The Addiction Technology Transfer Center Network, the resource for professionals in the substance use disorder treatment and recovery services field, is expanding its reach.
With its coordinating hub and a four-state regional office based at the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Nursing and Health Studies, ATTC is growing from a domestic network into an international one.
ATTC has a coordinating center and 10 regional offices throughout the U.S. as well as centers in Vietnam and Thailand. This fall, additional centers will be opened in South Africa and Ukraine. The international locations are where HIV cases — linked with substance use — remain high.
While the network grows, the mission of ATTC remains the same.
“It’s all about public health strategies and helping people get access to quality treatment to get well,” said Laurie Krom, program director in the School of Nursing and Health Studies and the lead for the ATTC Network coordinating office grant.
The ATTC also is increasing its efforts to build the capacity of opioid treatment providers to treat chronic Hepatitis C virus through additional training and technology. The addition was part of a recent five-year, $5.8 million grant from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Service Administration (SAMHSA) that continues the work of the coordinating office through 2022.
The Mid-America ATTC, covering Iowa, Kansas, Missouri and Nebraska, received a five-year, $3.85 million grant from SAMHSA. UMKC will partner with Truman Medical Centers to implement evidence-based treatment and recovery practices to increase the knowledge and skills of the behavioral health workforce regionally.
“They’re uniquely positioned to provide intensive technical assistance to behavioral health organizations seeking to become trauma-informed, ” said Pat Stilen, program director in the School of Nursing and Health Studies and co-director of the Mid-America ATTC grant. Truman is a clinical partner and teaching hospital for UMKC’s health professions schools.
SAMHSA established the ATTC in 1993, and the network has had offices at UMKC since then.