ABOUT THE TREATMENT RESEARCH INSTITUTE
TRI is an independent, non-profit research and development organization co-founded in 1992 by A. Thomas McLellan, Ph.D., Jack Durell, M.D. and others from the University of Pennsylvania’s Center for the Studies of Addiction. Dedicated to science-driven transformation of addiction policy and treatment, TRI conducts original research and adapts scientific findings into products and services helping treatment providers, policy makers and parents.
In 2009, A. Thomas McLellan was named by the Obama/Biden Administration to be Deputy Director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, bringing an emphasis on science and “effective” policies to the serious and cross-cutting challenges of addiction and unhealthy substance use in the nation.
The work of TRI continues through its new leader, Constance Pechura, Ph.D., and the senior investigators whose research, policy, and development expertise have put TRI in the forefront of many of the most important advances in the addiction field:
- Addiction
as a Chronically Relapsing Disease: In 2000 A.Thomas McLellan
and others noted the similarities between addiction and other chronically
relapsing medical conditions such as asthma, Type II diabetes and hypertension.
A controversial proposition at the time, today most experts talk about
addiction as a chronically relapsing brain disease that cannot be cured
but can be managed. In 2006, the C3
Center was formed
at TRI to investigate chronic care models that continually monitor patient
progress during treatment and adapt based on change in patient status.
- Policy
Making and Addiction:
With more than 70% of substance abuse treatment funded by the public
sector, governments can promote high-quality treatment through smart
policies, procedures and regulations. Since 2006, TRI's Center
for Policy Research and Analysis has worked
with state and local governments to implant purchasing practices and
other policies to foster performance-based contracting; broader treatment
continuums linking specialty addiction care with criminal justice, child
welfare, health and other agencies; medication assisted treatment, and
medically-based screening, brief intervention and referral to treatment
initiatives.
- Substance
Abuse and Crime: TRI is one of the most active research centers
in the nation on problem court models, investigating when alternatives
to incarceration work and when they don’t, and for what types
of offenders, and is one of the few groups translating research findings
into policy solutions and science-based products. TRI investigators
were the first to show that involvement of judges in drug courts is
critical to good outcomes for high-risk offenders.
- Substance
Use, Adolescents and Parents:
In 2005 TRI entered into a collaboration with the Partnership for a
Drug Free America to develop science-based tools for parents trying
to prevent drug/alcohol use by their kids or intervene effectively when
they know or suspect their children are using. The resulting “Parents
Resource Center,” an on-line resource at www.drugfree.org/parent,
is home to two science-based, multi-media resources for parents: “A
Parents Guide to the Teen Brain” and “Time to Act.”
- Addiction
in Primary Health Care:
In a field where 90% of patients known to need treatment don’t
receive it, and countless others are loathe to seek treatment out of
shame or stigma, addiction professionals have long sought to broaden
detection/intervention opportunities by engaging doctors and other medical
specialists. The field got a big boost in December 2008 with release
of the final report of “PRISM”
(Program to Integrate Substance Use Issues into Mainstream Healthcare),
a project launched in 2002 by TRI and the University of Pennsylvania
School of Medicine and joined in 2006 by four of the most prestigious
medical societies in the nation. The report was replete with evidence
of drug and alcohol impacts on chronic medical conditions commonly treated
in doctors’ offices, trauma rooms and other primary care sites
– providing the first systematically gathered evidence of why
substance use and abuse should be of interest to primary care professionals.
- The “Business”
of Addiction Treatment:
In 2006, in a bid to rescue the nation’s struggling substance
abuse treatment system, TRI joined The Wharton School at the University
of Pennsylvania to apply lessons learned from other industries. The
resulting Center on the Organization and Management of Addiction Treatment
(“COMAT”)
has organized conferences, consulted with state substance abuse directors
and other leaders in the addiction field, and convened thought leaders
to develop strategies to translate good business practices into addiction
treatment.
- Transforming Science into Products and Services: The Treatment Research Solutions Group, formed officially in 2008, carries forward the original mission of the organization to translate science into useful products and services for the addiction and related fields. TRI’s historic affiliation with the Addiction Severity Index (ASI), the most widely used assessment instrument in the field of addiction, spawned development of a software system along with a training and technical support capacity for researchers and addiction practitioners. Other science-informed product examples include an electronic system fostering referral of patients to free or low-cost auxiliary services essential to their recovery; two web-based helping tools for parents, and several web-based tools for the criminal justice field.
From the time TRI was founded in 1992, it was its association with the Addiction Severity Index and Treatment Services Review that established the scientific rigor of its work. These two instruments, introduced in the 1980s by McLellan and others from the University of Pennsylvania, revolutionized substance abuse treatment and today are the most widely used assessment instruments in the field, nationally and internationally.
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