not.
CA Bridge Connect Navigators like Katie meet people where they are.
When a young man, for example, called CA Bridge Connect, hoping to expedite his detox referral after being released from incarceration, Katie found him a faster path to relief. When transportation, location, and technology became barriers to ongoing care, she worked with multiple local providers until she found an option that fit his circumstances, including a same-day telehealth appointment through a clinic in his own community.
“We exist to serve as a catch-all, as a safety net for the folks who can’t just walk into their nearest clinic for care, who might need extra support in accessing MAT,” Katie shared.
When someone calls or texts the CA Bridge Connect helpline, their connection to a Navigator is ongoing. Once a Navigator understands their goals and connects them to the care they need, they follow-up at 30-, 60-, and 90-day intervals, working to ensure there aren’t any remaining barriers to appointments, medications, and more. One of the helpline’s earliest callers, who is nearing her 90-day check-in, recently remarked on the impact of this long-term support.
“Thank you for being there,” she said. “You’re so instrumental to me making the choices and decisions that led to my recovery. I couldn’t have done this without you.”
While CA Bridge Connect Navigators help people take the next step toward care, they don’t do it alone. Behind every connection is a statewide network of clinicians and partners committed to making MAT and other addiction care resources more accessible. One of those partners is Reb Close, MD, an addiction and emergency medicine specialist in Monterey, who both takes referrals from the helpline and refers patients to the helpline.
“I don’t have to know every answer—I just have to know who does,” Reb said. “That’s what CA Bridge Connect offers. We all have a role within this system. CA Bridge Connect helps connect patients to the care that best meets their needs and goals.”
Having launched in April 2026, CA Bridge Connect has already supported hundreds of calls and texts from across the state from people looking for care, their loved ones, and their health providers. The helpline is reaching communities through a number of diverse pathways, including in-person promotion, outreach to CA Bridge’s MAT Expansion network, and via other crisis systems like 988 and county-based access lines. In addition to calling or texting in, CA Bridge Connect also offers a referral form for connection to care.
“There’s a great opportunity to connect all these resources, to be really visible, and then to bring people into care, and that’s how we can get through this,” said Arianna Campbell. “That’s how we can decrease overdose deaths. That’s how we can protect our family, friends, and our communities.”
Learn More
Whether you’re looking to help yourself or someone else, call, text, or make a referral from anywhere in California to get connected to care.
→ Call: 1-800-944-1807
→ Text: 1-833-308-0461