Evidence-Based Practices: Shaping Mental Health Services Toward Recovery

Implementation Resource Kit User's Guide

Foreword

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s (SAMHSA) Center for Mental Health Services (CMHS) is a proud sponsor of this implementation resource kit for integrated treatment of dual disorders. As the federal agency responsible for promoting the quality, availability, and accessibility of services for people with mental illness, CMHS is responsible for identifying treatments for mental illness that work. The materials in this resource kit document the evidence for the effectiveness of integrated treatment of dual disorders and provide detailed information to help communities to implement the practice in real world settings. During development of the implementation resource kit, we placed special emphasis on 1) strengthening the consensus-building process, 2) expanding the involvement of consumers and families, 3) including practical orientation to issues involving service organization and financing, and 4) insisting on paying careful attention to issues of ethnic and cultural sensitivity and overall cultural competence. We are well pleased with the result.

Many other organizations contributed to developing this implementation resource kit. This broad coalition of researchers, providers, administrators, policy makers, consumers and family members, gives the resource kit its strength and vitality. We are especially appreciative of the support provided by The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation that sponsored the early stages of the Project, when evidence-based integrated treatment of dual disorders was identified as a practice ready for widespread implementation. We agreed. Mental health consumers and their family members consistently rate employment support among their top service needs. The CMHS Employment Intervention Demonstration Project (EIDP) has created a solid evidence-base for a set of core principles that underlie effective supported employment programs for people with serious mental illnesses, and has identified and documented a variety of effective vocational service models. Passage of the Ticket to Work and Work Incentives Improvement Act of 1999 has created a political climate that is ripe for widespread implementation of supported employment programs specifically designed for people with psychiatric disabilities.

This implementation resource kit reflects the current state-of-the-art concerning evidence-based integrated dual disorders services. It addresses both the “key ingredients” of the clinical model and many practical considerations essential for successful implementation. It also describes the need for each community to adapt the model to its particular needs and characteristics. Careful attention to unique community needs, coupled with fidelity to the key ingredients of the practice, equals successful implementation. The closer the kit user comes to following the implementation resource kit guidance, the more likely the practice will yield good results for consumers.

As mental health services research and evaluation progress, CMHS hopes to support the development of implementation resource kits for additional evidence-based practices, and to refine this and other previously-developed resource kits to take new evidence into account. Indeed, evaluation of planned pilot projects for implementing this resource kit and associated implementation strategies will tell us much about how to make improvements in future versions. We hope that this and other evidence-based practice implementation resource kits will be helpful to communities across the nation as they strive to provide the most effective services possible for persons suffering from mental illness.

This document is part of an evidence-based practice implementation resouce kit developed through a contract (no. 280-00-8049) from the Substance Abuse Mental Health Services Administration’s (SAMHSA) Center for Mental Health Services (CMHS) and a grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF). These materials are in draft form for use in a pilot study. No one may reproduce, reprint, or distribute this publication for a fee without specific authorization from SAMHSA

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