The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) has funded the Native Center for Alcohol Research and Education (NCARE) devoted to working with Native communities across the United States to co-create and evaluate interventions that address alcohol problems. This Center will be led by Dedra Buchwald, MD, founding Director of Washington State University’s Partnerships for Native Health (P4NH), and will have contributions from department faculty. Dennis Donovan, PhD, will co-lead the NCARE dissemination core and serve as a member of the pilot projects core. Richard Ries, MD, will serve as co-investigator on the training core.

Three primary projects will be contained within the Center, including one co-led by Susan Collins, PhD, and her husband, Lonnie Nelson, PhD, who is a clinical psychologist, Native health researcher and co-director of P4NH. Additionally, Seema Clifasefi, PhD, will serve as a co-investigator on the project, and two Harm Reduction Research and Treatment (HaRRT) Center employees, Victor King and Tatiana Ubay, will serve as research coordinators. Researchers will be partnering with the Seattle Indian Health Board to adapt and evaluate the integration of the HaRRT Center’s harm-reduction approach to alcohol use disorder (AUD) and the Native tradition of the talking circle. A talking circle is a gathering of people with a common concern who respectfully share their perspectives and “listen with their heart” while each individual speaks. Traditionally, talking circles have been used to address community problems, help in healing, and bring about community harmony.

Using a community based participatory research approach, an advisory board that is made up of researchers, traditional Native healers, providers at SIHB, and urban American Indians and Alaska Natives with lived experience of AUD will help shape and implement the study. Participants will be patients with AUD who receive primary care and behavioral health services at the Seattle Indian Health Board.

Drs. Collins and Nelson also recently provided a training on harm-reduction treatment for substance use disorders at the 7th Annual Northwest Tribal Opioid Symposium hosted by the Muckleshoot Tribe in November. Most Washington and some Idaho, Montana, Oregon and Alaska Tribes come to this annual event which Dr. Ries helped develop and annually facilitates together with the Muckleshoot Tribe.