This brochure gives an overview of the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008. It lists some of the common limits placed on mental health and substance use disorder benefits and services.

This document provides an overview of essential information necessary for understanding mental health and substance use disorder parity and how to implement and comply with federal parity laws. This guide applies to parity laws in employer-sponsored health plans and group and individual insurance.

There are protections in federal law, collectively known as “parity,” which are designed to ensure that certain types of health plans cover mental and substance use disorders no less generously than they cover other health issues. This resource can guide you to helpful materials and places.

This guide helps health care providers, systems, and communities support recovery from substance use disorders via employment mechanisms. It describes relevant research, examines emerging and best practices, identifies knowledge gaps and implementation challenges, and offers resources.

This Advisory is based on TIP 51, Substance Abuse Treatment: Addressing the Specific Needs of Women. It offers guidance to providers and administrators about the particular needs of women during substance use disorder (SUD) treatment.

This Advisory is based on Technical Assistance Publication (TAP) 21, Addiction Counseling Competencies: The Knowledge, Skills, and Attitudes of Professional Practice. It discusses the development of the counseling competencies and the validated research on which they are based, provides a simplified overview of their structure and the elements of a typical competency, and outlines how these competencies are changing the field of substance use disorder (SUD) treatment nationwide. The Advisory also addresses the critical role of cultural competency.

Based on Treatment Improvement Protocol (TIP) 41, Substance Abuse Treatment: Group Therapy, this Advisory provides an overview of goals, processes, group-specific approaches, resources, and common elements that support favorable outcomes in group therapy.

This Advisory, based on TIP 49, Incorporating Alcohol Pharmacotherapies Into Medical Practice, focuses on medication and related treatment decisions made after screening and assessment for AUD, and medically supervised withdrawal, if necessary. Alcohol consumption should not stop abruptly in those patients who have consumed alcohol regularly over a prolonged period of time. This Advisory is meant as an overview of AUD medications to facilitate abstinence.

This guide reviews interventions for people living with substance use and mental disorders who are at risk for or living with HIV. Selected interventions are in alignment with goals of the federal “Ending the HIV Epidemic: A Plan for America” (EHE) initiative.

This updated TIP includes the latest evidence on motivation-enhancing approaches and strategies. It describes how substance use disorder treatment providers can use these approaches and strategies to increase participation and retention in substance use disorder treatment.