About Us

The National Family Support Technical Assistance Center (NFSTAC) is committed to providing training and technical assistance using a lifespan approach that focuses on mental health and substance use/addiction challenges. Our approach is anchored by the underlying principles that families play a vital role in supporting their loved ones and are the experts

regarding their family support needs.

Our Goals

The overall goal of this 5-year National Family Support Technical Assistance Center is

to provide innovative, flexible, and responsive training and technical assistance.

Our 4 specific goals, which you can learn more about below, are:

To Inform the Workforce
To Increase Access to Resources
To Provide Family Engagement and Support Training
To Increase Knowledge

1. Inform the Workforce

To inform the workforce directly serving families and their loved ones who are navigating both the mental health and substance use systems about the importance of including family support in treatment planning and implementation.

Additional workforce members include Family Peer Specialists and their Supervisors, Clinicians, Crisis Care Workers, Educators, Family-Run Organizations, Peer Support and Recovery Support Organizations and those working within the faith community.

2. Increase Access to Resources

To provide families and support professionals increased access to

comprehensive, best practice resources that address the epidemiology, genetics,

causes of illness, course of illness, treatment and recovery services for

major mental and substance use conditions.

The art and science of family engagement and support will be addressed by providing evidence-based community defined practices that are

innovative, flexible, and responsive.

3. Provide Family Engagement

and Support Training

To provide best practice training for families, the workforce, and the community at large regarding family engagement and family support.

4. Increase Knowledge

To provide training that increases knowledge about the needs of families and their children (at any age) as well as evidence-informed and promising practices, such as family peer support, for families and the community at large, including policy-makers.