Science and Service Award Winners
By Leslie Quander Wooldridge
Organizations across the Nation are delivering needed services and interventions to at-risk populations and those with substance abuse and mental health issues.
SAMHSA is taking steps to honor the efforts of these programs as a part of its mission to build resilience and facilitate recovery. The Agency’s new Science and Service Awards program recently recognized 20 public and private sector organizations and community-based coalitions that have improved their communities by providing evidence-based interventions.
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Back row (l to r): Virginia Hoft, Executive Director, Santa Fe Adolescent Services; Vanessa Quach, Program Coordinator, Santa Fe Adolescent Services; Dr. Kevin Hennessy, Science to Service Coordinator, SAMHSA; Dr. Terry L. Cline, Administrator, SAMHSA; Dr. Brian Hepburn, Executive Director, Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene; Christine Johnson, Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene; and Steven A. Reeder, Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.
Front row (l to r): Cora Moseley, Program Coordinator, Santa Fe Adolescent Services; Margaret MacLeod, Morrison Child and Family Services; James R. Vollendroff, King County Mental Health, Chemical Abuse and Dependency Services Division; Melanie Kinley, Thresholds; and Timothy S. Devitt, Thresholds. |
During this first year of the Science and Service awards program, applications poured in from around the country. In the end, SAMHSA received 115 applications, and the 20 inaugural awardees were selected based on independent reviews of all submissions as well as site visits.
Four awardees were chosen in each of five categories: substance abuse prevention, treatment of substance abuse and recovery support services, mental health promotion, treatment of mental illness and recovery support services, and co-occurring disorders.
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Eligibility
To be eligible for an award, each organization needed to demonstrate successful use of a recognized evidence-based intervention, including interventions published in the scientific literature or those that appear on a Federal or state registry.
“The success that these organizations demonstrate and the positive impact they have on individuals and families is visible proof of the importance and direct benefit of using the latest strategies to prevent and treat mental illnesses and substance abuse in our communities,” said SAMHSA Administrator Terry L. Cline, Ph.D.
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Each Program Has a Story
Five organizations were recognized at SAMHSA’s National Advisory Council meeting in September, with the remaining winners scheduled to appear at other Agency events.
With representatives from each of the five organizations present to talk about their community success stories, Kevin Hennessy, Ph.D., SAMHSA’s Science to Service Coordinator, said the awards were important.
“The goal is to reduce lag time between translating the research on these interventions into actual practice,” Dr. Hennessy said, noting that this process of transition can last 15 to 20 years. (See SAMHSA News, September/October 2006.) “Our recognition of these awardees gives them an opportunity to share interventions with their peers and excite other professionals in the field to create change.”
At the awards ceremony, representatives from each of the five organizations talked about how their programs have helped people at the local level.
Virginia Hoft, Executive Director of Sante Fe Adolescent Services (winner in the category of substance abuse prevention) said her agency has helped youth by using evidence-based interventions.
“A lot of times, what we saw with our kids is that they got what was left over,” Ms. Hoft said. Since the organization’s program uses interventions based in schools, homes, and communities to strengthen families and increase resiliency in at-risk youth, she added that community partnerships have been critical to the organization’s success. “We treat our participants like they’re family, and we treat our community partners like they’re customers.”
For more information on the awards program and winners, visit the Science and Service Awards page on SAMHSA’s Web site at www.samhsa.gov/scienceandservice. 
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First-Year Awardees
SAMHSA awarded inaugural Science and Service awards to the following organizations:
Ventura County Behavioral Health in Oxnard, CA Community Solutions, Inc., in Windsor, CT Kremmling Communities That Care in Kremmling, CO Sutton Place Behavioral Health, Fernandina Beach, FL The DeKalb County School System Prevention/Intervention Department in Stone Mountain, GA Thresholds in Chicago, IL NAMI Maine in Augusta, ME Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, Mental Hygiene Administration in Baltimore, MD The Mental Health Center of Greater Manchester in Manchester, NH THE LIFE LINK, Santa Fe, NM Central Clinic, Court Clinic in Cincinnati, OH Scioto Paint Valley Mental Health Center in Greenfield, OH Morrison Child and Family Services in Portland, OR Hempfield Behavioral Health, Inc., in Harrisburg, PA Care for Elders in Houston, TX Santa Fe Adolescent Services in Ft. Worth, TX The Council on Alcohol and Drugs in Houston, TX Travis County Juvenile Probation Department in Austin, TX Granite Falls School District in Granite Falls, WA King County Mental Health Chemical Abuse and Dependency Services Division in Seattle, WA.
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