Allying with Peru to Integrate LGBT-Affirming Practices

Kim-Monique Johnson
Diana Padilla
Edgar Vargas
Northeast and Caribbean ATTC

January 24, 2019

“This is the first time I have ever discussed LGBTQ health care with anyof my colleagues – it’s long overdue that we treat the LGTBQ community with dignity and respect. This is about humanity.”– Psychiatrist, SOGI Training Participant, Lima, Perú

Diana Padilla, Kim-Monique Johnson,
and Edgar Vargas, Lima, 2017

In May 2017, a meeting was held by the Colombo Plan in Santiago, Chile, bringing together a group of international experts to create a new curriculum on providing substance use disorder (SUD) treatment to LGBT individuals. Starting with the curriculum on Culturally Responsive Care for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Individuals developed by the SAMHSA-funded YMSM + LGBT Center of Excellence, the experts worked to make the curriculum applicable to an international audience. 

This resulted in a pilot training in the fall of 2017, and then evolved into a training-of-trainers (ToT) in 2018, for providers in Lima, Peru. These events were in partnership with The Colombo Plan’s Drug Advisory Program, and funded by the US Department of State, Bureau for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs. On behalf of the Northeast & Caribbean ATTC, three trainers from NDRI-USA, Kim-Monique Johnson, Diana Padilla, and Edgar Vargas, delivered the pilot training and ToT, The Intersection between Substance Use and Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity (SOGI).

Scott County, IN: Where It's Cool to Be In Recovery

February 4, 2019
Maureen Fitzgerald
Great Lakes ATTC

In spring 2015, the HIV outbreak caused by injection drug use in rural Scott County, Indiana, made headlines around the world. More than 200 cases were confirmed in the town of Austin, affecting one-fifth of its population of 4,200. This rural county faced multiple challenges in addressing the outbreak: poverty, high unemployment, and limited access to medical care, compounded by a devastating shortage of substance use disorder treatment and recovery services.

The Centers for Disease Control sent researchers to investigate. The state declared a public health emergency, with the governor authorizing a temporary Syringe Services Program. At the same time, local efforts to tackle the crisis were gaining momentum. Community leaders began to meet to talk about the the underlying issues that had triggered the skyrocketing rates of HIV infection in the area.

Central East ATTC: Implementing Screening, Brief Intervention, and Referral to Treatment (SBIRT) in Title X Family Planning Settings

January 15, 2019

Shelly Miller
Consultant, Central East ATTC
Subject Matter Expert, Family Planning

Over the past year, the Central East ATTC collaborated with the Region III, Title X Family Planning Program to integrate the SBIRT model for early intervention and treatment services for substance use disorder within reproductive health care centers. The goal is to build capacity for the Title X provider network to implement substance use screening tools, provide targeted counseling, and when appropriate, refer patients to treatment.

Pacific Southwest ATTC Launches 3-Year Implementation and Process Improvement Technical Assistance Capacity Initiative

January 8, 2019


Michael S. Shafer, Ph.D.
Pacific Southwest ATTC

Facilitating patient change is a core essential skill of effective behavioral health care. Facilitating organizational change is a core essential element of implementing evidence-based practices and other practice improvement strategies designed to promote patient change.

Beginning January 22-24, 2019, and continuing over the course of the next three years, the Pacific Southwest ATTC will launch a major regional initiative to develop technical assistance capacity in behavioral health agencies throughout its region. The initiative consists of two inter-related parts: The Change Facilitation Workshop and the Facilitator’s Community of Practice. The workshop is a three-day, residential immersive learning experience.