Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, we will be reducing the free Clinical Helpline hours temporarily beginning Monday, October 5th. Clinical consultants will now be available Monday through Friday 11:00 am – 5:00 pm (EST). We will, of course, continue to closely monitor voice mail messages and return those as soon as possible. This change only applies to the clinical helpline. Our customer service remains available during normal business hours. Please contact us if you have… Read more

The SASSI Institute’s Clinical Help Line is a free resource designed to support clinicians and professionals using the Substance Abuse Subtle Screening Inventory (SASSI). It provides assistance with clinical interpretation of scores on each of the SASSI scales; helps individuals understand typical trends seen in SASSI profiles and how to use that information in educating clients, making referrals for clients, or developing treatment plans; provides assistance in manual scoring issues; and addresses any other specific… Read more

One question we field often on the clinical helpline is what does it mean when either the OAT (Obvious Attributes) is higher than the SAT (Subtle Attributes) or when the SAT is higher than the OAT when both are elevated above the 85th percentile? Read more

We wanted to take this opportunity to introduce our new Clinical Director, Mr. David Helton, LMSW, LCDC. David has worked in the behavioral health field in Texas for over 35 years as a clinician, a manager, division director, trainer, an evaluator, a program developer, and a grant writer/reviewer. In addition to training on the SASSI for over 30 years, David has been a member of the SASSI Clinical Team for the last several years assisting… Read more

We receive regular phone inquiries regarding which side of the Profile Sheet to use in scoring either the Adolescent or Adult SASSI when the client identifies as transgender or neither male nor female. This comes up whether one is using the paper and pencil or the online version. To affirm one’s self-identity can be powerful and empowering so a discussion with a client who is either questioning their gender identification or sexual orientation or is… Read more

One of the trickier aspects of incorporating the SASSI results in a substance use assessment is extracting the clinical interpretation of what elevated scores mean and the relationship between the scales. If you have taken SASSI training, especially the Clinical Interpretation session, you were introduced to ‘Profile Configurations.’ This section gets more in-depth into interpreting the scales and clinically drawing on information that can better inform how to work with your client as well as… Read more

June is National Pride month so we thought we would bring attention to the just released SAMSHA survey on Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Results from the 2021 and 2022 National Surveys on Drug Use and Behavioral Health. The results point to the heavy societal stressors of this minority population in regards to mental health and the overall use of substances as a significant coping response.  The behavioral survey looks at any mental illness, serious mental… Read more

Our long-time Clinical Director, Kristin S. Kimmell, LCSW, LCAC is officially retired as of May 2. Kristin started out as a Clinical Consultant in 2004 and was promoted to Clinical Director in 2011. During that time, she has helped the company expand their outreach, communication, dissemination, but most importantly our clinical service provision. In addition to working for The SASSI Institute, she also maintained a private clinical practice specializing in addiction services. She has been… Read more