This proposal requests partial support for the 15th Annual Summer Institute on Addictions, an annual conference sponsored by McDermott Center (dba Haymarket Center), to be held in Oakbrook Terrace, Illinois June 9-11, 2009. The broad and long-range goal of the project is to improve the quality of substance abuse treatment by helping to bridge the gap between NIDA funded research and practice of community based substance abuse treatment through knowledge dissemination of evidence-based practices.
The specific aim of the three-day conference is to convene 15 speakers in critical areas of evidence-based substance abuse treatment with approximately 500 community-based substance abuse treatment providers. The program will feature six keynote addresses and 18 smaller breakout groups on effective evidence based practices, implementation strategies, forging research partnerships with community based treatment agencies, recovery management, performance indicators and outcome monitoring. The significance of the application is that the conference will take place between the research community and providers of community based substance abuse treatment. Historically, community based substance abuse treatment arose separate from the medical and mental health fields and has lagged in implementing science- and research-based treatments. This situation has created an urgent need for mechanisms such as this conference where dissemination of research based clinical practices can take place. The health relatedness of the application is that the conference disseminates the most effective research-based treatments for alcohol and chemical dependence (a major health problem in the Unites States) with the goal of their implementation into mainstream community based treatment.
The health relatedness of this application is that the conference will focus on the most effective evidence based practices for the treatment of alcohol and chemical dependence, a major health problem in the United States. The conference will disseminate evidence-based practices to community-based substance abuse treatment providers who are in the best position to implement these practices thereby helping to bridge the gap between research and practice and improving the quality of substance abuse treatment and the Nation's public health.
