Adolescent Substance Abuse Treatment

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:

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.]

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:

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.

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New Federal Drug Control Strategy

• If you manage an adolescent substance abuse treatment agency or system, you won't want to miss this recorded webinar. The Obama Administration’s ambitious national drug control strategy, due out until February, could double or triple the number of people getting treatment by integrating addiction treatment into doctor’s offices. There will also be a new focus on treating offenders and an overall emphasis on recovery in addition to treatment. Check it out - it's completely worth your time.
   

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.) 

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.

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.

Juvenile Justice Reform News

• The New York Times published a strong editorial arguing for immediate and decisive action on the part of the federal government to address shockingly high rates of sexual abuse in juvenile detention centers and prisons around the country. (Last week, the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) published the first-ever report of its kind on the sexual victimization of teens behind bars.)
• James Bell of the W. Haywood Burns Institute seized on the BJA's report to deliver another eloquent, blistering column on the state of the juvenile justice system this week: "Captured by the Clueless." If you're interested in Bell's work on disproportionate minority contact, you should also check out his interview with John Kelly of Youth Today.
• Gotham Gazette published an excellent look at New York state's struggle to get rid of the "culture of violence" in its juvenile justice system. (Hat tip to @policy4results.) Staff-vs.-youth violence has been documented in reports by the U.S. Department of Justice, a task force set up by the governor of New York, the American Civil Liberties Union, and Human Rights Watch. The Gotham Gazette piece does a good job of explaining the frustrations of reformers as well as the counter-arguments of union representatives. But what resonated most strongly with me was this quote:

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.

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:

• Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA)
• National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA)
• National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA)
• Society for Adolescent Substance Abuse Treatment Effectiveness (SASATE)
• Addiction Technology Transfer Center (ATTC) Network
• Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP)

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.]