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CNS 2016
December 05-07, 2016
Volume 7, Issue 5(Suppl) J Neurol Neurophysiol
ISSN: 2155-9562 JNN, an open access journal
conferenceseries .com
December 05-07, 2016 Dubai, UAE
2nd International Conference on
Central Nervous System Disorders & Therapeutics
Jennifer Harrison, J Neurol Neurophysiol 2016, 7:5(Suppl)
Co-occurring mental health and substance use disorders: Variables and stages of implementation
and sustainability
Jennifer Harrison
Western Michigan University, USA
Individuals with co-occurring illnesses are at risk for poor outcomes related to criminal justice, hospitalization, housing and
employment. Integrated Dual Disorder Treatment (IDDT) is an example of a complex evidence-based practice implemented
with a multi-disciplinary team including physicians, nurses, social workers and peers which is associated with significant
improvements in those outcomes. Evidence-based practices are not simple to implement and sustain however, and a research to
practice gap translates to barriers to timely implementation and sustainability of best practices. Barriers include time, resources
and readiness to implement and sustain best practices. The practice to research gap can also be wide, with discoveries in clinical
practice taking many years to be researched well so practices can evolve. A secondary data analysis of the implementation,
sustainability, and alteration of IDDT in an entire state in the United States was used to highlight these barriers and the ways to
overcome them are analyzed. In this large sample, IDDT took time to implement to a level of high fidelity, and was sustained
even with practice alteration of adding peers. Recommendations for staffing, funding, and policy are made in this study.
Generalizability to other best practice implementation in central nervous system disorders, and impact multi-disciplinary
team readiness and access are discussed.
Biography
Jennifer Harrison, PhD, LMSW, CAADC, is a Social Work Faculty Member in the College of Health and Human Services at Western Michigan University. She has
been in clinical and administrative practice for over 20 years, and has teaching expertise in direct practice, field education and social policy. She has designed
interprofessional courses and presented internationally on advanced quantitative analysis of mental health implementation. Her clinical work is focused on
integrated medical and behavioral health using evidence-based methods. Her research interests include social and economic justice, co-occurring mental health,
substance abuse, and medical needs among adults, peer services and food insecurity/sovereignty.