Contact a local community-based agency that delivers substance abuse treatment services to adjudicated populations. Speak to either a therapist or administrator in the organization. During your interview, assess whether the agency is using an empirically-supported treatment or intervention approach or some other approach. Inquire and assess their recidivism rates to compare effectiveness in comparison with other models. Describe in detail the model used by the agency, the rationale for their adoption of that particular model (e.g., evidence based, practical, popular with this particular population, bilingual, etc.), and compare the model adopted by the agency to another one you read about in your texts. Provide hypotheses indicating the extent of effort involved if the agency were to adopt a model other than the one currently using (e.g., training involved, ease of implementation, potential results and impact, etc.).
