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Fact Sheet
A Project to Establish A More Welcoming System of Integrated Treatment*
for People with Co-occurring Disorders (COD) in
Mental Health and Substance Abuse Treatment Centers in Maine
A two-year project of the Co-occurring Collaborative of Southern Maine funded by the Maine Health Access Foundation and the Office of Substance Abuse
*Integrated treatment is a model in which one clinician or treatment team provides mental health and substance abuse
services without prioritizing treatment for one disorder over the other. It promotes individualized interventions,
inspiring a clinician to advance beyond traditional approaches to treat effectively both mental health and substance use
issues at the same time.
Project Summary
This two-year project establishes the Institute for Quality Behavioral Health Care, a collaboration of
mental health and substance use providers, administrators, payors, and advocates which will focus
concurrently on two areas:
1) Removing structural barriers to integrated treatment for co-occurring disorders (COD) including at the
policy, funding, regulatory, contracting, training, and program levels.
2) Developing or enhancing integrated programs for co-occurring disorders (COD) in ten treatment centers
throughout Maine through technical assistance, support, and evaluation.
This project expands on a federal community action grant awarded in 2002 by the Substance Abuse and
Mental Health Service Administration (SAMHSA) to the Maine Department of Behavioral and
Developmental Services. That grant was used to build consensus for the integration of substance abuse and
mental health services among key stakeholders using a model called the Comprehensive Continuous
Integrated Systems of Care (CCISC) Model.
Funding
The two-year-project is funded with approximately $200,000 by the Maine Health Access Foundation and
$60,000 from the Office of Substance Abuse through training sub-contracts with AdCare Educational
Institute of Maine and the CCSME, for a total of $260,000. The grants are matched by significant in-kind
contributions from project partners.
Problem statement
Co-occurring disorders are common, they affect from 7 to 10 million adults in the US each year. Youth also
may experience co-occurring disorders. According to the US Surgeon General report “Forty-one to 65
percent of individuals with a lifetime substance abuse disorder also have a lifetime history of at least one
mental disorder, and about 51 percent of those with one or more lifetime mental disorders also have a
lifetime history of at least one substance abuse disorder.”
When one co-occurring disorder goes untreated, both usually worsen. Complications arise which result in
serious medical, psychological and social problems such as HIV, Hepatitis B and C, and cardiac and
pulmonary disease, suicide, unemployment, homelessness, incarceration, and alienation from help and
support of family and friends. Consequently, people with COD often require high cost services such as
emergency room care, hospitalization, and a range of social services.
People with co-occurring disorders need complex, comprehensive, integrated treatment which most do not
receive. They historically have received parallel or sequential treatment from separate mental health and
substance abuse services.