When clients have a substance use disorder in conjunction with infectious disease and/or a mental illness, it is difficult to help them lead healthy, fulfilling lives.

Many clients with these intersecting conditions need help from service providers in more than one agency. Clients and clinicians both are frustrated about the gaps in their care. Cross-Training facilitates removing the barriers that exist to collaboration.

To meet their needs, agencies are trying to work together with providers from more than one discipline to help them find ways of providing comprehensive service in the areas where conditions overlap.

This calls for collaboration to accomplish systems integration, perhaps the most awesome challenge facing agencies and practitioners. It is not easy to get people and systems that have not worked together traditionally to begin doing so effectively.

That's why the Cross-Training Initiative was created. Its aim is to facilitate systems integration among various agencies.

The Cross-Training Initiative supports local, county, regional, and State groups struggling with systems integration issues that impact access to prevention, treatment, and care. Expert facilitators ease the way through this process.