The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration is expanding its National Registry of Evidence-based Programs and Practices (NREPP) Web site by providing information from the agency's Model Programs Initiative.

NREPP is a searchable online registry of mental health and substance abuse interventions that have been reviewed and rated by independent experts. The registry assists local organizations in identifying interventions that have been scientifically tested and can be readily disseminated to the field. Organizations can search for interventions that fit the needs of their communities.

The registry originated in 1997 in SAMHSA's Center for Substance Abuse Prevention. Procedures under this earlier registry were developed to review, rate and designate programs as model, effective, or promising programs. 

Based on extensive input from scientific communities, service providers, expert panels and the public, the procedures were revised, resulting in the launch of the new NREPP and its Web site in March 2007.

Updated summaries for programs previously labeled as model programs will be found under the "Find Interventions" tab of the NREPP Web site after they are reviewed under the current NREPP procedures.

SAMHSA is also providing the ability to search programs previously labeled as effective or promising. 

Under "Legacy Programs," Web site visitors can browse an alphabetical listing of the 86 effective or promising programs and search based on specific topics, areas of interest, or populations.