NIDA/Center for Substance Abuse Treatment Blending Initiatives
Outreach Partnership Program 2005 Annual Meeting
Sunday April 3, 2005
Mary Beth Johnson, M.S.W., Director
National Office, Addiction Technology Transfer Center
The Addiction Technology Transfer Center (ATTC) is a national resource network, dedicated to translating and communicating the science of addiction to the professional workforce through education and training. Its goal is to ensure excellent care for people with substance abuse disorders and thus to transform their lives. ATTC is funded by the Center for Substance Abuse Treatment (CSAT), part of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), and maintains liaison with the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
Two committees of the ATTC Network focus on service improvement and workforce development. Part of ATTC Network’s mission is to forge national and regional alliances among practitioners, researchers, policymakers, funders and consumers. The ATTC National Office and 14 Regional Centers serve all 50 states, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, the District of Columbia, and the Pacific Territories. All of the Regional Centers serve a wide range of professionals, including physicians, teachers, mental health professionals, correctional professionals, and social workers. All address multi-systems issues, provide education and training, and work to improve standards and policies in the field. There are also differences among Regional Centers that reflect their unique characteristics or locations. They differ in target audiences and educational focus. Some concentrate on academic education, or pre-service education: others may focus on continuing education and the multi-disciplinary systems which impact addiction treatment.
A recently implemented “blending initiative” between the ATTC and NIDA is designed to bring the findings from NIDA’s Clinical Trials Network (CTN) to practitioners across the nation. Visit the NIDA website for more information on this blending initiative. The CTN is a collaborative effort between researchers and providers to study substance abuse treatments in real world settings. To create a bridge between discovery and implementation, teams of CTN investigators and ATTC experts work together to develop curricula, marketing materials, and other tools to carry a procedure or protocol to the rest of the country. The first product to become available is an awareness package to help the field understand what buprenorphine is and how it is used as a treatment tool for opioid addiction. An Addiction Severity Index package is expected to be available next. In the pipeline are protocols for motivational interviewing, buprenorphine detox, and motivational incentives. Updates will appear on the ATTC website (www.nattc.org).
ATTC is interested in fostering other kinds of partnerships and collaborations. For example, the Serious Violent Offender Reentry Initiative (SVORI) is a curriculum that is designed to bring criminal justice professionals and substance abuse professionals together for cross training. The intent is to improve outcomes for adults and juveniles returning to communities from correctional facilities. ATTC also has a very successful curriculum for substance abuse and mental health professionals (see the ATTC website at www.nattc.org for more details).
Nearly all ATTC Network products are available on the website. For example, a product of interest to Outreach Partners is a free curriculum for a one-day Science to Service symposium to help people understand scientific research and how results can be implemented. In addition, the Northwest Frontier ATTC has an entire website (www.nfattc.org) dedicated to evidence-based practices in the addictions.
Early in the program, the ATTC Network decided that one of its important roles would be to evaluate and endorse curriculum products, based on competency standards. As a result, the Network developed “Addiction Counseling Competencies: The Knowledge, Skills and Attitudes of Professional Practice,” a document that is now widely used for developing college curricula and for licensing and credentialing. Other ATTC products of interest to Outreach Partners are the ATTC Networker, a newsletter, and “The Change Book,” a guide to facilitating organizational change.
The ATTC website has links to practically every known organization and information source in the field of addiction. “Eye on the Field” is an electronic magazine that comes out once a month and can be delivered by email. Certification information is also available. Perhaps the most useful resource on the website is a catalog of all ATTC materials, many of which are free and downloadable. In addition, the website offers access to online and at-a-distance education from many sources, worldwide.
Disclaimer
* This document is intended to summarize a speaker presentation at the NIMH Outreach Partnership Program’s Annual Meeting and is not an official statement or opinion of the NIMH. This information is in the public domain and may be used or reproduced for educational purposes without additional permission from the NIMH.
