This toolkit helps service providers for the aging learn more about alcohol and medication misuse and mental illness among older adults. It provides tools such as a program coordinator’s guide, suggested curricula, and handouts, including screening tools to help identify problematic alcohol use and depression in older adults.

This iOS and Android app can be used to find nearby meetings of Alcoholics Anonymous, a peer support organization offering meetings across the country and around the world to help people who have a current or past problem with drinking. Meetings may help people with alcoholism or people in recovery from alcoholism to cope with distress in many situations, including after a disaster.

This pamphlet provides information on what may define a substance use problem and its relation to trauma. It also discusses the effects of substance misuse on traumatic stress, and how to approach treatment for people who are suffering from both.

This document reports on the findings of a project to understand issues in mental and substance use disorder services in rural areas. It covers barriers to mental health and substance use disorder service delivery, model programs and policy strategies, and the roles of telehealth and state and local organizations in service delivery in rural communities.

This report describes a study to identify promising practices for rural mental health and substance use-related programs across the United States. The report explains the importance of promising practices, defines and describes promising practices, and presents in Appendix C the programs included in the study.

Compatible with iPhone, iPad, and Android and BlackBerry devices, this app is designed to support responders in meeting the mental health and substance use-related (behavioral health) needs of disaster-affected communities. It can be used to access preparedness and response information and to find local behavioral health services for referrals.

The Substance Abuse Prevention and Treatment Block Grant provides funds and technical assistance to all 50 states, as well as a wide range of U.S. territories and a tribal entity. Grantees use the funds to plan, implement, and evaluate activities that prevent and treat substance use and promote public health. Although the program is noncompetitive, it runs on a 1-year term, and eligible entities must submit an application annually.

This study investigated experiences of people in a treatment program for dependence on opioids (e.g., heroin, Vicodin, OxyContin) in New York City around the time of Hurricane Sandy. Findings highlight how programs and individuals can and do adapt during hurricanes and other disasters to ensure ongoing management of addictions.

Part of the Psychological First Aid (PFA) Field Operations Guide, this handout provides information that disaster survivors can use to avoid misuse of alcohol, prescription medications, and other drugs after a disaster. It also provides tips for survivors in recovery to avoid relapse after a disaster.

This blog post discusses the importance of addressing issues related to opioid misuse and addiction as part of overall disaster preparedness, response, and recovery plans. It includes ways to plan for disruptions in treatment, as well as increases in illicit drug use.

This article describes research on the process and effects of merging, after Hurricane Sandy, of substance use disorder treatment programs in New York City to ensure continuity of care. Investigators interviewed healthcare practitioners in the programs to understand challenges and measures they took that proved successful in terms of patient retention and both patient and staff health and well-being following the hurricane.

This pamphlet provides information on what may define a substance use problem and its relation to trauma. It also discusses the effects of substance misuse on traumatic stress, and how to approach treatment for people with both traumatic stress and substance use issues or conditions.

This guide discusses barriers and challenges to accessing substance use disorder and mental health treatment services in rural communities. It also gives information on implementing telehealth as a method to increase access to services and the benefits of telehealth.

Designed for parents, teachers, and other school personnel, this web page highlights the role adults can play in intervening with children and youth at risk of suicide. It identifies risk factors and warning signs and offers tips on how adults can respond if they notice these factors in children or youth. Also discussed is the role of the school in suicide prevention.

This paper describes a survey of nearly 90 patients in a program in New York City for treatment of dependence on opioids when Hurricane Sandy struck the area.

This publication includes sections to help substance use counselors work with clients with suicidal thoughts and behaviors. It also includes information for administrators to help them ensure that their substance use treatment programs include components to support clients with suicidal thoughts and behaviors. The guide also features a literature review that has been updated since it was first developed.

Part of SAMHSA’s Technical Assistance Publication (TAP) series, this handbook provides programs that treat people with mental and substance use disorders with information and tools for disaster planning.

This issue of the SAMHSA Disaster Technical Assistance Center’s research newsletter discusses reactions children and youth may have to a natural disaster. It also describes a variety of mental health issues and mental disorders that may occur, as well as substance use and misuse issues among adolescents, and risk and protective factors.

This article presents an overview of how extreme weather events caused by climate change can cause increased stress and contribute to more serious mental health issues. It also identifies individuals who are more vulnerable to the adverse effects of climate change, including children and people with existing mental illness. Lastly, it considers the potential long-term mental health effects of climate change.

Funded by SAMHSA and administered by the American Psychiatric Association, this initiative aims to advance the use of a person-centered approach to care to ensure that people with serious mental illness (SMI) find the treatment and support they need. For clinicians, SMI Adviser offers access to education, data, and consultations to make evidence-based treatment decisions.

This fact sheet can be used by anyone preparing for or responding to the mental health consequences of disasters.

This web page provides an overview of how a disaster or traumatic event may affect a person with serious mental illness (SMI) differently because of the way he or she experiences a disaster. It also offers information that suggests that people with SMI are more likely to develop posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) following disasters than people without SMI.

This resource is a curriculum for people who will be serving as peer specialists, or those with lived experience of recovery from mental illness or substance use disorders who provide support to people currently experiencing mental illness or substance use disorders.

Part of SAMHSA’s Treatment Improvement Protocol (TIP) series, this manual provides best-practice guidelines for practitioners offering mental health and substance use disorder treatment services to individuals experiencing homelessness. It defines types of intervention and prevention, stages of recovery, and forms of treatment through discussion and vignettes, as well as a literature review.

This website provides information on Screening, Brief Intervention, and Referral to Treatment, which it describes as "an approach to the delivery of early intervention and treatment to people with substance use disorders and those at risk of developing these disorders."