The NC EBP Center

The North Carolina Evidence Based Practices Center supports state mental health services by providing training, technical assistance, and consultation on evidence based practices for North Carolina’s target population of adults and children with severe mental illness.  Evidence based practices are treatment interventions for which there is consistent empirical support.

The North Carolina Evidence Based Practices Center was created with funding from The Duke Endowment. The Center is a collaboration of the Southern Regional Area Health Education Center (AHEC), Duke University, and the North Carolina Division of Mental Health Developmental Disabilities, and Substance Abuse Services to conduct evidence based training using existing training toolkits recently developed by a national team of experts.

The N.C. Evidence Based Practices Center provides training in evidence based practices, including clinical and administrative training. We also offer onsite training and provide technical assistance, consultation, and learning resources.

The North Carolina Evidence Based Practices Center was created by the Southern Regional Area Health Education Center in Fayetteville, North Carolina and is supported by a generous grant of The Duke Endowment.

Resources and services offered here in support of the mental health community:

• Education and training on current evidence based practices
• On-site consultation, training, and technical assistance
• Practical information for service providers, consumers, and their families
• Announcements of conferences, training programs, and meetings
• CARF consultation to assist organizations in qualifying for CARF certification
• A listserv to inform the statewide community of stakeholders

Project Partners:

• The Duke Endowment
• NC Area Health Education Center
• Duke Area Health Education Center
• Southern Regional Area Health Education Center
• The Division of Mental Health, Developmental Disabilities, and Substance Abuse Services
• North Carolina Council of Community Programs

Our goal is to promote the use of evidence based practices.  These toolkits are standardized educational materials used to assist mental health providers in implementing evidence based practices.  Toolkit information can also be used to inform key stakeholder groups about evidence based practices. Explore this web site for full details on the individual toolkits; their contents, how to implement them, and the positive consumer life outcomes that can result from these treatment approaches.

Dissemination of information through an integrated network is critical to the success of applying the mental health toolkits in everyday practice.  The NC EBP Center provides teleconferences between evidence based practices experts and participants.  We also have a listserv to promote communication and information sharing with service providers

Please visit this web site often, as we continually add new resources. We appreciate your feedback and suggestions for improvement.

What Are Evidence Based Practices?

Using Services with Proven Benefits

The North Carolina Mental Health, Developmental Disabilities, and Substance Abuse State Plan 2003 states, "We are required to apply the best and emerging best practices that have resulted in positive outcomes for people."

What are evidence based practices?
Evidence based practices are practices which have consistently demonstrated positive outcomes in multiple research studies. In the mental health field, evidence based practices are specific clinical interventions or services that produce benefits to consumers and their quality of life (e.g., employment, reduced hospitalization, etc.), as established by several scientific studies.

Over the past fifteen years, researchers of mental health practices have gathered extensive data showing benefit for certain mental health services and interventions. A joint project by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration's Center for Mental Health Services and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation has recently identified six treatments that are considered "evidence based practices" due to consistent research findings that they help consumers recover.

Additional practices are being identified and tested. For example, Medication Management was discontinued for the time being, and Therapeutic Foster Care was added in 2006. The full list of practices is:

1. Assertive Community Treatment
2. Illness Management and Recovery
3. Medication Management (discontinued)
4. Family Psychoeducation
5. Supported Employment
6. Co-occurring Disorders: Integrated Dual Disorders Treatment
7. Together Facing the Challenge: Therapeutic Foster Care

Why EBPs Are Important

Mental health services for people with severe mental illness should have the goal of helping people to develop a high-quality, satisfying, and functional life. Mental health consumers and their families have a right to information about effective services, and a right to access these services when they are available.

Evidence-based practices provide a number of benefits:

For consumers

• They enhance recovery efforts, reduce symptoms, and increase quality of life
• The evidence-based practices that have already been identified see consumer choice as a core principle

For clinicians

• Consumers are more likely to achieve positive outcomes (e.g., employment, reduced hospitalization, etc.) with these services
• There is a scientific foundation for specific interventions with specific populations
  Consumer satisfaction increases when provided these services

For program leaders

• Evidence-based practices are easily monitored through fidelity measures
• Implementing these practices creates positive consumer outcomes for a program

For administrators

• Research-based interventions can dramatically improve outcomes
• Evidence-based practices are a means to achieving quality services (cost-savings and better outcomes) and accountability