SYSTEMS CHANGE CENTER

In In 1997, PROTOTYPES established its Systems Change Center to help communities and community agencies design, implement, operate, and evaluate integrated systems of care that address mental health, substance abuse, trauma and violence, and health, including HIV/AIDS. System change is urgently needed to promote more effective partnerships among service agencies and to implement innovative service models. The major goals of the PROTOTYPES Systems Change Center are to: identify gaps in services and develop integrated approaches to respond more effectively to men, women, and children with co-occurring disorders; provide technical assistance, using both local and national experts, to assist communities in implementing state-of-the-art interventions; convene new networks of policy makers, practitioners, researchers, and consumers from mental health, substance abuse, HIV/AIDS, trauma services, and primary health care to define new directions and strategies; create a comprehensive database providing easy access for practitioners to empirical research, descriptions of innovative programs, and key resources; develop and disseminate practice guidelines for serving individuals with multiple vulnerabilities; and foster new policies on key issues affecting treatment.

Recently, PROTOTYPES Systems Change Center was involved in the following projects:

· PROTOTYPES was one of nine sites in the country participating in the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services (SAMHSA) National Women with Co-Occurring Disorders and Trauma Study. The effectiveness of an integrated, trauma-informed approach to the treatment of co-occurring disorders (COD) was evaluated at the Los Angeles site. In addition, PROTOTYPES Women's Center was one of four sites in the country that participated in SAMHSA's National Study of Children of Women with Co-Occurring Disorders and Trauma. For this study, PROTOTYPES designed a trauma-informed substance abuse and mental health preventive intervention for children 5 to 10 years of age.

· PROTOTYPES, in collaboration with The Measurement Group, conducted a 3-year project, the STAR Project, to implement process improvement techniques in substance abuse treatment programs, with the goals of making services more consumer-friendly and thus increasing access to and retention in care. The Project is part of the National Network for the Improvement of Addiction Treatment (NIATx), a partnership between The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's Path to Recovery Program, the Center for Substance Abuse Treatment's Strengthening Treatment Access and Retention (STAR) program, and a number of independent addiction treatment organizations.

PROTOTYPES Systems Change Center is currently involved in the following projects:

· National Trauma Consortium (NTC). PROTOTYPES serves as the administrative agency for the National Trauma Consortium, which provides consultation, training, and technical assistance to national and state organizations, states, counties, community-based organizations, and other groups in the development and enhancement of services for individuals with mental health and substance abuse problems and histories of physical and/or sexual abuse, and in the development and evaluation of a wide variety of trauma programs and policies. The NTC has three primary goals: (1) to refine and enhance existing service models; (2) to promote knowledge utilization and evidence-based practices through the replication and adaptation of demonstrated approaches; and (3) to expand and enhance empirical understanding about services and supports for trauma survivors with mental health and/or substance abuse problems. The NTC is the only national group with clinical, programmatic, and administrative expertise in addressing trauma, mental health, and substance abuse, three major interrelated issues confronting individuals, families, and society. No other group has the same scope or the same depth and breadth of expertise grounded in empirically supported practice. For more information about the NTC, please visit www.nationaltraumaconsortium.org.

· HOPE & HOME: An Initiative to Strengthen At-Risk and Homeless Youth Mothers and Their Children. PROTOTYPES, Foothill Family Services, and four Unified School District Child Development Programs, together with the County of Los Angeles Departments of Mental Health and Children and Family Services, have implemented HOPE & HOME, an integrated, trauma-informed, comprehensive, and innovative model of service delivery and integration that incorporates housing, child development, substance abuse, mental health, domestic violence, and wraparound services to assist homeless and at-risk young mothers and their children. This initiative is funded by the Hilton Foundation through the National Center on Homelessness. PROTOTYPES, the lead agency for the initiative for Service Planning Area 3 (SPA 3), provides coordination and overall administrative responsibility for the initiative as well as housing, substance abuse, mental health, domestic violence, and training services. By strengthening individual and family functioning, providing safe and adequate housing, and enhancing collaboration between provider and county agencies, HOPE &HOME will serve as a catalyst to bring about systems change in the homelessness and child development arenas.

For information on PROTOTYPES Systems Change Center, please contact Cassandra Loch, Chief Executive Officer, at 310-641-7795.