What We Do | Jointogether.org

Support advocacy for sound alcohol and drug programs and policies

Through online campaigns, partnerships with other organizations, direct technical assistance and the development of research-based policy proposals we help professionals and activists throughout the country work for more effective policies. Sign up to join us and stay informed about opportunities for action in your state.

Provide information for professionals and lay leaders

Join Together is the major provider of current news, research and funding opportunities for people working in the fields of tobacco, alcohol and drug prevention and treatment. Our website, www.jointogether.org, carries up to 15 new items a day and provides in depth information on virtually all tobacco, drug and alcohol issues. More than 150,000 individuals use the site every month. Join Together’s free daily and weekly newsletters and online learning communities have become an essential tool for many of the leading professionals in the public and private sectors. Join Together’s daily news service also appears in syndicated form on hundreds of additional web-sites. Learn more about how your web site can use this service.

Provide technical assistance for developing and measuring sound strategies to prevent and reduce alcohol and drug problems

National surveys conducted by Join Together show that communities with written alcohol and drug strategies based on accurate local information are more successful than communities that rely only on national data or the loudest voices. Through Indicatorshandbook.org, Join Together supports a learning community that enables local and state leaders to collect, analyze and report accurate local information. These same tools can be used to measure the success or failure of local initiatives to prevent or reduce problems. Learn more and order a free copy of the indicators handbook, How Do We Know We are Making a Difference.

Join Together publishes materials that lay and professional leaders can use for strategic planning and implementation. View a current publication list and order free copies.

Sponsor national policy panels to study and recommend changes in public and private policies

Public and private policies are often major impediments to progress in preventing or reducing alcohol and drug problems. Join Together creates panels of distinguished national and local leaders to study the research on particularly important issues, hold hearings to get input from people throughout the country, and recommend new policies that will be more effective. (More information)

In 2006, a panel chaired by former Gov Michael Dukakis developed a new blueprint for how states should organize their alcohol and drug agencies and policies. A panel to review and make recommendations that will lead to the rapid dissemination of screening and brief intervention programs throughout the medical and social service systems will also be active this year.

Convene and partner with local and national groups to promote science-based solutions to alcohol and drug problems

A key question in the strategic planning information we provide to communities is “Who else in town can you get to work with you?” We try to practice what we preach by using our convening role to encourage national and local groups to work together to promote science-based strategies. The Demand Treatment! partnerships, which we fostered in 27 communities throughout the country, achieved significant success in developing new screening programs in health settings, expanding access to treatment, increasing the money available for screening and treatment, and changing insurance coverage policies.

Drug Courts, special programs for non-violent offenders that focus on treatment and reintegration rather than incarceration, are growing rapidly throughout the country. Join Together, as the secretariat for the New England Association of Drug Court Professionals, has helped to expand and improve these services in this region.

As a partner with Physicians and Lawyers for National Drug Policy, Join Together works with leaders in the key national medical and lawyers associations to get doctors and lawyers at the local level more directly involved in changing policies that prevent their patients and clients from getting the help they need for alcohol and drug problems.

Help individuals and families with tobacco, alcohol and drug problems

Join Together and the Partnership for a Drug Free America have published an online guide of effective actions families can take when confronted with serious alcohol or drug problems. This resource also provides information and links to groups and treatment agencies throughout the country.

Join Together sponsored the development of an effective and popular smoking cessation program, QuitNet, to help individuals quit smoking. The basic QuitNet service is available free to any smoker. In 2005 more than 1.3 million individuals visited Quitnet.com and more than 100,000 used the program to help themselves quit.

Many people who drink alcohol wonder how their own drinking patterns may be affecting their health. To help answer this important question, Join Together developed and supports a free, anonymous online alcohol screening program, www.alcoholscreening.org This program uses a scientifically validated set of 12 questions to measure the health consequences of an individual’s drinking pattern. AlcoholScreening.org provides detailed feedback and suggestions to anyone who completes the questionnaire, including information about local treatment programs. More than 400,000 individuals have completed this screen.