Every September, SAMHSA sponsors Recovery Month to increase awareness and understanding of mental and substance use disorders, and celebrate people in recovery.

This year's theme, "Join the Voices for Recovery: Invest in Health, Home, Purpose, and Community," explores how integrated care, a strong community, sense of purpose, and leadership contributes to effective treatments that sustain the recovery of persons with mental and substance use disorders. The observance will work to highlight inspiring stories to help people from all walks of life find the path to hope, health, and wellness.

Find toolkits, an event calendar, and a variety of resources to share at http://recoverymonth.gov.

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2019 National Drug & Alcohol Facts Week® (NDAFW): Event Registration Open!

The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) and the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) have opened event registration for next year's NDAFW, to be held January 22-27, 2019.

NDAFW is an annual, week-long series of educational events that link teens with scientific experts to Shatter the Myths® about substance use and addiction.

Since its inception in 2010, NDAFW has continued to grow, with more than 2100 NDAFW events held throughout all 50 states and in 35 countries last year. NDAFW events can be held by a variety of organizations, including schools, community groups, sports clubs, and hospitals, and/or promoted through a variety of vehicles, such as blogs or social media. Activities can focus on general drug use or on specific trends of concern in individual communities.

Register your event now at https://teens.drugabuse.gov/national-drug-alcohol-facts-week!

CTN Trial Progress

Study results for Open Studies as of the July 25* trial Progress Report. (*this was the latest report available)

CTN-0064 - Linkage to HCV Care.
Enrolled 113

CTN-0067 - CHOICES Scale-Up. Enrolled 32

CTN-0068 - ADAPT-2 for Methamphetamine Use Disorder. Enrolled 225

CTN-0069 - OUD in the Emergency Department. Enrolled 349

CTN-0073 - Detecting Cocaine Use Using Smart watches. Enrolled 19

CTN-0075 - Physician-Pharmacist Collaboration - OUD
Enrolled 39

Total Enrolled in all Studies: 24,883

News from the Nodes

Northeast Node

NH partners awarded grant to integrate physical, mental health treatment for young adults with severe mental illness or emotional disturbance

Node partners at the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services (including Northeast Node Core Investigator Dr. Mary Brunette) were recently awarded a grant from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) to integrate physical and mental health treatment for young adults with severe mental illness (SMI) or severe emotional disturbance (SED).

The project will support 1,100 patients in New Hampshire ages 16-35 with SMI or SED through a program called ProHealth NH. ProHealth will work with three state Community Mental Health and Federally Qualified Health Centers to create health homes with integrated physical and mental health care, with a goal of preventing and/or treating future health conditions.

You can read more about the project here.

Follow the Northeast Node on Twitter and Facebook.

Texas Node

CTN-0068 ADAPT-2 Study Update: CTN-0068 is evaluating a combination of medications as a potential treatment for methamphetamine use disorder and is recruiting participants from 7 study sites. In late July, an eighth site was endorsed to recruit.

Welcome to the team, UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, TX! This new site has benefited greatly from the experience of the original 7 sites.

As of August 19th, 245 participants have been randomized across all 8 sites and several performance measures have improved, including availability of primary outcome and treatment exposure. Way to go, teams!

All sites continue to make adjustments to constantly improve study retention and provide the best research experience to our participants. In fact, there is a fierce, but friendly, competition between UCLA, SURU, and CODA for top recruitment and retention in the study.

All sites are testing a variety of innovative strategies to improve recruitment and retention of participants as summer fades and fall approaches. BHS in particular has been increasing their social media efforts; check them out here (and share/like). We are excited to see what the autumn season brings!

Pacific Northwest

Dennis Donovan Retiring as Director of the UW Alcohol & Drug Abuse Institute

After twenty-five years, Dr. Dennis Donovan is stepping down as Director of the Alcohol & Drug Abuse Institute at the University of Washington. He will continue his work in the CTN as the Co-PI (with Dr. Mary Hatch-Maillette) of the Pacific Northwest Node, member of the CTN Publications Committee, as well as selected other activities within the CTN, ADAI, and the UW, under his new status as Professor Emeritus.

Dennis M. Donovan has been the director of the Alcohol and Drug Abuse Institute since 1993 and a UW faculty member since 1981; he has been a Professor in Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences and Adjunct Professor in the UW Departments of Psychology, Health Services, and Global Health. He also directed the Substance Abuse and HIV/STI Scientific Working Group within the UW’s Center for AIDS Research. Dr. Donovan has been a Principal Investigator of numerous federally funded grants, including NIAAA’s Project MATCH, the NIAAA COMBINE Study, and NIDA's National Drug Abuse Treatment Clinical Trials Network (CTN). He has published more than 300 articles, chapters, and books in the area of alcoholism and addictive behaviors.

Before coming to ADAI, Dr. Donovan was affiliated with the Addictions Treatment Center at the Seattle Division of the Department of Veterans Affairs Puget Sound Health Care System for over 20 years, involved in clinical, administrative, training, and research activities. At the VA he directed the Inpatient Treatment Program and Assistant Director of the Addictions Treatment Center. Prior to moving full time to the University of Washington and ADAI, he served as the Associate Director and then Acting Director of the first Center of Excellence in Substance Abuse Treatment and Education (CESATE) within the Department of Veterans Affairs nationally. Among his many contributions within the VA system was the development of the first interdisciplinary fellowship in substance abuse treatment, including postdoctoral clinical psychologists, and post-masters nursing, social work, and occupational therapist trainees. In 2013, he was invited to serve on the Institute of Medicine’s (IOM) Committee for an Evaluation of the Department of Veterans Affairs Mental Health Services.

Thank you, Dennis, for your decades of good work and good cheer at ADAI and for the CTN!

Also at the PN Node: Job available: Research Scientist for CTN PrEP Studies. Learn more here!