Training Center

The ISAP Training Center provides state-of-the-art training on a wide range of topics, including the impact of substance use disorders; effective behavioral and medical treatment strategies; co-occurring disorders; screening, brief intervention, and referral to treatment (SBIRT); new drug trends; medical marijuana; and research ethics and procedures. Drawing on the expertise and experience of all ISAP investigators, the Training Center also develops opportunities to disseminate research findings to scientific and treatment communities.

The core infrastructure of the Training Center revolves around the Pacific Southwest Addiction Technology Transfer Center (PSATTC). The PSATTC is one of 10 regional centers funded by SAMHSA to bring the best of science to practitioners working with clients with substance use disorders.

The PSATTC (U.S. Department of Health & Human Services Region 9) serves Arizona, California, Hawaii, Nevada, and the six U.S. Affiliated Pacific Jurisdictions (American Samoa, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, Guam, Federated States of Micronesia, Palau, and Republic of the Marshall Islands).

The Training Center also has contracts with the California counties of Alameda, Los Angeles, Napa, Orange, Santa Clara, and Sonoma to provide ongoing training and technical assistance for skill development in co-occurring disorders, SBIRT, and primary and behavioral health care integration. Statewide training initiatives include a contract with the California Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) to provide SBIRT training to medical personnel serving MediCal-funded patients and a contract with the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to provide staff development trainings on a variety of evidence-based practices for criminal justice-involved substance using populations. 

Training staff also provide training to ISAP and affiliated staff on research methods and ethics, use of the Structured Clinical Interview for the DSM (SCID), Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview (MINI), Addiction Severity Index (ASI), and project-specific data collection instruments.  Additionally, we develop customized trainings for specific content upon request.

During the past several years, the Training Center has developed an ongoing collaborative partnership with the Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science based local performance site of the Pacific AIDS Education and Training Center, funded by the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration, to develop specific curricula to educate HIV providers about addiction-related issues. Currently, we have developed curricula on Crack Cocaine and HIV; Alcohol and HIV; What HIV Providers Need to Know about Integrated Treatment; Integrating Care through the Use of Substance Abuse Screening and Brief Intervention in HIV Settings; Medical Marijuana; and Prescription Opioids and HIV.  Under development are curricula on Substance Use, HIV, and Youth; Screening and Brief Intervention in HIV Care Settings; Substance Use and HIV in Older Adults; and an update on heroin and HIV. These will be released as they are completed in 2014 and 2015.