Another Way Of Talking About Substance Abuse: Substance Abuse Screening And Brief Intervention In A Mental Health Clinic

This article provides experiential evidence on the transportability of the Alcohol, Smoking, and Substance Involvement Screening Test (ASSIST) screening tool and brief intervention in a mental health clinic. There is very little published information on implementing screening and brief intervention (SBI) in a mental health setting. Moreover, few SBI projects have reported on clinicians' experiences using the ASSIST. The article documents a successful attempt at implementing the ASSIST and discusses the benefits and challenges of doing SBI in a mental health setting.