The Brown School has partnered with Preferred Family Healthcare in St. Louis to launch the Community Academic Partnership on Addiction (CAPA), a teaching, learning and research clinic aimed at combating the opioid epidemic and treating other substance use disorders.
“Our aim is to develop a system of shared resources for attacking this issue, in St. Louis and in the surrounding area,” said David Patterson Silver Wolf, associate professor at the Brown School and chief research officer at CAPA Clinic.
“We are creating an innovative, first of its kind community organization and social work school partnership that is similar to the models used by university hospitals and medical schools,” said Patterson Silver Wolf, an expert on substance use disorder treatment services.
In order to address the deficits in specialized substance use disorder trainings for social workers and public health students, the CAPA Clinic will offer practicum/internship opportunities for Brown School master and doctoral students as well as provide professional development trainings for the existing workforce.
“We will also be leveraging the latest sciences of substance use disorder treatment and incorporating into standard care performance-based measurement software developed by Takoda,” he said. Takoda is Patterson Silver Wolf’s recently founded startup aimed at improving therapist success and patient outcomes.
“We are trying to envision a future where community health programs and academics act as a single cooperative,” Patterson Silver Wolf said. “Well-developed and strong exchanges will serve as the link between teaching, learning and research. Brown School social work and public health students will be embedded in community health services working alongside and learning with the current workforce. It’s a win-win for all involved, especially for patients being served in the CAPA Clinic.”
The clinic is located at 4066 Dunnica Ave. in St. Louis. It serves individuals diagnosed with a substance use disorder and other associated behavioral disorders.