Congratulations to Network of Practice Kindle winner: Jason Schwartz, Clinical Director, Dawn Farm, Ypsilanti, Michigan

NIATx and the ATTC Network launched a new website, The Network of Practice, in August 2014. The goal of the site is to create an online community where addiction treatment professionals can connect with each other and with researchers to discuss evidence-based practices.

During the months of August, September, and October, anyone who posts at least three is entered into a random drawing to win a Kindle Paperwhite. Jason Schwartz, Clinical Director of Dawn Farm in Ypsilanti, Michigan, was randomly selected as the August winner.

Dawn Farm began in 1973, originally as a therapeutic community. The organization offers long-term residential treatment, outpatient treatment, social detox, an outreach center and jail outreach.  It also runs several transitional housing sites. 

Residential clients perform daily chores taking care of Dawn Farms gardens and livestock that include goats, sheep, pigs, llamas, and turkeys.  

“What sets us apart is our mission is to identify the barriers that prevent people with addiction disorders from getting connected to the recovery community,” says Schwartz. “And fortunately, our area is blessed with a vibrant and diverse recovery community.”

Schwartz says having committed and passionate staff also sets Dawn Farm apart—and that shows in the low staff turnover: Dawn Farm was nominated a 2014 Detroit Free Press Top Workplace – for the sixth year in a row.

Schwartz posted to the Network of Practice forum on Screening, Brief Intervention, and Referral to Treatment (SBIRT) because he’s very interested in brief intervention for people who overdose.

“There’s been a lot of progress made in reversing heroin overdoses with Narcan, but not a lot of discussion about what to do afterwards,” says Schwartz. As in many other areas of the country, heroin has become the most widely abused drug in eastern Michigan.

For Schwartz, the SBIRT discussion on the Network of Practice was very enlightening, and he shared it with students in the class he teaches on social work practice and chemical dependency at Eastern Michigan University.

What will Schwartz be reading on his Kindle Paperwhite?

“I’m anxiously awaiting ebook versions of Jennifer Matesa’s The Recovering Body: Physical and Spiritual Fitness for Living Clean and Sober and Debra Jay’s It Takes A Family: A Cooperative Approach to Lasting Sobriety.”

Visit the Network of Practice today to check out the latest discussions in the Ask the Experts section. Anyone interested in EBPs for addiction treatment is welcome to log on to the site and post a question or a comment. And post at least three times during the month of October, and you could be our next winner.