Perhaps no group in society is more elusive, more difficult to help than the Nation's homeless. They are often loners who tenaciously avoid contact with others and often shun offers of assistance. They are often in dire need of food, shelter, health care, and other basic necessities.
Research shows many are also mentally ill, usually with serious psychiatric disorders.
Attempts to treat these homeless substance abusers with multiple problems have not proven effective due to difficulties in recruiting them for treatment. For those who do enter treatment, dropout rates are high. But two separate NIDA-funded treatment research projects, in New York City and Birmingham, Alabama, are testing innovative therapy approaches that are showing promising treatment outcomes. The programs counter patient recruitment and retention problems by coordinating efforts with existing homeless shelters and social service agencies. Both projects treat substance abuse in novel ways.