University of Kansas Announces New Addiction Treatment and Research Center

LAWRENCE, Kan. - July 31, 2018 - PRLog -- The University of Kansas (KU) established the Cofrin-Logan Center for Addiction Research and Treatment with a $2 million donation.

The center is named after its donors, retired psychotherapist Gladys Cofrin and her husband Dr. Daniel Logan, a professor at the University of Florida and KU alumnus.

"Our hope is that we can contribute to finding those things that are effective, in terms of inducing remission and sustaining remission for people who have substance use disorders," Logan said.

The Cofrin-Logan Center is currently establishing connections with the local community and the university's medical center in Kansas City.

"We're going to be a centralized location for information about resources in the community," said Dr. Richard Yi, director of the Cofrin-Logan Center and Department of Psychology professor. "These collaborations that we develop are going to result in both research and treatment opportunities. What I really want to emphasize — because we are doing both research and treatment, particularly in an academic setting — is that the treatment that our center will be typically involved in will be evidence-based."

Cofrin explained that research-based research will help address the link between mental health issues and substance use disorders.

"One of the questions is 'how do you help an individual person who may have two co-occurring mental illnesses?'" she said. "You may have addiction and then you may have depression or anxiety. So, trying to find effective [treatment] modalities is complicated."

More announcements will be made this fall regarding what type of treatment options the Cofrin-Logan Center may offer.

In addition, KU students will be encouraged to utilize the center.

"We want it to be, particularly for students, a mutually beneficial relationship," Yi said. "[We hope] they are able to get the great research and potentially clinical experiences by virtue of being a part of our center and then we obviously benefit from their enthusiasm, energy, and the work they are able to do. We want students to be involved and really want them [coming] from all the disciplines for which addiction is relevant."

Cofrin and Logan, who are both in addiction recovery, hope that the center offers others the same support they received.

"My life is so much better in recovery than I had ever even imagined," Logan concluded. "Fortunately, there were people who cared about us at critical times. We're hoping that's part of what the center will be — to carry that message that there's hope, that we're not going to give up on you. We want to see people be successful in their recovery and have a good life."

https://www.drugaddictionnow.com/2018/07/31/addiction-tre...