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The UCLA Integrated Substance Abuse Programs UCLA/ISAP, together with a group of leading drug treatment and rehabilitation institutions throughout the world, constitute the Training Consortium making the capacity building component of project GLO/H43.

The UCLA Integrated Substance Abuse Programs  is one of the three largest substance abuse research groups in the United States. With more than 180 researchers, clinicians, and support personnel, ISAP is led by Walter Ling, M.D. (ISAP Director), M. Douglas Anglin, Ph.D. and Richard Rawson, Ph.D. (ISAP Associate Director).

ISAP coordinates substance abuse research and treatment under authority of the Jane & Terry Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behaviour. The institute is a division of the UCLA Department of Psychiatry and Bio-behavioural Sciences, housed within the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA.

The Training Consortium is responsible to develop a capacity building plan and training package for drug abuse treatment and rehabilitation planners, managers and service providers in developing countries. It will provide advanced training (including training of trainers) for key staff from Resource Centres, and intermediate training for the remainder of the centres staff. Six weeks on-site training at an internationally recognized treatment centre for key staff members of resource centres shall also be organized in consultation with UNODC. The consortium involves experts on health service provision, drug abuse treatment management, clinical work, and evaluation as well as expertise in the development of training materials and the delivery of training in different regions, as well as experts with direct knowledge of treatment needs and circumstances in different regions of the world tol take part throughout the development of the capacity building plan.

Training Package

The training package consists of a set of modules to be developed taking into account and building on existing knowledge and expertise of participating Resource Centres. It will consider the range of backgrounds available at the Resource Centres so that the content and format of the training package can be adapted and tailored to developing countries' contexts but also be advanced and aimed at developing specific skills. As far as possible, the training package should be adaptable to cover specific needs in resource poor settings, such as provision of complex services by primary health providers (e.g. to HIV+ drug users) .

According with results of consultations with representatives of the resource centres it was decided that the content of the final capacity building package should include:

• Management (advocacy, communication, services planning, quality assurance, team building, staff management and supervision, data collection, monitoring and evaluation of treatment outcomes, administration and organizational change).
• Services provision (continuum of care from outreach to social reintegration, client assessment, case management, treatment modalities, pharmacological treatment-detoxification-maintenance, psychosocial treatment-evidence based counselling techniques i.e. motivational interviewing and CBT, services for special population groups such as women, youth, HIV positive clients, work with families, treatment in custodial settings, co-morbidity, HIV/AIDS prevention and care, rehabilitation and reintegration, referral and counter referral, follow up and relapse prevention).

The proposed core curriculum elements included the following:

• client assessment methods
• pharmacology
• psychosocial treatment approaches
• cognitive-behavioural interventions
• pharmacotherapies
• relapse prevention
• training methodologies

The training package shall be practical and contain hands on tools and strategies that stimulate and facilitate its use. It will   also consider the availability of infrastructures at resource when planning for training strategies as there might be limitations for the use of electronic equipment, specially in remote rural areas.

Capacity Building Plan

The capacity building plan will be developed on the basis of a training needs assessment that will provide accurate information about the centres' human resources competences and needs for further training. For the process of identification of the training needs, a wide range of service providers (nurses, doctors, volunteers, ex drug users, etc.) will be consulted in order to cater for their needs. The identification of key competencies is an essential element for capacity building.

The capacity building plan will also focus on the needs of the countries represented in the network, in particular those of the resource centres giving priority to the adaptation of existing knowledge to local needs and resources, in order to enhance its applicability.

Target Audience

The target audience for the capacity building initiative are drug treatment and rehabilitation services providers and trainers at various levels, working in governmental/non governmental drug treatment and rehabilitation centres from the 12 selected resource centres.

To identify trainees from each resource centre, a set of selection criteria will be used to define a profile and core competencies required. Potential target groups for training are:

• Trainers
• Dependence specialists (managers, physicians and psychiatrists, counsellors, psychologists, social workers, peer educators, outreach workers)
• Prison staff

After the implementation of the training component there will be an evaluation in order to determine the effectiveness and impact on knowledge, attitudes, and skills on those subject to the intervention.