ATTC's Pearls of Wisdom Podcast Series, Episode 1: The First Decade (1993-2003)

To celebrate the 30^th anniversary of the Addiction Technology Transfer Center Network, we're taking stock of where we've been, and looking ahead to where we are going. We invite you to listen to our Pearls of Wisdom podcast series. Each episode examines a different decade in our network's history, and features conversations with the people who shaped and are shaping the field. In this series, hosts Laurie Krom and Maxine Henry of the ATTC Network Coordinating Office will talk with ATTC staff – past and present – about the history, challenges, and evolution of the network.

Featured guests include: Nancy Roget, Mountain Plains ATTC co-director; Denna Vandersloot, Northwest ATTC co-director; Pat Stilen, former director of the Mid-America ATTC; Lonnetta Albright, former director of the Great Lakes ATTC; Maureen Nichols, South Southwest ATTC director; Todd Molfenter, Great Lakes ATTC co-director; Andrew Wilson, Central East ATTC co-director; Estela Besosa-Martinez, project coordinator of the Northeast and Caribbean ATTC in Puerto Rico; and Abby Roach-Moore, technology transfer specialist with the Opioid Response Network.

In the first episode of our series, host and ATTC NCO co-director Laurie Krom talks with Nancy Roget, Mountain Plains ATTC co-director, and Denna Vandersloot, Northwest ATTC co-director, about the birth of the ATTC Network. They also talk about the history, challenges and opportunities for growth and change, and the impact the network made in its first decade.  

Nancy Roget has been part of the network since its inception, first as an advisory board member in 1993, and then as a staff member since 1994. In those early days, the network was known as the Addiction Training Center (ATC). The extra “T” came about as a way to signify the nascent network’s focus on disseminating evidence-informed practices.

“Technology transfer was included (in what the Network was doing,” she said.

Denna Vandersloot says the ATTC at that time was instrumental in expanding the use of evidence-based models in treatment and recovery settings.

“We developed a training that was all about introducing people to the various models, like the Matrix Model,” she said. “It really was that period of time in the history of our field when we were really kind of moving into thinking about the importance of evidence-based practices.

Listen to the entire series here.