Keeping it positive: Bringing contingency management to New York City.

This presentation begins with the history of contingency management (CM), an intervention that originally developed out of B.F. Skinner’s Operant Conditioning model. CM typically involves the use of positive reinforcements to change behavior and was first applied to problems with alcoholism in the late 1960’s. The New York Node joined the CTN in 2000 and participated in one of the two MIEDAR studies (“Motivational Incentives for Enhanced Drug Abuse Recovery: Methadone Clinics,” CTN-0007). This purpose and outcomes of this study are described in the presentation along with details about the specific involvement of two CTPs from the New York Node in the protocol (Lower Eastside Service Center and Greenwich House MMPT). In 2008, threatened changes in methadone maintenance policy led the New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation (HHC), the largest provider of addiction treatment in the U.S., to adopt new vocational rehabilitation programs. When patients refused to participate in the offered programs, the HHC adopted CM as a technique to increase involvement. The HHC eventually formed an alliance with the CTN to help develop a Vocational Incentives Program. Results from both the CM-related CTN protocols and the HHC’s VIP program are presented. The HHC has maintained its connection to the CTN via co-sponsored CM trainings and other workshops and conference, a perfect example of the CTN’s ability to help foster the dissemination of evidence-based practices in to real-world settings.