PARTNER PROFILE

Wellborn Strategies + CiviConnections

Through research-driven media strategy and targeted community outreach, the strategic communications & awareness campaign reduces stigma, raises awareness, and connects residents to resources that save lives.
FOUNDED
2024
MISSION
To save lives by connecting Mobile and Mobile County residents to life-saving opioid treatment and prevention resources through research-driven strategic communications.
Our Story

Treatment programs and resources alone aren’t enough to address the opioid crisis – people need to know these vital services exist. Wellborn Strategies and CiviConnections have partnered to develop Project Persevere’s comprehensive communications strategy, combining decades of expertise in public health campaigns, digital media, and community engagement. Together, they ensure Mobile’s investment in opioid abatement reaches those who need help most.

Man sitting outdoors at sunset, reflecting on opioid recovery and hope.

What We Do

Team Wellborn Strategies + CiviConnections develops and executes a multi-platform communications and paid media campaign that reduces stigma, raises awareness of treatment options, and strives to prevent new cases of opioid use disorder. The program includes polling and audience research, creative production, strategic media placement across digital and traditional channels, public relations, grantee coordination, and real-time campaign optimization. Every element is designed to emphasize the medical nature of opioid use disorder while highlighting Mobile’s successful community programs.

Who We Serve

The campaign reaches individuals struggling with opioid use disorder, their families, healthcare providers, and the broader Mobile and Mobile County community. Through strategic demographic targeting, we connect with priority audiences, including those at highest risk, historically underserved communities, and residents across the area who may be unaware of available resources.

Our Approach

Evidence-based and data-driven from start to finish. The Team Wellborn Strategies + CiviConnections strategy begins with comprehensive polling and focus groups to understand what messages resonate with Mobile residents, then develops targeted creative and media strategies based on those insights. Continuously monitoring campaign performance through real-time analytics, the team will make adjustments to maximize impact. This research-to-action methodology ensures every dollar invested reaches the right people with the right message at the right time.

Measuring Success

Team Wellborn Strategies + CiviConnections tracks awareness of treatment options, stigma around seeking help, engagement with campaign content, resource utilization, and community attitudes toward opioid treatment. The live reporting dashboard monitors reach, engagement, and conversion metrics across all channels, enabling continuous optimization. Pre- and post-campaign polling measures shifts in awareness, comfort discussing opioid misuse, and knowledge of risks - tangible indicators that the messages are breaking through.

Through research-driven media strategy and targeted community outreach, the strategic communications & awareness campaign will reduce stigma, raise awareness, and connect residents to resources that save lives.

Our Goals

  • Prevent new cases of opioid use disorder through targeted education
  • Divert individuals currently suffering from OUD into treatment programs
  • Reduce stigma so people seek help without fear of judgment
  • Create a supportive community environment that recognizes addiction as a medical condition
  • Build sustainable infrastructure and data that allows Mobile’s communications efforts to become more effective and efficient year after year
Life buoy on a pole by the water's edge, overcast sky, coastal landscape in the background.
Opioids 101

Ten Things to Know About Opioids that might save your life, or the life of someone you love.

Mind-Body Recovery

While it may seem new, incorporating mindfulness and yoga practices into recovery has been on the rise since these ancient practices were brought to the West from India during ‘60s and ‘70s. Even the 12-step, faith-based program Alcoholics Anonymous began including spiritual reflection and contemplative practices in recovery around that time. Cut to the present day, and you’ll find a range of faith- and nondenominational-based addiction treatment and services available to individuals seeking recovery, including those that incorporate holistic care such as yoga and meditation. Additionally, there is compelling evidence to support that mind-body interventions like yoga and meditation can be powerful complements to conventional care for various substance use disorders, including opioid misuse.

According to a clinical trial published in January of this year on the National Institute of Health’s National Library of Medicine’s PubMed site, a treatment center in Bengaluru, India, found that people withdrawing from opioids recovered from acute symptoms nearly twice as fast when traditional medication was paired with structured yoga practice. Participants practicing yoga on top of standard treatment with buprenorphine (a medication used to treat opioid use disorder and pain) stabilized within five days, compared with nine days among those receiving medication alone. The yoga group also reported markedly reduced anxiety, improved sleep quality, and better autonomic regulation (a physiological marker of stress resilience).

