SBIRT/Community Health Team grant activities underway

In July 2017, CTC was awarded funding from BHDDH and DOH to implement Screening, Brief Intervention and Referral to Treatment (SBIRT) for substance use disorders by introducing SBIRT screening resources into Community Health Teams (CHT), emergency departments, Department of Corrections and various service organizations in RI. CTC has partnered with eight organizations (The Providence Center, South County Health, Blackstone Valley Community Health Center, Thundermist Health Centers, Family Service of Rhode Island, East Bay Community Action Program, Comprehensive Community Action Program, and the Rhode Island Parent Information Network) to achieve the goals of the grant.  Grant activities were kick-started in September with a SWAT approach of intensive staff training and patient outreach to accomplish a target of 1000 completed SBIRT screens by September 30, 2017. Over 30 staff were trained and CTC and its partners exceeded the screening goal by completing 1,246 SBIRTs in the designated timeframe.  

In addition to SBIRT activities, CTC is supporting the implementation of new CHTs and providing additional resources to existing CHTs, such as funding for an SBIRT screener for the team.  New CHTs are actively recruiting and hiring staff to fill positions and developing referral relationships with primary care settings while existing CHTs are working to integrate an SBIRT worker onto their teams.