information for practice

Leaders in the therapeutic community (TC) model of treatment have identified a critical need for entry- level staff training in the basics of the TC model. 1 In response, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s Center for Substance Abuse Treatment (CSAT) convened an expert panel in 2000 to serve as a planning committee for a generic TC curriculum (TCC) and to provide guidance during its development (see appendix A for a list of expert panel members and appendix B for a list of other contributors). This document is the result of that collaboration. TCs have evolved to serve an ever- increasing range of special populations with substance use disorders, including women with children, older adults, adolescents, people with co-occurring mental disorders, people with HIV/AIDS, people who are homeless, and people involved with the criminal justice system. In addition, the TC approach has been passed down rather informally through succeeding generations of TC program staff, allowing a shift away from the foundations of the TC model and necessitating a concrete and standardized method of training both clinical and nonclinical staff.