Beyond Detox

The Journal of the American Medical Association notes that opioid use disorder is not simply a matter of physical dependence; rather, it’s a multi-system dysregulation affecting brain reward pathways, stress systems, emotional processing and behavioral habits. Standard care often combines medication-assisted treatment with counseling and support groups, an approach that has saved countless lives. But relapse rates and treatment drop-outs remain high, leaving clinicians searching for additional tools to improve long-term success. This is where yoga and meditation enter, not as alternative treatments that replace evidence-based care, but as complements to reinforce physiological balance and emotional resilience.

Yoga engages breathing, posture and awareness, elements that tap into the autonomic nervous system, which governs stress responses. The Bengaluru trial’s findings that yoga enhanced heart-rate variability (a measure of parasympathetic “rest and digest” activity) suggest that these practices may ease the intensity of withdrawal and emotional agitation. Beyond withdrawal, research suggests that yoga and similar mind-body practices can improve outcomes across substance use disorders.

A systematic review published in the Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine found that among randomized controlled trials (some involving opioid users) yoga was associated with improvements in anxiety, pain and craving when used alongside traditional therapies.

Meditation practices, whether focused attention, breath awareness or guided imagery, are increasingly studied as tools to rewire reward circuitry disrupted by addiction. These practices bolster emotional regulation and reduce stress sensitivity, which are factors that often trigger relapse long after detoxification ends. Studies show that people receiving group mindfulness sessions (including remote or virtual varieties) alongside medication treatment reported significantly lower opioid craving compared with those receiving only standard care.

Whole-Person Healing

For people emerging from the acute phase of opioid withdrawal, long-term recovery hinges not just on avoiding substances but on rebuilding life with purpose, resilience and balance. Yoga and meditation do not replace medication-assisted therapies, counseling or peer support, but evidence increasingly suggests they can enhance those pillars by addressing underlying physiological stress responses and emotional triggers. As research continues to grow, clinics, therapists and recovery communities alike are watching closely: bridging neuroscience with ancient practices may offer a new frontier in healing from one of the most challenging public health crises of our time.

Local Resources and Integrative Options

In Mobile County, Alabama, there is a broad range of treatment options, many of which are listed on the Project Persevere website’s Treatment Programs page. Below, find the list of a few that incorporate holistic practices with traditional therapies. Remember, recovery is not one-size-fits-all, and not every center explicitly lists yoga or meditation on its roster of services. Still, many coordinate with community partners or wellness professionals to help clients explore these practices as part of holistic aftercare or ongoing relapse prevention.

  • Vets Recover – Mental health therapy and support for substance abuse to veterans, first responders and their families.
  • AltaPointe Health – Outpatient substance use disorder treatment prioritizing pregnant women with intravenous substance use disorders, women with dependent children, individuals with intravenous substance use disorders, individuals who are HIV positive and all others with substance use disorders.
  • Bradford Health Services – Inpatient and outpatient recovery programs for substance use disorders, incorporating a variety of evidence-based approaches.
Explore Our Programs

Discover how Project Persevere’s initiatives are creating real impact across treatment, prevention, recovery, and community support. Explore our programs below to see how each one contributes to lasting change in the fight against opioid addiction.

Man sitting outdoors at sunset, reflecting on opioid recovery and hope.

Wellborn Strategies + CiviConnections

Team Wellborn Strategies + CiviConnections develops and executes a multi-platform communications and paid media campaign that reduces stigma, raises awareness of treatment options, and strives to prevent new cases of opioid use disorder. The program includes polling and audience research, creative production, strategic media placement across digital and traditional channels, public relations, grantee coordination, and real-time campaign optimization.

Waterfront Rescue Mission

Waterfront Rescue Mission’s Recovery Readiness, the first of three phases in its LifeBuilder Recovery Program, addresses opioid issues in Mobile through a holistic, faith-based approach. By addressing the physical, emotional, and spiritual aspects of addiction, they help individuals build a strong foundation for long-term recovery and sustainable life change.

Volunteer Opportunities

Contact : stacy@stacywellborn.com
1100 Dauphin Street, Suite E Mobile, AL 36604