Founded three years ago by Dr. Patrick Carnes, consultant to the Meadows Institute in Arizona and an expert on sex addiction and chemical dependency, AFAR recently awarded its first grants and began actively soliciting grant applications. Elizabeth Griffin, the foundation's chief operating officer, tells Join Together that the foundation was established as a place to bring all addictive disorders together for study, to bridge gaps between professionals and practice, and to see what the various addictions have in common.

One of the foundation's first grants, for example, went to the addictions research center at Vanderbilt University; the school will receive $200,000 over five years for a study comparing the brain scans of sex addicts and people with chemical dependency. AFAR also has awarded $25,000 to Hazelden to develop addiction educational materials for people in prison.

The foundation will award about $75,000 in grants annually, Griffin said. Research grants typically will fall in the $10,000 to $175,000 range; education grants range from $5,000 to $25,000. About 75 percent of AFAR's grantmaking focuses on research. Applications must be postmarked by June 30; grants are awarded each August.

The foundation's program areas include a general fund and sections on neurochemistry, sex addiction, multiple addictions, families and addiction, and trauma and addiction. Griffin said that many initial applications have focused on sex addiction, but that AFAR would like to receive more queries from chemical dependency programs and gambling programs. "We don't want to get pigeonholed," she explains.

Education and prevention programs generally should be geared toward children or populations that are often overlooked, such as those in the criminal-justice system.

American Foundation for Addiction Research (AFAR)
P.O. Box 2800-338
Carefree, AZ 85377
Phone:  480-368-2688
Fax:  480-368-5226
Email: jand@addictionresearch.com