Change agents who embrace research evidence and a human touch join forces

Internationally known trainer and consultant David Mee-Lee, MD and national publishing and consulting company The Change Companies would appear to make an ideal match. Both have carved strong reputations in advocating that addiction treatment use strong evidence-based tools to guide its services. Yet at the same time, both shun cookie-cutter approaches to treatment, believing individual client factors must shape the care that is received.

Mee-Lee will become a senior vice president of the Nevada-based company in January, expanding on a consulting role he has held with The Change Companies. A successful developer of workbooks and other evidence-based materials that help individuals make productive changes in their lives, The Change Companies is looking forward to being able to package to its clients Mee-Lee’s expertise along with these written materials.

“What I appreciate most about David is that his real interest is to apply the research in the field,” making it extremely relevant to treatment programs, says Don Kuhl, The Change Companies’ CEO.

Mee-Lee adds that in joining a company that for years has provided affordable and accessible materials to treatment programs, correctional facilities and other entities, he will have a vehicle for making his training services more affordable to clinicians and programs.

Chief editor of the American Society of Addiction Medicine’s (ASAM’s) Patient Placement Criteria, Mee-Lee sees the parallels between his work and his new employer’s. He believes use of ASAM’s scientifically based dimensions is most effective when implemented in a client-centered way, and he sees this as a strength of The Change Companies’ trademarked Interactive Journaling and other tools for change. “Theirs is not a canned, one-size-fits-all approach,” Mee-Lee says.

Mee-Lee on Feb. 22 will deliver the keynote address at the SECAD 2010 conference in Nashville, Tennessee, an event produced by Addiction Professional publisher Vendome Group. A description of his talk states that he will “challenge participants to examine their attitudes about wellness and recovery,” in a presentation that will focus in part on programs’ need to treat a syndrome rather than symptoms.

Mee-Lee’s dynamic outlook on the promise of effective treatment appears to fit well with a company that states in its online description of its services, “By the time you read this message, The Change Companies will already have changed.”