TASC bridges the criminal justice system and substance abuse treatment system, enabling them to retain their primary goals of community safety and client rehabilitation, respectively, while TASC serves as advocate within each system for the client's needs. As advocate, TASC enables the criminal justice system to understand the individual needs of the client and how treatment and other supportive services will address the rehabilitation of the client and reduce the risk to public safety. As advocate, TASC enables treatment to understand the need for accountability to the court and community while maintaining their focus on the clinical needs of the client. The TASC assessment is an objective clinical assessment intended to determine the nature and extent of addiction, mental health and ancillary service needs. TASC also determines the support as well as the services necessary to maintain the client in the community without undue risk to the public.
Clients present complex problems and diagnoses related to substance abuse and mental health.
Matching individual clients to a complex system of care requires both clinical and provider specific knowledge. TASC provides treatment matching and service planning services to ensure that all the recovery needs of clients are met and to prevent mis-matching and misuse of substance abuse treatment resources. TASC ensures that clients are referred and placed in appropriate treatment. These clients are difficult, sometimes change their stories, present complex service needs, and are frequently indigent. Often, advocacy with treatment and other providers is necessary to ensure that clients are not rejected at referral.