A Burlington drug addiction treatment center this week announced it will begin studying better ways to treat youth struggling with substance abuse, including opiate addiction, thanks to a five-year grant from the National Institutes of Health.
Spectrum Youth and Family Services will partner with researchers at Dartmouth College’s medical school to study youth seeking treatment at Spectrum.
The research grant has been in the works for months and its roll-out happened to coincide with Gov. Peter Shumlin’s State of the State address last week on opiate addiction, Spectrum staff said Wednesday.
In his speech, Shumlin called for immediate attention and more money for what he said is a skyrocketing number of people seeking treatment for opiate addiction in Vermont.
Spectrum for years has used techniques developed through research to treat substance abuse, but this grant will allow Spectrum to help further develop that research, said Annie Ramniceanu, a clinical medical health counselor, alcohol and drug counselor and associate executive director at Spectrum.
“We are really trying to blend research-based practices with community based settings,” she said.
Spectrum has begun enrolling youth in the program, known as the Teen Intervention Program for Substance Use, or TIPS, program, Ramniceanu said.
The grant is from the National Institute on Drug Abuse, a part of the National Institutes of Health.
The program will study youth 18 or younger who are struggling with substance abuse of any kind. It will combine weekly counseling and a “motivational incentive program that involves earning rewards for getting and staying abstinent,” according to a press release from Spectrum.
In addition, parents of youth will meet weekly with a counselor to develop a reward-and-consequence plan to motivate youth at home, Spectrum officials said in a press release.
The research program will also test whether a computer program can increase the chance that teens in treatment can stay clean.
Ramniceanu Wednesday said she did not know the exact amount of the grant, but it allowed Spectrum to hire a research assistant.
Among other things, the research will add memory training, because drug use is impulsive and compulsive, Ramniceanu said.
“Spectrum was selected to partner with Dartmouth because of their superior leadership and active use of the most effective treatment strategies available,’’ said Dr. Alan Budney, co-director of the Dartmouth Addiction Treatment and Research Program.
