Screening, Brief Intervention, and Referral to Treatment

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 SBIRT is a comprehensive, integrated public health model designed to provide universal screening, secondary prevention (detecting risky or hazardous substance use before the onset of abuse or dependence), early intervention, and timely referral and treatment for people who have specialty substance use disorder (SUD). SBIRT screens all patients regardless of an identified disorder, allowing healthcare professionals in a variety of settings to address the spectrum of such behavioral health problems even when the patient is not actively seeking an intervention or treatment for his or her problems.

 In Screening, Brief Intervention, and Referral to Treatment, Participants will learn about the core elements of screening, brief intervention, brief treatment, and referral to treatment (SBIRT) programs. Additionally, Participants will become familiar with general information relevant to implementing SBIRT services, including: the effectiveness of SBIRT; the various implementation models; the different challenges and barriers to implementation; cost and sustainability problems; and a look at two case examples—the Washington State Screening, Brief Intervention, Referral, and Treatment (WASBIRT) program and New Mexico’s SBIRT program.

This course is intended to provide important information regarding Systems-Level Implementation of Screening, Brief Intervention, and Referral to Treatment (SBIRT) for mental health professionals, social workers, substance abuse professionals, child welfare workers, healthcare professionals, psychologists, or certified addiction specialists.

Course Objectives: 

• To learn about the basic principles of SBIRT
• To become familiar with the effectiveness of SBIRT
• To consider SBIRT implementation models
• To identify the significant challenges and barriers to implementation of SBIRT
• To understand the cost and sustainability issues associated with SBIRT
• To explore two case examples—the WASBIRT program and New Mexico’s SBIRT program