Helping organizations address substance use impact since 2012.
Massachusetts Screening, Brief Intervention, and Referral to Treatment Training & Technical Assistance (MASBIRT TTA) provides training, coaching, and implementation and systems change consultation for healthcare, behavioral health, human service, public health and education professionals statewide.
MASBIRT TTA equips individuals and organizations to address unhealthy substance use with people they serve. Training and technical assistance work to:
- develop protocols and best practices
- enhance motivation through effective communication
- reinforce healthy behaviors, provide education, and anticipate challenges
- negotiate goal setting
- connect with the continuum of care for substance use
Learning is practice-based and applied to the setting and factors that impact change.
In order to change, people need to feel heard and understood, in control of their own decisions, and confident that they can do it.
Mission statement
Through a collaborative team approach, MASBIRT TTA’s mission is to provide skills training and tailored implementation support focused on empowering service providers to identify substance use risk and have collaborative conversations. We work to recognize the dignity of people being served and encourage practices modeled on harm reduction and motivational interviewing principles to promote health, wellbeing, equity and inclusion.
Who we are
Alex Heinz, LICSW, MPH
Training Manager
Alex leads the delivery of MASBIRT TTA services by overseeing organizational implementation projects, and managing the design, development and provision of training. She strives to transform the way organizations carry out prevention and early intervention approaches to substance use by ensuring high quality training and support that aligns with current standards in SBIRT and Motivational Interviewing. Alex’s clinical experience as a social worker within a variety of settings helps to inform how this work can be adapted to fit the unique context of each organization served.
Julia Bentley, MPH
Senior Project Coordinator
Julia manages all the curriculum, evaluation, operational, and administrative activities for MASBIRT TTA. Additionally, she oversees and monitors the development of the program’s training and implementation procedures and protocols. She has over 10 years of experience between the the fields of mental health treatment and substance use prevention. Julia enjoys learning about educational design and delivery, and is dedicated to applying well thought out instructional design to our ever-evolving course curriculum.
Angela Cooper, ATR-BC, LCAT
Consultant: MI Trainer
Angela is a consultant trainer for MASBIRT TTA focusing on in depth Motivational Interviewing training for practitioners and supervisors/coaches. Angela is a licensed Art Therapist with 15 years’ experience working in community based organizations in New York and Boston as well as a MINT member with experience training human service providers from CBOs, health and mental health facilities, city and state agencies, schools and more in MI and other treatment modalities. Angela is committed to working with organizations and teams to implement a sustainable MI practice.
Alissa Cruz, MPH
Program Director
Alissa leads the team in strategic planning and development to meet the needs of systems, organizations and individual learners. She has over 25 years of experience in the field of substance use and has been leading SBIRT efforts for over 15 years. Alissa enjoys learning new perspectives and creating connections between fields that build opportunities for more responsive and responsible systems of care.
Daniel P. Alford, MD, MPH, FACP, FASAM
Medical Director
Dan provides oversight and guidance for the program and conducts trainings for medical personnel. He is a Professor of Medicine and Associate Dean for Continuing Medical Education at the Boston University School of Medicine. He has directed multiple federally funded training projects that focus in the areas of substance use disorder, FASD, and safe and competent opioid prescribing for chronic pain.
Our history
MA Department of Public Health Bureau of Substance Addiction Services (BSAS) has continuously funded MASBIRT TTA since 2012 to build statewide capacity to establish SBIRT practice as a standard of care in diverse healthcare, behavioral health, social service, public health and educational settings throughout Massachusetts. Prior to MASBIRT TTA being funded in 2012, the team implemented the SAMHSA funded state SBIRT grant administered through BSAS that provided direct SBIRT services in 3 hospitals and 5 community health centers. This program was the foundation for the training and TA programs developed for MASBIRT TTA.
Timeline
- 2006 SAMHSA funded BSAS to form MASBIRT (SBIRT in healthcare)
- 2010 BSAS names SBIRT as a priority in their strategic plan
- 2011 Over 173,000 SBIRT encounters to talk about substance use
- 2012 MASBIRT TTA gets BSAS contract to build capacity for SBIRT implementation
- 2016 Over 10,000 trained
- 2017 MASBIRT TTA gets BSAS contract
- 2019 Over 20,000 trained
- 2020 In response to COVID-19 pandemic, all services converted to virtual offerings
- 2022 MASBIRT TTA gets BSAS contract to continue work on in person, live virtual, and asynchronous training modalities
Sample our curriculum
Interested in finding out more, check out one of our courses to learn a new skill or gain a new perspective. Connect with us to discuss your goals for change.
