Ashley Wurth

Ashley serves as the Justice Services Lead for the Substance Use, Prevention, Treatment, and Recovery Section of the North Carolina Division of Mental Health, Developmental Disabilities and Substance Use Services at NC Department of Health and Human Services. In this role, she is working to increase access to care and expand services for individuals with justice system involvement across the state. In North Carolina, people reentering from prison are 50 times more likely to die of an opioid overdose in the first two weeks after being released than someone in the general population. To reduce this likelihood, Ashley works with partners and agencies across the state to promote best practices for overdose prevention, harm reduction, SUD/OUD treatment, and more for this vulnerable population. 

Ashley previously served as the Overdose Prevention Team Lead at the NC Division of Public Health, leading a team of subject matter experts in the provision of technical assistance, administering grants, and overseeing the NC Safer Syringe Initiative. Prior to this role, she was heavily involved in the development and implementation of the Watauga LEAD and Recovery on the Inside programs, where she also provided clinical counseling and case management services. Her career, however, truly began when someone at AppHealthCare took a chance and hired her as a peer support specialist.

Although she holds a Master of Arts in Clinical Mental Health Counseling from Appalachian State University, Ashley learned more about life and this work through using substances, loving people who use drugs, and living on the fringes of society than she ever has in a classroom. Those experiences, as well as her personal journey through harm reduction, treatment, and recovery spaces, ignited within her a fierce drive to help others.

The NC Division of Mental Health, Developmental Disabilities, and Substance Use Services (NCDMHDDSUS) supports the well-being of all North Carolinians by building systems, services and supports for mental health, intellectual/developmental disabilities, substance use, traumatic brain injury, and problem gambling. In the area of addiction and overdose specifically, NCDMHDDSUS works to drive innovation, promote best practices, and create positive change for all North Carolinians, utilizing prevention, treatment, recovery, and harm reduction services. DMHDDSUS is committed to increasing both quality of and access to each of these areas along the continuum of substance use services.