Gosnold Receives Grant to Participate in National Project to Improve Substance Abuse Treatment

Gosnold, Inc., the Cape's largest provider of substance abuse and mental health treatment, announced today that the organization has been selected to participate with nine other treatment sites in a national program of The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The project, called Paths to Recovery, is a unique learning collaborative designed to improve access and retention in substance abuse treatment.

"We are very excited to join with colleagues from across the country to participate in this important project", said Raymond Tamasi, Gosnold's President/CEO. "Our staff worked very hard on the grant proposal and it is a credit to them that they were rewarded for their efforts. We learned that nearly 350 programs submitted proposals and to be among the ten selected for participation is a great accomplishment. The $215,000, 18-month grant award will be used for training and the use of expert consultants who will work with our staff to improve our ability to continue to meet the treatment needs of our community." The treatment sites selected are leading providers in the field who have been making innovative changes in their own organizations. By redesigning processes such as patient intake, assessment, scheduling, outreach, and family involvement, the Paths to Recovery goal is to create a more efficient system that is less frustrating for both patients and staff, and that makes it easier for patients to complete treatment.

Nationally, fewer than one in four people addicted to alcohol or other drugs receive treatment, and as many as half of those who do successfully access care leave treatment before its full benefit can be realized. There are three main reasons for this, explains David Gustafson, director of the Paths to Recovery initiative. "For some the issue is finances, for others the issue is readiness. But we've found that often the real issue keeping patients from treatment is the way that services are delivered, and this is the issue each organization participating in the Paths to Recovery program is addressing."

Paths to Recovery is a national initiative of The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation designed to strengthen the substance abuse field's ability to improve the care processes that facilitate patient access to and retention in treatment programs.

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, based in Princeton, N.J., is the nation's largest philanthropy devoted exclusively to health and health care. It concentrates its grantmaking in four goal areas: to assure that all Americans have access to quality health care at reasonable cost; to improve the quality of care and support for people with chronic health conditions; to promote healthy communities and lifestyles; and to reduce the personal, social and economic harm caused by substance abuse - tobacco, alcohol and illicit drugs.