The Northeast & Caribbean Addiction Technology Transfer Center (NeC-ATTC)-serving HHS Region 2 (NJ, NY, PR, and the USVI) since 2012—seeks to continue to heighten the awareness, knowledge and skills of the workforce that addresses the needs of people with substance use or other behavioral health disorders and to accelerate the adoption and implementation of evidence-based treatment and recovery-oriented services. The NeC-ATTC has for the past 12 years, been successfully managed by the lead applicant at The Research Foundation for Mental Hygiene (RFMH) / New York State Psychiatric Institute (NYSPI) in close partnership with the Institute of Research, Education and Services in Addiction (IRESA) of the Universidad Central del Caribe (UCC), which prior to the regional realignment served as the incumbent of the Caribbean Basin and Hispanic ATTC since the inception of the network in 1993. As such, the applicant team has a wealth of regional knowledge and experience, along with a considerable array of well-developed stakeholder relationships that will offer substantial continuity in a transition to a new grant cycle.
Because states and territories in region 2 are quite diverse regarding race/ethnicity, percent living in poverty, median household income, educational attainment, employment rate, access to health insurance, population density, primary drug of choice, access to treatment, and much more, T/TA activities will be customized to ensure responsivity to local and cultural circumstances. Region 2 is also geographically expansive regarding the distance between NY/NJ and the Caribbean, the island structure in the Caribbean, and also diverse with respect to comparative land mass and population density, all of which makes it necessary to leverage innovative technology transfer strategies designed to ensure that providers across the region have routine access to T/TA.
The proposed project outlines 12 goals and their associated objectives, which are informed by a comprehensive technology transfer model that represents a synthesis of implementation science principles and draws on our experience in conducting T/TA, as well as research and evaluation over the past 25 years. This approach embodies 8 strategic elements for capacity building: (1) the target population is the behavioral health workforce (BHW), which is defined broadly to encompass a wide array of practitioners that offer services and supports in a variety of settings to people who use substances; (2) T/TA activities will be informed by ongoing needs assessments to identify state/territory specific and region-wide priorities; (3) training workshops will offer foundational support focused on improving attitudes, knowledge and skills necessary to support adoption and implementation of new innovations; (4) technical assistance—basic, targeted, and intensive—will offer the support necessary to implement new innovations; (5) T/TA activities will incorporate a wide array of innovative technology transfer strategies, including distance learning mediums (e.g., webinars, self-paced online courses, Project ECHO) to increase access to T/TA activities across this expansive region; (6) T/TA activities will emphasize recovery—i.e. how new innovations can be integrated within recovery-oriented systems of care and incorporate recovery supports; (7) T/TA activities will promote behavioral health equity using culturally and linguistically appropriate services to support providers and organizations in delivering culturally relevant, non-judgmental and compassionate care to diverse populations; and (8) evaluation results will inform continuous quality improvement efforts to enhance T/TA.
The Region 2 ATTC will deliver 75 T/TA events each year (375 over the 5-year term), involving 3,000 participants annually (15,000 over the 5-year term). This proposed project has the potential to substantially improve behavioral health services as well as outcomes for region 2 residents.
