Turning 2 and Our Top Ten List

August 7, 2015

Maureen Fitzgerald
Communications Coordinator, ATTC Network
Senior Editor, NIATx

The DipR is the ultimate cookie spoon.

It was almost exactly two years ago that we launched the ATTC/NIATx Service Improvement Blog with our first post: Better Together. In that post, ATTC co-directors Laurie Krom and Kim Johnson wrote about the true innovation that comes from collaboration. They announced the main goal for our blog: to publish regular posts featuring information, tools, and techniques to help behavioral health professionals manage programs and provide services.

Over the past two years, we've published, on average, three times each month, on a wide range of topics. Our blog writers have included ATTC and NIATx staff along with guest bloggers representing research, clinical care, state and national organizations, and people in recovery.

The variety of views, information, and voices you find in our blog is thanks to the many gracious guest bloggers who've contributed posts over the past two years. We are extremely  grateful for their willingness to contribute such a range of thought-provoking and informative posts!

I thought you might be interested in the 10 ATTC/NIATx Service Improvement blog posts that have been most popular with your fellow blog readers over the past two years.

At the top of the list is Making MAT a Routine Part of Addictions Care. Aaron Williams of the National Council talks about expanding access to medication-assisted treatment. 

Inspiring Change through SBIRT, followed by What Happens if they say "Yes"? : Cathy Milliken of the Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center describes her treatment center's project to implement SBIRT for pregnant and postpartum women with substance use disorders--across two institutions, three departments, and inpatient and outpatient settings.


New Medication Shows Promise for treatment of Alcoholism and Depression: Meg Brunner of the NIDA Clinical Trials Network Dissemination Library writes about a new drug that proved effective in a small trial.

Integration: The Great Debate: Kim Johnson shares her perspective on the swinging pendulum of thought about integrating addiction treatment with other health care.

ATTC Network Forum 2104 Day 1: Igniting the Spark: A quick recap of the ATTC meeting that opened with Mady Chalk, Research Director of TRI, asking: What do we know about the integration of health care and SUD services?

Just the Facts: Marijuana Lit: Here, we introduced the first of five videos on our multi-media series on marijuana. Have you seen the most recent video, featuring Dr. Tom Freese of Pacific Southwest ATTC  giving "just the facts" about medical marijuana?

A Hidden Epidemic: Older Adults and Substance Abuse announces release of a documentary film on the topic. The film aired on the PBS station in North Carolina in February 2015. Contact your local PBS station to request a broadcast in your area.

Factors influencing organizational change: Former NIDA program official Tom Hilton shares a checklist that organizations can use to figure out if it's time to change.

A seminal Study asks: Should our paradigm for treatment be expanded? Tom Flaherty, former director of the Northeast ATTC,  shares the results of a study of the recovery process that he conducted with Ernie Kurtz, William White, and Ariel Larson.

You may have noticed six of the 10 top posts focus on health care integration and how to achieve it. We'll continue that thread later this month with an update from Cathy Milliken on the Perinatal Addiction Treatment Program she wrote about in the top posts mentioned above.

Integration is also the focus of the conference coming up in Salt Lake City on September 16, Behavioral Health and Primary Care Integration for Latinos. The Central Rockies ATTC and the National Hispanic and Latino ATTC are presenting a one-day session on assessment, treatment and recovery in integrated care for hispanics and latinos. Details will be available soon-check their websites for more details.  (And we hope to tell you more about it in an upcoming blog post, too.)

Also on the integration front, the Network will be releasing additional white papers as part of the Advancing Integration project. Here's a link to the first paper, released back in March: Integrating Substance Use Disorder and Health Care Services in an Era of Health Care Reform.

We hope that you've enjoyed reading the ATTC/NIATx Service Improvement blog over the past two years. We'll continue to bring you news and information to help you manage clinical and business practices, implement evidence-based practices, and adjust to the changing health care landscape. Are there topics you'd like us to cover? Are you interested in being a guest blogger? Use the comment section below to share your ideas, or send an email to maureen.fitzgerald@wisc.edu