One coordinated team, every evidence-based practice a person needs to recover
Maintaining Independence and Sobriety through Systems Integration, Outreach, and Networking (MISSION) is an evidence-based intervention developed in 2001 to meet the mental health, substance misuse, and other psychosocial needs of individuals with co-occurring mental health and substance use disorders (CODs).
A multicomponent, whole-health system of care for co-occurring disorders
Theoretically rooted in the Health Belief Model (HBM), MISSION combines several Evidence-Based Practices (EBP) into a comprehensive system of care. It is designed to explore and address population-specific factors (for example, criminogenic factors in criminal justice populations), provide COD treatment, and link participants to community-based supports that sustain recovery.
Three core evidence-based components
MISSION wraps three core evidence-based components around each client so that mental health and substance use disorders are treated together, not in isolation.
Critical Time Intervention (CTI)
A three-stage intervention — transition to community, tryout, and transfer of care — designed to systematically facilitate linkages to, and improve engagement with, mainstream and community-based treatment providers.
Dual Recovery Therapy (DRT)
A structured 13-session treatment approach that blends and modifies traditional addiction therapies (relapse prevention, motivational enhancement therapy, and 12-step facilitation therapy) with traditional mental health approaches (cognitive-behavioral therapy, motivational enhancement therapy, and social skills training).
Peer Support
Personal, intensive support from someone who has experienced mental health and/or substance use disorders, helping participants achieve sobriety and mental health stability. It facilitates engagement and bolsters the other components through 11 structured sessions and workbook facilitation.
Treatment and linkage, delivered as one
Rather than asking people to navigate separate, disconnected systems, MISSION coordinates Dual Recovery Therapy, Critical Time Intervention, and peer support under a single approach. Critical Time Intervention guides each participant through transition to the community, a tryout phase, and a transfer of care — so engagement with mainstream and community-based providers improves at exactly the moments people are most at risk of falling through the cracks.
Because MISSION is rooted in the Health Belief Model and built from established evidence-based practices, it can flex to address the population-specific factors a community faces while still delivering integrated treatment for co-occurring disorders.
Adapted for the populations that need it most
MISSION currently has versions and adaptations for homeless individuals, criminal justice-involved individuals, military veterans, and American Indian & Alaska Native and Pacific Islander communities, with population-specific adaptations built into the model.
Homeless Individuals
A version designed for people experiencing homelessness — used within a Massachusetts statewide plan to end homelessness.
Criminal Justice-Involved
Addresses population-specific factors such as criminogenic needs, and is written into public law for delivery alongside veteran treatment courts in Massachusetts.
Military Veterans
MISSION-Vet has been deployed within the Veterans Health Administration as part of the national plan to end veteran homelessness.
American Indian & Alaska Native Communities
MISSION includes guidebooks developed for implementing the model with American Indian and Alaska Native populations.
Pacific Islander Communities
MISSION has been implemented in Hawai‘i and Guam, extending its integrated, whole-health approach to Pacific Islander communities.
A robust, recognized evidence base
There is a robust evidence base for the MISSION model. MISSION-Vet has been admitted into the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration registry for evidence-based practices (NREPP). The model has been deployed within the Veterans Health Administration as part of the national plan to end veteran homelessness, utilized in a Massachusetts statewide plan to end homelessness, and written into public law for delivery alongside veteran treatment courts in Massachusetts.
MISSION is listed in The Pew Charitable Trusts' Results First Clearinghouse Database, a NREPP clearinghouse.