Mission:
To ensure the availability and accessibility of quality alcohol and drug treatment, prevention, education and related services throughout the country.
Background:
SAAS was founded in 1987 as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization whose membership consists of state associations of addiction treatment and prevention providers. These associations represent programs of all sizes and treatment and prevention approaches. SAAS is the only national organization of state alcohol and drug addiction treatment and prevention provider associations. Through our 42 member associations, SAAS has a direct link to thousands of prevention and treatment programs that are the core of the publicly-supported addiction services system. SAAS serves as an information broker and advocate, linking state associations with national developments such as evidence-based practices and providing input to federal organizations on the needs of community-based services providers and their clients. It is SAAS' goal to expand its membership to include all states and territories of the United States. If your state association is not a member of SAAS, click here for membership information.
Summary of Current and Recent Achievements and Projects:
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF), 2002-04 Grant: In September of 2002, SAAS was awarded a significant grant by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to improve the quality and quantity of treatment and prevention services. The grant allows continued development of SAAS as a national organization representing substance abuse treatment and prevention providers and their perspective in policy development. It also facilitates peer learning and dissemination of evidence-based practices and successful models. In 2005 the RWJF extended the grant for a year to continue work on the directives above.
Report for SAMHSA: Strategies for Developing Treatment Programs for People with Co-Occurring Substance Abuse and Mental Disorders
Through expert panel discussions, investigators identified and brought together individuals who develop and operate successful programs serving people with co-occurring substance abuse and mental health disorders. The report highlights challenges to service delivery, delineates strategies to overcome these challenges, identifies methodologies to help public purchasers build integrated care systems and describes core competencies and training from which treatment professionals and clients can benefit.
Provider Priorities for Change: Pre-Academy Planning Meeting on Co-Occurring Mental Health and Substance Abuse Disorders
SAAS was one of four national organizations working in consultation with SAMHSA to plan and implement the National Policy Academies on Co-Occurring Mental and Substance Abuse Disorders. SAAS worked with its mental health counterpart to bring together service providers to identify priorities for changes that would improve the treatment of patients with co-occurring disorders and developed a report as background for the National Policy Academies.
Collaboration among State Provider Associations, ATTCs and State Agencies to Educate Treatment Providers on Using Process Improvement to Increase Access and Retention in Treatment
SAAS and three state associations are working with providers to replicate the "process improvement" approach developed by the Network for the Improvement of Addiction Treatment. In this model, state provider associations take the lead and work with ATTCs and state agencies to help providers make organizational changes that increase access to treatment and retention.
Collaboration among State Provider Associations, ATTCs and State Agencies to Expand Implementation of Screening, Brief Intervention and Referral to Treatment (SBIRT)
The project seeks to educate specialty treatment providers about the evidence-based approach of Screening, Brief Intervention and Referral to Treatment in several states where there are SAMHSA-funded pilot projects. Because the SBIRT sites are in primary care offices, emergency departments and other medical settings, an emphasis of the project is developing the linkages between those medical care providers and addiction treatment programs so that clients needing referral to treatment are identified and efficiently transferred.
Collaboration and Consensus-Building: Technical Assistance for State Agencies and Providers in the Resources for Recovery Program
Leaders of the Resources for Recovery Program, developed by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to maximize the use of existing resources for addiction treatment (with emphasis on Medicaid dollars) recognized that the changes contemplated by state initiatives funded under the program would be limited without the support and involvement of treatment providers. SAAS provided technical assistance to project participants to raise awareness of the need for and to facilitate collaboration among key stakeholders.
