Substance Abuse Prevention Skills Training

Substance Abuse Prevention Skills Training: Building Our Behavioral Health Workforce

What is the Substance Abuse Prevention Skills Training (SAPST)?

Foundational course of study in substance abuse prevention

Innovative training that blends four-day, in-person component with interactive online unit

For entry-level prevention practitioners working in states, jurisdictions, tribes, and communities; also appropriate for professionals working in related fields

Grounded in current research and SAMHSA's Strategic Prevention Framework

Provides knowledge and skills to implement effective, data-driven prevention programs, practices, and policies that reduce behavioral health disparities and improve wellness

What does the SAPST prepare practitioners to do?

Address substance abuse prevention in the context of behavioral health

Improve practice by developing a comprehensive approach to prevention guided by SAMHSA's

Strategic Prevention Framework

Reduce behavioral health disparities by identifying the needs of vulnerable populations and

improving cultural competency

Sustain prevention by collaborating effectively across sectors to address shared risk factors and

Improve the health and well-being of communities in a cohesive way

What does the SAPST cover?

Introduction to Substance Abuse Prevention: Understanding the Basics (online)

Basic terminology and facts

History of substance use and prevention in the U.S.

Addiction and the brain

Effects and health risks of alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs

Setting the Foundation: From Theory to Practice (in-person)

Behavioral health

Institute of Medicine's Continuum of Care

Public health approach

Risk and protective factors

Developmental perspective

Application: SAMHSA's Strategic Prevention Framework (in-person)

Assessment, capacity, planning, implementation, and evaluation

Cultural competence, sustainability

Are continuing education hours available?

The IC&RC Prevention Committee has endorsed the new SAPST as an IC&RC-approved

curriculum. This endorsement provides assurance that the SAPST is applicable to IC&RC's

prevention specialist domains and can be used toward the education/training requirement for

IC&RC's Prevention Specialist credential.

The SAPST is also been approved by NAADAC, the Association for Addiction Professionals.

Participants completing the SAPST will receive a certificate for 31 hours of participation. They can submit these certificates to their credentialing authority toward certification or re-certification.