TRI Unveils Research Center for Parents of Teens with Substance Abuse Issues

The Treatment Research Institute has just unveiled its Parents’ Translational Research Center, funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA). This first-of-its-kind Center represents a significant investment by NIDA in translational research directed toward parents and other caregivers contending with the spectrum of drug and alcohol issues of children they’re raising.
The unique new Center will fund original research, with the ultimate goal being that the findings can be translated and disseminated in the form of tools that help adults navigate the substance use and abuse that all too often present during the adolescent years -- sometimes with serious consequences. The Center’s projects may also impact parents who have adolescents involved with the juvenile justice system.  
 
The Center’s three research projects focus on different “need states” of parents:

• Intervening Early with Teens at Home.  Ken Winters, Ph.D. will lead a study to develop a home-based brief intervention for parents to use when they know or suspect that a young person has begun using drugs or alcohol. 
• Finding an Evidence-Based Treatment Program for Teens. For parents seeking treatment for their child who want guidance about how to evaluate the appropriateness of a treatment program, John Cacciola, Ph.D., in conjunction with Kathleen Meyers, Ph.D., will develop an adolescent treatment guide examining evidence-based aspects of treatment that parents should ask about when seeking treatment for their child
• Helping Resistant Teens Begin Treatment. For parents facing difficulties with an adolescent who needs to enter a treatment program, Kimberly C. Kirby, Ph.D., Center Director, will evaluate how parents can best facilitate treatment entry when their children are resistant -- and support continued treatment and recovery. 

 
Stay tuned as the Center tracks the development of its research findings and makes available those tools that can truly help adults concerned about their children's drug or alcohol issues, including those that land them under court or juvenile justice supervision.
 

Kimberly C. Kirby, Ph.D., is a Senior Scientist at the Philadelphia-based Treatment Research Institute, where she is Director of both the Parents’ Translational Research Center and the TRI Section on Behavioral Treatments and Applications.