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What is IRETA?
The Institute for Research, Education and Training in Addictions (IRETA) is a 501 (c)(3) established in 1999 with the vision to integrate knowledge and science with service so that every person has the opportunity to achieve wellness and maintain recovery from addiction. IRETA accomplishes its mission to improve the recognition, prevention, treatment, research and policy related to addiction and recovery by working with national, state, and local partners and providing:
- Accurate and timely dissemination of evidence-based information;
- Bidirectional exchange of constructive knowledge related to addiction and recovery; and
- Knowledge of addiction and recovery in a culturally competent manner
Who is IRETA's Target Audience?
IRETA focuses on providing information, technical assistance, and educational resources for policymakers, providers (prevention, treatment, recovery, and non-specialized healthcare workers who also provide substance use disorder care), educators, consumers and their families, and administrators. However, all materials can be accessed by anyone interested in the prevention of, treatment of, and recovery from alcohol or other drug dependence.
What Does IRETA Hope to Achieve?
IRETA's overall goals focus on influencing health care policy related to addictions, transferring research knowledge into practice, educating and training providers of addiction care, and acting as an advocate for the addictions field. In the short-term, IRETA provides special training on significant topics in the field, responds to requests for topic-specific trainings, and creates educational materials, all with the goal of improving the knowledge, skills, and attitudes of providers. In the long-term, IRETA works toward the consistent and sustained use of evidence-based practices, policies that support care which treat addiction as the chronic illness that it is, and the elimination of stigma related to addiction.
Why do we need IRETA?
In its 2001 report, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and Brandeis University labeled substance abuse as America's number one preventable public health problem. Despite the fact that addiction is a contributing or causal factor to many other chronic health conditions, medical and criminal justice costs from untreated substance use disorders cost the public millions of dollars every year, and that research indicates that treatment is the most cost-effective of all interventions; millions of people and their families continue to suffer from addiction. While there have been many scientific advances in the understanding of addiction and its treatment, this information has not been used to update policy and practice related to the illness. Although the divide between science and practice/policy is widely recognized, there are only a handful of organizations like IRETA in the country that specifically focus on bridging this gap. IRETA has and will continue to play a vital role in linking providers, policymakers, researchers, and other stakeholders to ultimately improve prevention, treatment, and recovery.
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