Resource Development & Dissemination
AHP develops policy white papers, Congressional reports, program briefings, videos/DVDs, fact sheets, Web site content, curricula, handbooks, training manuals, toolkits, briefs, newsletters, speeches, and other resources to support major initiatives of the Federal government and other clients. Frequently, these are integral parts of a technical assistance and/or training package. AHP also prepares articles for peer-review journals and is adept at interpreting and synthesizing complex research findings for policymakers.
Co-Occurring Disorders and Behavioral Health
"Facts for the Field" and "News and Views." For SAMHSA’s Co-Occurring and Homeless Assistance Branch, AHP develops resources to provide current information to grantees and staff on evidence-based and promising practices. The focus is on the challenge of supporting recovery for persons who have co-occurring disorders (COD), including the many persons who are homeless and have both mental health and substance use disorders. AHP has interviewed grantees and conducted research to develop newsletters and fact sheets on subjects of such as permanent supportive housing, trauma-informed care, primary health care, and youth.
Manual Development for the Maintaining Independence and Sobriety through Systems Integration (MISSION) program. To develop clinician treatment manuals and a consumer workbook, AHP staff collaborated with staff of the MISSION program, which provides support to formerly homeless veterans with co-occurring disorders to help them re-enter their communities. The treatment manual provides a "blueprint" for those setting up new programs similar to MISSION and serves as a practical reference for current team members as they carry out their roles. The Consumer Workbook is designed to support consumers as they transition to community life by providing tools, individual or group exercises, and wellness resources.
Criminal Justice
Enforcing Domestic Violence Firearm Prohibitions: A Report on Promising Practices. AHP developed a detailed manual on promising practices for enforcement of state and federal firearm prohibitions to disarm dangerous intimate partner and family abusers. Written for the Office on Violence Against Women of the Department of Justice and the National Center on Full Faith and Credit, and based in part on extensive AHP field research, as well as analysis of state and federal laws, the manual covers model programs for law enforcement, prosecutors, courts, probation, as well as state firearm data bases and legislators. The manual is being widely disseminated across the country.
Evidence-Based Best Practices in Responding to Domestic Violence Cases: A Guide for Probation and Parole Officers. AHP developed a manual for Missouri probation and parole officers regarding best practices for safeguarding victims of domestic violence and holding their abusers accountable. Commissioned by the Missouri Department of Corrections and funded by the Office on Violence Against Women of the Department of Justice, each section of the manual describes research findings and their implications for officers in the field, or in the courts where officers often advise judges on sentencing, or in the prisons where they advise parole boards.
Healthcare and Behavioral Health
SAMHSA Action Alert Memo. AHP demonstrated our ability to complete short-turnaround project in response to immediate needs. AHP prepared an Action Alert Memo for the SAMHSA Administrator on "cheese heroin," a potentially lethal heroin-Tylenol PM combination with users as young as 9 years old in Dallas, Texas. Within 24 hours of receiving the request, AHP conducted research and prepared a memo on the nature of the problem, prevalence rates, and recommendations for action.
Policy Speeches for SAMHSA Leaders. AHP staff regularly prepare policy speeches for SAMHSA leaders to present at major conferences and other gatherings. Speeches use up-to-the-minute data tailored to the needs and interest of specific behavioral health stakeholders. Examples of topics addressed in these speeches include:
- » Community integration for adults, older adults and children with mental illnesses and other disabilities
- » Co-occurring disorders-mental illness and substance abuse
- » Housing and employment for people who are chronically homeless
- » Shared decision-making in mental health
- » Behavioral health services in the criminal justice system
- » Behavioral health workforce development issues
Inside/Outside Video. For SAMHSA’s Center for Mental Health Services (CMHS), AHP developed a documentary film that explores the meaning of recovery for eight individuals with mental illnesses and significant histories of institutionalization as they move from "inside" the institution to "outside" life in the community. Their stories help to define community integration as not just finding a place of residence, but as the reweaving of human lives into the fabric of a community, with opportunities for personal fulfillment in social and family relationships and economic independence. The film has been widely distributed throughout the States and to other countries. The film and accompanying Viewer’s Guide were translated into Spanish to reach a larger audience.
Homelessness and Housing
Technical Assistance Services for the Homeless Programs Branch (HPB) and its Services in Supportive Housing (SSH) Grantees. AHP provides ongoing coordination of knowledge dissemination to SSH grantees and HPB staff as requested by conducting background research on emerging issues, developing briefing papers, coordinating and conducting webinar/teleconferences, and providing professional development opportunities for HPB staff.
Evidence-Based and Promising Practices Implementation Resource Kit. For SAMHSA’s Center for Mental Health Services (CMHS), AHP led the development of a widely disseminated resource kit on Supported Housing. Development involved coordination with national experts, designing resources for several key target audiences, developing a fidelity instrument, and evaluating pilot deliveries to incorporate input from the field. The resource kits will provide users with in-depth information about the practice and offer practical tools that will help replicate and adapt supported housing programs for their areas.
