Friends Getting Off is the outpatient substance use treatment program that follows the manual Getting Off: A Behavioral Treatment Intervention for Gay and Bisexual Methamphetamine Users. Getting Off is an evidence-based, manual-driven, cognitive behavioral therapy intervention comprised of 24 sessions. Getting Off was designed to be delivered three times per week (e.g., Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays OR Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays), each session running approximately 90 minutes, for 8 weeks. The groups can be facilitated in person or virtually. The Getting Off group sessions are optimized when delivered in combination with a Contingency Management intervention. Contingency Management is an evidence-based behavioral economics intervention that provides voucher points that have cash value for urine samples that are methamphetamine metabolite-free. Friends Getting Off was the very first program that combined these two proven methods into one package.
The Getting Off intervention is unique because it is specifically geared toward the needs of sexual minority men, gay and bisexual men, who use methamphetamine. The intervention focuses on the connections between methamphetamine use and sexual risk behaviors, and other important issues related to identity and culture.
Both approaches (Getting Off cognitive behavioral therapy group counseling and Contingency Management voucher points for methamphetamine metabolite-free urine) have proven effective in helping sexual minority men, gay and bisexual men, reduce or eliminate both methamphetamine use and sexual risk behaviors.
Reback, C.J., Veniegas, R., & Shoptaw, S. (2014). Getting Off: The Development of a Model Program for Gay and Bisexual Male Methamphetamine Users. Journal of Homosexuality. 61: 540-554. DOI: 10.1080/00918369.2014.865459 PMID: 2425506
Reback, C.J., & Shoptaw, S. (2014). Development of an Evidence-based, Gay-specific Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Intervention for Methamphetamine-abusing Gay and Bisexual Men. Addictive Behaviors. 39(8): 1286-1291. DOI: 10.1016/j.addbeh.2011.11.029. PMC3326187
Website: www.friendsgettingoff.org
