About Five Minutes to Help 

The opioid epidemic facing this country is a well-known, well-documented public health crisis. It is impacting individuals and families by the tens of thousands, and there are likely very few people in New Jersey who do NOT know at least one person whose life has been touched.

At the front lines of this epidemic are first responders of all types, including Paramedics, EMTs, Fire, and Law Enforcement, who are called to respond to opioid overdoses on a daily basis – often reviving the same individual multiple times in just a matter of days or even hours. The number of patients that refuse transportation to a hospital or are transported but leave the hospital prior to being seen are estimated at over 60% in some areas of the state.In these cases, the First Responder is theonlymedical professional those patients will see.

Successful application of the concepts taught in this training has been well-documented in many health and counseling environments; however, applying it on the scene of a post-overdose scenario is new territory. Given the expansiveness of this epidemic, we know that compassion fatigue may be significant and that implementation may require not only a change in the culture of agencies, but likely a change in the attitudes, beliefs and behaviors of individual responders. It is our hope that the content shared in the Five Minutes to Help training program can support those changes. 

The curriculum was developed by the Rutgers School of Public Health – Center for Public Health Workforce Development. With input from addiction specialists, social workers and educators, a pilot training session was delivered in July 2019.  Although the COVID-19 pandemic initially interrupted the training, as of October 2025, more than 950 responders have been trained. 

• Training Content     • Substance Use & Emerging Drug Use      • Matters      • Program Staff       • Calendar      • Resources

A new type of training for first responders was envisioned by the NJ Department of Health’s Office of Data Analytics, Resources, and Infrastructure (DARI) (formerly the Office of Emergency Medical Services) called ‘Five Minutes to Help’.  The goal: to arm New Jersey responders with new knowledge and communication skills that can be applied on the scene, post-overdose reversal, to encourage patients to seek help for their addiction and increase their awareness of available recovery resources in their communities.

This article interviewing Tim Seplaki of the New Jersey Department of Health further explains the motivation for the Five Minutes to Help training. 

This course is only taught by those who have participated in an Instructor-level Training. See our Calendar page for upcoming trainings. 

Five Minutes to Help Instructor Resources