Mecklenburg’s

Promoting      Recovery and   Opportunity through Mentoring,      Insight,        Support and       Education

 

 

Did You Know

 

“SAMHSA Toolkits: Bringing Evidence-Based Practices to our Community”

By Cherene Allen-Caraco

 

The United State’s Department of Health and Human Services Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) is a proven leader in collecting and translating research into innovative, effective service approaches that are recovery oriented and accessible to the community at large.  To further their mission, SAMHSA began a National Evidence-Based Practices Project that developed a series of comprehensive Evidence Based Practices Toolkits that allow service providers to use evidence based practices in community settings.

 

In 1998, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation convened a group of researchers, families, consumers, and mental health administrators worked to identify effective evidence based practices. They ultimately identified six practices as the most effective in meeting consumer and family needs in the most cost-effective and accountable manner.  Two years later, SAMHSA, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Dartmouth researchers, consumers and family advocates combined to create toolkits for each of these practices.  

 

These practices include:

•         Illness management and recovery skills (IMR)

•         Standardized pharmacological treatment (Med MAP)

•         Assertive Community Treatment

•         Family Psychoeducation

•         Supported employment

•         Integrated treatment for co-occurring mental illnesses and substance use disorders (IDDT)

 

The toolkits are comprehensive, user friendly and provide “how to” instructions for implementing the strategies and assessing fidelity.  The interventions outlined in the IMR and Family Psychoeducation toolkits can be billed as either community support individual or group and are based on the philosophy of recovery. For access to the toolkits, visit SAMHSA’s website at www.samhsa.gov.  Trainings are offered in North Carolina on these toolkits through Southern Regional AHEC.  For their upcoming training calendar, go to www.ncebpcenter.org.

 

 

References

 

SAMHSA. (2007). Evidence-Based Practices: Shaping Mental Health Services Toward Recovery. Retrieved on April 7th, 2007 from http://www.mentalhealth.samhsa.gov/.