Connect People to Care at the NFAR Technology Summit

Nancy A. Roget, MS

Project Director/Principal Investigator

National Frontier and Rural ATTC 

The National Frontier and Rural (NFAR) ATTC is hosting its 4^th Annual Technology Summit in Wilmington, Delaware on August 3-5, 2016

The focus of the 2016 Technology Summit, Mind the Gap: Using Technology to Connect People to Care is to help practitioners bridge the gap between knowledge and skills. All breakout sessions are designed to promote skill development. The following are some tips to help participants have a successful experience at the NFAR Technology Summit.

Can you moderate your drinking? There's only one way to find out

July 12, 2016

Ned Presnall
Executive Director
Clayton Behavioral
Adjunct Professor, Washington University

"The idea that somehow, someday he will control and enjoy his drinking is the great obsession of every abnormal drinker. The persistence of this illusion is astonishing. Many pursue it into the gates of insanity or death." (The Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous, Chapter 3)

The founders of AA suggest that attempts at moderation provide the best litmus test for alcoholism. In their view, drinkers that are able to cut back without abstaining are not alcoholics because they haven’t become powerless over alcohol.

When Words Fail: Addressing Trauma in the LGBTQI Community

July 5, 2016


Jan Wrolstad, M.Div
Associate Director
Mid-America ATTC

Words fail in expressing sympathy for the friends and family members of those whose lives were lost in the horrific massacre in the Orlando night club nearly three weeks ago. Words also fail in conveying the fear now experienced by members of the LGBTQI community.


Fear has replaced what for many had been a growing sense of acceptance and affirmation.

HIV Education in Disguise: A soap opera for social change

June 27, 2016

Maureen Fitzgerald
Communications Coordinator, ATTC Network
Editor, NIATx

Can a telenovela (soap opera) change attitudes and behaviors about HIV testing, treatment, and prevention?

Hilda Sandoval, PhD, and Natalie Sanchez, MPH, think so. They both work at AltaMed, a federally qualified health center (FQHC) in Los Angeles. In fact, AltaMed is the nation's largest FQHC. It's also the largest HIV medical provider for Latinos in Southern California. Sanchez is the Clinic Administrator of Alta Med's HIV Department, and Sandoval serves as the Mental Health manager.

They've teamed up to create Sin Vergüenza, (Without Shame) the gripping story of three generations of the Salazar family: a fictional Mexican-American family living in Los Angeles and dealing with HIV/AIDs. The seven episodes of the mini series are available for viewing in English or Spanish.  Sin Vergüenza does not air (yet) on network television.

You can watch the short episodes in English or Spanish on AltaMed's You Tube channel:  https://www.youtube.com/user/healthsvcs

Are we leveraging digital technology in addiction treatment?

June 7, 2016


David H. Gustafson
Director, NIATx and The Center for Health Enhancement Systems Studies

The Center for Health Enhancement at the University of Wisconsin-Madison developed A-CHESS, a smartphone app for recovery support, based in part on ideas that emerged from experts in diverse fields and people suffering from addiction or affected by it. In 2009, in a Behavioral Healthcare article, I talked about key ingredients that a technology-based addiction treatment systems such as A-CHESS would need.

A lot of the identified, necessary ingredients weren't yet available when we first started thinking about a mobile app to assist those in recovery.