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Table of Contents

Principles of Health: Pain Management

Center for Substance Abuse Treatment (CSAT)

by Margaret Ring Gillock, , MS,, Marianne Moss Madsen, , MS

CATEGORY: Therapy or Technique

Background

For 18 years, the Center for Substance Abuse Treatment (CSAT) was a program of the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), which was responsible both for overseeing research related to substance use disorders and for delivery of services to patients. When NIDA became part of the National Institutes of Health in 1992, its focus shifted entirely to research. CSAT and the Center for Substance Abuse Prevention became responsible for delivering services to patients.

Mission and Goals

CSAT’s initiatives and programs are based on research findings and the general consensus of experts in the field of addiction. For most people, treatment and recovery work best in a community-based, coordinated system of comprehensive services. Because no single treatment approach is effective for everyone, CSAT supports efforts to provide multiple treatment modalities, evaluate treatment effectiveness, and use evaluation results to enhance treatment and recovery approaches.

Advisors

CSAT’s national advisory council was established under Section 502 of the Public Health Service Act (1944) and was originally chartered on December 9, 1992, in keeping with public law. The council advises, consults with, and offers recommendations to the US Secretary of Health, the SAMHSA (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration) administrator, and the CSAT director concerning issues relating to the activities done by and through the center and to the policies related to such events.

The advisory council can, on the basis of evidence provided, make recommendations to the director of CSAT concerning actions conducted there. The council reviews applications submitted for grants and cooperative agreements for activities requiring council permission; it also recommends for approval applications for projects that show promise of making valuable contributions to CSAT’s mission. Furthermore, the council can consider any grant proposal made by the organization itself.

The advisory council collects material about studies and services that are ongoing in the United States or other countries that relate to the issues of substance misuse and mental illness. The council also examines material on issues linked to diseases, disorders, or other aspects of human health that relate to the mission of SAMHSA and its programs.

The director of CSAT permits the council to make such information available through publications for the benefit of public and private health entities, health professions personnel, and the general public. The council may appoint subcommittees and convene workshops and conferences. Management and support services for the council are provided by the center.

Programs

CSAT programs include a treatment helpline (1-800-662-HELP) and National Recovery Month, which promotes the societal benefits of treatment for substance use and mental disorders, celebrates people in recovery, lauds the contributions of treatment providers, and promotes the message that recovery is possible. National Recovery Month spreads the message that behavioral health is essential to overall health, that prevention works, that treatment is effective, and that people can and do recover.

Another CSAT service is the Behavioral Health Treatment Services Locator, an online resource for locating drug and alcohol use disorder treatment programs. The locator lists private and public facilities that are licensed, certified, or otherwise approved for inclusion by their respective state’s substance use disorders agency. It also lists treatment facilities administered by the US Department of Veterans Affairs, the US Indian Health Service, and the US Department of Defense.

References

1 

Center for Substance Abuse Treatment. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, 23 Aug. 2017, www.samhsa.gov/about-us/who-we-are/offices-centers/csat.

Citation Types

Type
Format
MLA 9th
Gillock, Margaret Ring, and Marianne Moss Madsen. "Center For Substance Abuse Treatment (CSAT)." Principles of Health: Pain Management, edited by Michael A. Buratovich, Salem Press, 2020. Salem Online, online.salempress.com/articleDetails.do?articleName=POHPain_0125.
APA 7th
Gillock, M. R., & Madsen, M. M. (2020). Center for Substance Abuse Treatment (CSAT). In M. A. Buratovich (Ed.), Principles of Health: Pain Management. Salem Press.
CMOS 17th
Gillock, Margaret Ring and Madsen, Marianne Moss. "Center For Substance Abuse Treatment (CSAT)." Edited by Michael A. Buratovich. Principles of Health: Pain Management. Hackensack: Salem Press, 2020. Accessed September 19, 2025. online.salempress.com.