Substance abuse and dependence are public health concerns. Although research has provided many promising opportunities for reducing the impact of substance abuse our community has not fully embraced the need to reduce the impact. Substance abuse continues to be a primary factor in human suffering and loss, crime, loss of productivity in the workforce, and high costs to the individual, family, employers, tax payers, and our society. Substance abuse in Travis County is a reappearing theme in other Community Action Network health and human service issue areas and is identified as a priority issue area that impacts our community's well being.

• Utilize the Substance Abuse Planning Partnership (SAPP) to formulate policy initiatives that will overcome barriers to establishing a more effective delivery system. An improved system will be characterized by preventive and rehabilitative approaches and a finance structure responsive to needs.
  • Develop a proposal for establishing a mechanism to allow funding decisions to be made on a local level rather than regional or state levels.
  • Reduce gaps in prevention services.
  • Increase after school activities.
• Increase capacity for substance abuse services. Collaborate with the Integrated Care Collaboration and other health care initiatives to identify and implement innovative financing structures for both primary and behavioral health care for uninsured persons. Identify opportunities to utilize approaches for integrating substance abuse screening, prevention/intervention and treatment services with primary care when appropriate.
  • Fully fund 24 detoxification beds (5-7 days) · Fully fund 150 residential treatment beds (14-90 days)
  • Fully fund outpatient services for 300 (90-120 days)
  • Establish specialized substance abuse crisis stabilization, assessment and referral services.
    • Reduce substance abuse treatment waiting times for special populations (dually diagnosed, elderly, HIV+, offenders, pregnant and parenting women, and youth.)
    • Reduce inappropriate use of emergency rooms and jails by persons with chemical dependency
• Conduct inventory of current efforts and develop a plan for coordination of community-wide prevention/intervention and treatment activities resulting in agreement about common outcome measures to increase accountability, efficiency, and effectiveness. Utilize trend and outcome data to align resources and minimize fragmentation within the service delivery system.
  • Develop a coordinated community prevention plan, including relating plan items to root causes of substance abuse.
  • Establish local coordinator of prevention services position.
• Increase outreach activities to parents, teachers, and physicians and target populations likely to be uninsured, at risk of substance experimentation, use, and abuse. Develop new opportunities to meet the needs of those at risk of involvement with the criminal justice system but not yet adjudicated to interrupt patterns of substance abuse and incarceration.
  • Streamline processes to ensure client qualification for multiple services is completed at one time.
  • Develop a common intake, eligibility and referral data set.
• Implement best practices as well as a system of accountability. Develop uniform outcome measures across providers to identify trends, efficiencies, and effective use of resources for youth; adults, and special populations thereby ensuring community investments are used most wisely. Incorporate cultural competencies in all best practice activities.
  • Identify, for this community, the costs of prevention and treatment best practices.
  • Develop community-based strategies for disseminating information on best practices.
  • Establish a substance abuse web site to include best practice information.
  • Host a best practice conference to address local needs and current efforts.
• Develop a focused public education campaign using multiple venues to communicate that substance abuse disorders are conditions to be treated rather than punished and that economic wisdom supports treatment. Collaborate with local chambers of commerce and other employer organizations to provide substance abuse education to employers about the benefit of treatment. This activity will reduce stigma and denial through using a web page, forums, and public speaking presentations to employers, civic organizations, schools, and the general public.

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