The Addiction Technology Transfer Center of New England has been located at Brown University's Center for Alcohol and Addiction Studies, in Providence, Rhode Island, since its inception in 1993. As part of the national ATTC Network, the New England ATTC maintains broad partnerships throughout the six states in the region that work to promote system change and workforce enhancement by bringing current research and promising approaches in substance abuse treatment and recovery into clinical practice and educational programming.
A special interest of the New England ATTC has been a focus on organizational change and the process of technology transfer that can assist service providers in adopting new and effective clinical interventions. In 2003 we developed the Science to Service Laboratory, a model technology transfer strategy. You can read more about this under Special Topics.
The New England ATTC continues to be a leader in collaborating with academic institutions to enhance addiction treatment and recovery education. As a part of Brown University’s Center for Alcohol and Addiction Studies, we have access to the Center’s state-of-the-art Distance Learning Program which is a collaborative effort with the Program in Public Health located within the Alpert School of Medicine at Brown. This on-line educational program provides a range of health care professionals including addiction treatment providers, counselors, social workers, nurses, psychologists, and physicians with access to continuing education courses covering a range of topics relating to advances in addiction treatment and prevention.
For more than ten years the New England ATTC has maintained a unique relationship with Rhode Island College, assisting in the development and administration of the Department of Psychology’s Bachelor of Science degree in Chemical Dependency and Addiction Studies. More recently, along with several faculty and community members, we have assisted in establishing of the Institute for Addiction Recovery at Rhode Island College. Further information can be found under Special Topics.
Both regionally and nationally, the New England ATTC also promotes recovery-focused treatment systems and the development of recovery communities. We work with the six state-wide recovery community advocacy organizations in New England to help build the New England Alliance for Addiction Recovery as “A collective voice for New England Addiction Recovery Community Organizations that brings the power and value of recovery to everyone.” We also partner with Faces & Voices of Recovery to bring national recovery community advocacy training initiatives to the region.
Finally, a principal component of the New England ATTC’s workforce development and retention efforts has been the New England Leadership Development Institute for Substance Abuse Treatment Program Managers (LDI), which was developed 2003. The LDI has enjoyed wide regional support and participation; it was developed in collaboration with the New England Institute of Addiction Studies, regional SSA Directors, and the Department of Organization and Management at Antioch New England Graduate School. Designed to develop the next generation of leaders in the SUD treatment field, the LDI is composed of an initial three-day presentation on the theory and practice of program leadership followed by a three-day follow-up meeting to integrate leadership theory, skills, and practical application. It aims to provide participants with an overview of what constitutes leadership, leadership tools facilitation and group skills, organizational and strategic planning skills and an understanding the process of change. More than 150 New England treatment professionals have participated in the LDI from 2003 to 2008.
