Dr. Carise is an expert in the organization and delivery of treatment services in the nation’s substance abuse treatment system. Developer of the White House-funded DENS data collection, assessment and treatment support system, Dr. Carise designs data collection strategies and training programs helping counselors introduce and measure evidence-based practices in community-based substance abuse treatment, both here and abroad. Her

computer-assisted patient assessment and referral system, “CASPAR,” has been demonstrated to increase matching of patients to the auxiliary services they need for recovery.

Section Mission: Members of the Treatment Systems Section are a team of researchers,

scientists, and clinicians forging partnerships with treatment providers, payers and managers to increase the availability, accessibility and quality of substance abuse treatment through innovative, empirically derived training and technology-based interventions and information management strategies.

Policy Development: Projects undertaken in this Section have lead to policy changes at the state level with potentially far-reaching impact for the field at-large. In one state, Dr. Carise’s work has lead to new state-wide policies significantly reducing the paperwork burden that often takes many hours of treatment providers’ time. She has also assisted with projects to revise purchasing policies to reward programs for performance on pre-selected indicators. View Project Descriptions

Research and Evaluation: Dr. Carise and her team develop and evaluate systems that facilitate introduction of evidence-based practices at the provider level. A computer assisted referral system to facilitate patient assignment to free or low-cost wraparound services is under evaluation in two replication studies, and a statewide concurrent recovery monitoring system continues stepwise development and evaluation with assistance from staff in the Treatment Systems Section. In other projects, Treatment Systems staff are evaluating a tool kit to assist clinicians to use motivational enhancement techniques in group settings with minimal training; and in another project, a simplified, telephone-based continuing care protocol has been implemented and is being evaluated in a large system of care. View Selected Projects

Practice Improvement: All training and curriculum development at TRI take place within the Treatment Systems Section, where staff develop and deliver training programs teaching techniques of patient assessment, treatment planning, brief intervention, administration of the ASI and use of assessment instruments in the clinical process. View Selected Projects