By Benjamin Chambers, February 04 2010
President Obama released his proposed 2011 federal budget this week. Here's a sneak peek at what that might mean for funding in the adolescent substance abuse treatment arena and for juvenile justice systems across the country.
According to a summary from the Department of Health and Human Services, the President's budget:
By Benjamin Chambers, February 01 2010
In the face of growing need for mental health and substance abuse treatment, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) Administration for Children and Families (ACF) and Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) are notifying states about how Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) funds can be used to help families in their communities in need of short term mental health or substance use treatment services.
The grant notification includes an explanation of how resources under the TANF Emergency Fund – a provision of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act – can be used to support such services.
The TANF block grant provides states and tribes federal funds and wide flexibility to develop time-limited assistance programs, employment services for parents, and a broad array of specialized services – including mental health and substance abuse services - for struggling families in their communities. For example, a jurisdiction can use federal TANF funds to provide appropriate short-term counseling services such as mental health services.
For pertinent information TANF jurisdictions can contact the Office of Family Assistance on its Welfare PeerTA website. In addition, technical assistance can be obtained through the SAMHSA website.
[Text, slightly abbreviated, from a press release.]
By Kim Johnson, January 28 2010
What is the Accelerating Reform Initiative?
In a pilot project supported by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), the NIATx Accelerating Reform Initiative (ARI), 23 organizations in 12 states are working to accelerate their reform efforts.
What's the Purpose of Initiative?
The purpose of ARI is to give behavioral health care organizations the tools and peer supports needed to respond to the sweeping changes that parity, health care integration and decreased grant funding may bring. These include:
By Benjamin Chambers, January 26 2010
Does your community coalition fight teen substance abuse?
You might consider applying for a Drug Free Communities grant from the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). And if you're currently a grantee, now's the time to apply for continuation funding.
Three live workshops are being held, but one was held yesterday and the second will be held tomorrow. The last one will be held on February 12th in National Harbor, MD. You can register here.
You don't have to attend to apply, but it would probably be a good idea not to miss one. Fortunately, a recorded version of the workshop, plus PowerPoint presentation, will be available online by the end of January.
If you have questions related to the content of the RFA, please call the hotline at 240-276-1270 or email your questions. If you have financial or grants management questions, please call Barbara Orlando at 240-276-1422 or email her.
The deadline for applying is Friday, March 19, 2010.
By Benjamin Chambers, January 23 2010
Editor's Picks: Stories of the Week
New Federal Drug Control Strategy
By Benjamin Chambers, January 22 2010
The Obama Administration's new drug control strategy will be officially unveiled in February. Until then, here's two peeks at what lies ahead on the demand reduction side of the policy:
1. The Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) has begun publishing a newsletter, called the ONDCP Update. (In addition to our link here, you can also find it on the ONDCP Web site at in "What’s New" and in "Publications".) You can find two articles on the strategy there -- one is a brief overview, and the other signals that there will be a new emphasis on recovery as well as prevention, intervention, and treatment.
2. NIATx's ACTION Campaign II sponsored a fantastic webinar with Thomas McLellan, the deputy director of the ONDCP. His official topic was the impact of health care reform on addiction treatment, but he also touched on parity regulations and of course the new national drug control strategy.
I recommend that anyone even peripherally interested in addiction treatment follow the link and check it out -- but especially if you're responsible for running a treatment agency or managing a treatment system. (I had some trouble getting the PowerPoint slides to work properly, but there aren't too many, and Mr. McLellan is quite thorough in his audio presentation.)
By Connecticut Tur..., January 21 2010
Recently, I was at an event where a recovery house advocate told a story about how local residents in a suburban Connecticut community banded together to prevent a recovery house from being sited in their neighborhood.
This story is all too common for recovery supporters and advocates across the country – it makes me think of cell phone towers. Why? Because everyone wants cell service at their house, but nobody wants a cell tower in their neighborhood.
I get it: towers are ugly and may not be what you want to see out of your window every day. But sober and safe housing for young people is exactly the opposite.
I got to a recovery house just after my 18th birthday, and I believe to this day that it saved my life.
By Benjamin Chambers, January 20 2010
What are the iAwards?
The iAwards aim to provide national recognition of agencies that are using innovative approaches and provides a venue for them to share how they have adapted to meet the changing needs of clients, staff and the addiction healthcare field.
Who should apply?
Provider organizations, coalitions, or state, county or local government payors/agencies engaged in substance abuse services
What type of innovations will be considered?
An innovative practice in either management or process improvement within the previous three years.
By Benjamin Chambers, January 15 2010
Juvenile Justice Reform News
The 17-year-old who spent time in the state's facilities said the workers' attitudes varied. "Some staff was like, 'Let them be kids'; other staff was like, 'They did a crime.' Others were like, 'I just don't care 'cause I still get paid.' There was some staff that really helped me and there were others that didn't care," she recalled.
By Benjamin Chambers, January 15 2010
SAVE THE DATE: the 2010 Joint Meeting on Adolescent Treatment Effectiveness (JMATE) is scheduled for December 14-16, 2010, in Baltimore, MD. [UPDATE April 5, 2010: The JMATE website is now live. UPDATE December 13, 2010 - You can see the full agenda here; and a list of presentations given by Reclaiming Futures folks. - Ed.]
If you've never attended this (almost) annual conference, this is a big deal. So far as I know, it's the only national conference devoted solely to adolescent substance abuse treatment and recovery. If you're a professional in one of those fields, it's not to be missed. And I can say from personal experience that it's a great conference to attend for juvenile justice policy makers as well -- in fact, anyone who wants to learn more about the "state of the art" in adolescent treatment.