Mental Health Policy and Services
Overcoming Barriers to Community Integration is a three-volume report prepared for the New Freedom Initiative: State Coalitions to Promote Community-Based Care (Olmstead) Project. AHP oversaw the work of an expert advisory committee; negotiated content and deadlines with researchers and practitioners assigned to write specific chapters; edited submissions for content, style, and clarity; and wrote introductory sections to three volumes on overcoming barriers to community integration for children, adults, and older adults with mental disorders.
SAMHSA Report to Congress on the Prevention and Treatment of Co-occurring Substance Abuse Disorders and Mental Disorders. Collaborating closely with the SAMHSA National Advisory Council’s Subcommittee on Co-Occurring Disorders, AHP staff coordinated the development of a landmark policy document that still informs Federal response to the national challenge of improving outcomes for persons with co-occurring mental health and substance use disorders. AHP staff researched and wrote all initial text for the 150-page report, which includes demographic and epidemiological data, prevention strategies, a summary of evidence-based practices for co-occurring disorders, and SAMHSA’s 5-Year Blueprint for Action.
SAMHSA’s Shared Decision-Making (SDM): Making Recovery Real in Mental Health Care Project. For this SAMHSA project, AHP developed a report that presented the historical context and current status of Shared Decision-Making in Mental Health. AHP gathered and analyzed studies and developments in the field to produce this substantive review. We then developed specialized issue briefs for a variety of stakeholders, including consumers and providers; a workbook for consumers and chosen friends or family members to help consumers make key decisions; and a computer-based program to enable consumers to provide information on their progress and preferences to providers (now in the testing phase).
Trends in Mental Health System Transformation: The States Respond 2005. Under contract to the Center for Mental Health Services (CMHS), AHP researched and wrote a report that highlights the variety of ways that states and Territories are responding to the challenging goals and recommendations of the President’s New Freedom Commission. AHP’s innovative approach to the design and development of the Trends Report for 2005 called for a two-part report. Trends in Mental Health System Transformation: The States Respond 2005 summarizes significant state activities that promote transformation of the nation’s mental health system. A supplemental CD-ROM inserted in each copy of the report contains individual state profiles with more detailed information about each state’s activities.
Strategic Planning and Organizational Development
Strategic Plan for CMHS. AHP supported the SAMHSA Center for Mental Health Services (CMHS) in developing a strategic forecast that examines the first 5 years of mental health transformation and projects strategic activities for the Center over the next 5 years. A senior staff member served as lead writer for plan development. She gathered data from written documents and key informants at SAMHSA, CMHS, and the mental health field, including consumers and family members; developed a structure for the strategic forecast and a set of key themes; and prepared and revised the plan document.
Substance Abuse Treatment and Prevention
Treating the Untreated. In partnership with the State Association of Addiction Services (SAAS), AHP analyzed promising practices to address the needs of nearly 24 million people with untreated substance use disorders. For SAMHSA’s Center for Substance Abuse Treatment (CSAT), AHP conducted an extensive literature review that examined how individual, program and system-level factors interact to facilitate or inhibit treatment-seeking by different populations. AHP identified and described 10 approaches used by other health service fields to reduce treatment barriers and engage populations that are resistant or hard to reach, then envisioned how they might be applied to reach untreated persons with substance use disorders. Finally, AHP staff delivered a final report that examined the policy implications of the team’s findings and identified further opportunities to address the problem.
Editing and Research for Peer-Reviewed Publications. For senior staff of SAMHSA’s Co-Occurring and Homeless Assistance Branch (CHAB), AHP writers have conducted research, organized, and edits papers and chapters on subjects such as evidence-based use of medications for co-occurring disorders (COD), the implications of epidemiology for identifying clients at greater risk for COD, and addiction as a disability.
Development of Manual on Treating Nicotine Addiction. For the University of Massachusetts Medical School, AHP collaborated with faculty to develop a manual for treatment sites on Addressing Tobacco through Organizational Change (ATTOC). The manual offers an overview of the intervention and presents goals, steps, and resources for each step.
Trauma
Advocacy Tool on Trauma-Informed Care. For the National Center for Trauma-Informed Care (NCTIC), AHP is developing a brochure that describes the sequential intercept model for women involved with the criminal justice system to ensure they are identified as trauma survivors and supported in their recovery.
Newsletter and Facts for the Field. For SAMHSA’s Co-Occurring and Homeless Assistance Branch, AHP is conducting research and interviews to develop a newsletter and an edition of "Facts for the Field" on trauma-informed care. Both products will be disseminated to the field through conferences, listserves for grantees, and SAMHSA web sites.
Workforce Development and Employment Programs
Stepping Up. AHP was contracted by the Corporation for Supportive Housing (CSH) to guide the development of a career advancement initiative knowing as Stepping Up. The project was designed to create career ladder jobs for tenants of supportive housing and homeless individuals in the fields of the Social Services, Medical Office Technologies, and Property Management (Housing Industry). With CSH and its local partners, AHP provided the assistance and expertise to develop a 24-credit series of programs in Property Management that was approved by the Illinois community college board.
Ending Homelessness through Employment. AHP developed a comprehensive curriculum on employment of homeless persons for use by those working to end homelessness in communities and states. AHP prepared a series of audio lecture scripts and accompanying brochures, most of which are now available on HUD’s Homelessness Resource Exchange Web site.