Division on Addiction, Cambridge Health Alliance and Responsibility.org Launch Groundbreaking Program to Identify Mental Health and Substance Use Disorders Among Drunk Drivers

Washington, D.C., June 21, 2017 --

Today the Division on Addiction, Cambridge Health Alliance, a teaching affiliate of Harvard Medical School, and Responsibility.org announced a new program to identify often undiagnosed mental health and substance use issues affecting drunk drivers, especially repeat drunk drivers. The Computerized Assessment and Referral System (CARS) is a first-of-its-kind screening and assessment tool for use in DUI intervention and treatment, specifically targeting the underlying mental health conditions often found in drivers with multiple DUI arrests and convictions. The screening and assessment tool is tied to a report generator accompanied by a referral database.  

“Conditions like attention deficit disorder or anxiety may not initially appear to be connected to a DUI offense, but are often found in repeat offenders,” said Responsibility.org President and CEO Ralph Blackman, noting that recent studies have found an important link between repeat offenders and the existence of substance use disorders and undiagnosed, untreated mental health disorders. “The CARS tool quickly and easily identifies offender issues that will assist practitioners in making appropriate sentencing, supervision and treatment decisions for DUI offenders.”

The free online screening and assessment tool is easy to use and understand. CARS has three versions: A self-screening tool, a screening tool that can be administered by clinicians and non-clinicians, and a full assessment tool. CARS generates immediate personalized diagnostic reports that contain information about a client’s mental health profile, a summary of risk factors, and targeted referrals to treatment services within the individual’s geographic area that match his or her needs.

“This tool was developed to assist practitioners in their efforts to examine the mental health and substance use challenges facing repeat drunk driving offenders. With that guidance in hand the right course of treatment and sanctions can then be determined,” said Howard Shaffer, PhD, the Morris E. Chafetz Associate Professor of Psychiatry in the Field of Behavioral Sciences at Harvard Medical School and the Director of the Division on Addiction at the Cambridge Health Alliance.

CARS was piloted last year in courts and treatment settings in California, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.  “The CARS tool identified previously undiagnosed conditions that likely have contributed to repeat DUI behavior. The CARS tool will help offenders get the treatment they need to stop their dangerous behavior, thereby saving lives on our roads,” said Dr. Shaffer.

To learn more about the CARS tool, please visit www.CARStrainingcenter.org

###

About the Foundation for Advancing Alcohol Responsibility

The Foundation for Advancing Alcohol Responsibility (Responsibility.org) is a national not-for-profit that leads the fight to eliminate drunk driving and underage drinking and is funded by the following distillers: Bacardi U.S.A., Inc.; Beam Suntory Inc.; Brown-Forman; Constellation Brands, Inc.; DIAGEO; Edrington; Hood River Distillers, Inc.; and Pernod Ricard USA. Recognizing 25 years of impact, Responsibility.org has transformed countless lives through programs that bring individuals, families and communities together to guide a lifetime of conversations around alcohol responsibility and offering proven strategies to stop impaired driving. To learn more, please visit us at www.responsibility.org.

About the Morris E. Chafetz Professorship at Cambridge Health Alliance and Harvard Medical School

In 2015, the Foundation for Advancing Alcohol Responsibility endowed a professorship at Cambridge Health Alliance and Harvard Medical School in honor of Morris E. Chafetz, a renowned pioneer in the field of alcohol abuse. Dr. Chafetz was the first director of the National Institute for Alcoholism and Alcohol Abuse (NIAAA) in 1970 and gained national recognition as a member of the National Commission Against Drunk Driving. Chafetz established a progressive alcoholism clinic at Massachusetts General Hospital in the 1950s after his early clinical experiences convinced him that alcoholism was not a crime or a personal failing but rather a disease requiring treatment. Howard Shaffer is the first incumbent to the Morris E. Chafetz Professorship.

Attachments:

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/8ef21e76-6145-4686-a0a6-f4c3a1e9da34

Attachments:

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/48ccabe2-7ae3-4980-808a-db25f7d43af2

Georgia Cassady
Responsibility.org
2023551947
[email protected]