Reclaiming Futures is one of the sponsors, along with:
That's quite a line-up. A website will be put up where you can get more information. To be alerted when it's live, send an email to JMATE-info@jbsinternational.com.
[UPDATE: You can learn more about the conference here and you can follow it on Facebook. - Ed.]
By Benjamin Chambers, January 10 2010
Juvenile Justice Reform News
By Benjamin Chambers, January 06 2010
Last month, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) released a "grant results report" on the first seven years of Reclaiming Futures.
You can read the summary; useful sidebars, such as the testimony of a teen from Portland, OR before congressional staffers on the importance of Reclaiming Futures in helping her get off meth; or "Lessons Learned" from the project directors of the 10 founding sites.
Go here to access the entire grants results report for an in-depth perspective on how this initiative helps communities improve adolescent substance abuse treatment for youth in the justice system.
By Benjamin Chambers, January 04 2010
How to Improve Your Treatment System
Do you work for a county or state agency that's trying to improve its adolescent (or adult) substance abuse or mental health treatment systems?
Check out this excellent system-level toolkit from NIATx.
How to Improve Your Treatment Agency
Work for a treatment agency? There's also a toolkit for treatment providers on how to make your agency more efficient, effective, and bring in more money.
Related Posts:
(Photo by Wonderlane.)
By Benjamin Chambers, December 31 2009
Only recently, I shared our 10 most popular posts, eight of the best resources published on this blog on improving adolescent drug treatment, and a list of positive activities for kids in the justice system. (That was all to celebrate the blog's first birthday, in November.)
But looking back over our posts for 2009, I see we never compiled a list of the most important stories of the year. Stories, in other words, that might herald major shifts in policy, breakthroughs in the research, or that were important enough to make the national news. Those, then, comprise the 20 stories I've collected below.
By Benjamin Chambers, December 31 2009
Got a juvenile drug court that's been operational for at least one year? Want to expand its treatment capacity?
Purpose of the grant: The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) is giving away nearly nine million dollars to help you "expand and/or enhance substance abuse treatment services in juvenile drug courts to "provide alcohol and drug treatment, recovery support services supporting substance abuse treatment, screening, assessment, case management, and program coordination to juvenile defendants/offenders. Priority for the use of the funding should be given to addressing gaps in the existing continuum of treatment."
Award amounts: SAMHSA expects to give away 27 grants amounting to approximately $325,000/year each for up to three years.
Application deadline: Grants are due February 23, 2010.
(Photo by borman818.)
By Benjamin Chambers, December 28 2009
The following is reprinted from the State of Oregon's Mental Health and Addiction Services email digest. I made a few minor edits and added an image by Marxchivist.
Every year, CSAT sends a small number of addiction counselors, supervisors, educators and community agency administrators to the College on Problems of Drug Dependence (CPDD), one of the bst week-long conferences on the latest drug treatment research in the world. The 2010 CPDD will be held June 12-17 in Scottsdale, Arizona. All expenses are covered for those selected. Please note the January 10 deadline for applications.
CSAT Travel Awards
The Center for Substance Abuse Treatment (CSAT) will sponsor up to 30 Travel Awards for substance abuse treatment practitioners to attend the 2010 CPDD meeting. All expenses will be covered: i.e., conference registration, airfare, travel to and from the airport, and hotel accommodation. To be eligible, candidates must hold full-time employment as a director or clinical supervisor in a substance abuse treatment program and not be an employee of the federal government. Further, your direct supervisor will need to agree to allow you to attend if you are selected. Only one award will be given to any specific program. Previous CSAT travel award recipients are not eligible to apply. Applicants will be sent e-mails by the end of March indicating award status.
By Benjamin Chambers, December 17 2009
Five Mini-Guides to Improve Your Substance Abuse Treatment Program
Want to improve the quality, effectiveness, or sustainability of your adolescent substance abuse treatment program? T.A. "packages" from the Center for Substance Abuse Treatment (CSAT) can help. (They apply to adult treatment programs, as well.) Two of the packages have been out for a while, but three new ones have just come out.
Not Just for Grantees
Now, when I first saw the announcement about these packages, I made a few assumptions that turned out to be incorrect:
The Five Handy "Packages"
In short, every substance abuse provider would do well to review these and choose one to work through. Here's the three new ones:
By Kim Johnson, December 07 2009
NIATx is working with selected adolescent treatment providers in Wisconsin to identify and remove barriers to the implementation of Teen Intervene. This evidence-based practice has not yet been used in Wisconsin. It is designed for use with teens that are experimenting with drugs and/or alcohol, but who are not “dependent”—a population that generally receives no services.
By Benjamin Chambers, December 01 2009
Treat Teens in the Justice System Online
What if you could get teens in the juvenile justice sytem to go online for substance abuse treatment?
Think about the kids who have to travel a long way to treatment ... who don't have bus service or someone to give them a ride ... or kids who resist the idea of meeting someone in an office.
The idea has potential, doesn't it?
Ideas to Get You Started
To help treatment providers and others learn about what's possible, Reclaiming Futures is hosting a free, one-hour webinar on December 17th, 11am PST/ 2pm EST. Dick Dillon of Preferred Family Healthcare in Missouri, and a pioneer in using virtual worlds in treatment, will present.
By Benjamin Chambers, November 30 2009
Got a juvenile drug court? Considering starting one?
The MacArthur Foundation's juvenile justice reform initiative, Models for Change, recently released a set of evidence-based practice recommendations for juvenile drug courts.
Developed in a statewide project in Louisiana, the recommendations focus on
(Hat tip to Christa Myers of the Reclaiming Futures initiative in Hocking County, Ohio.)
Related Post: