Category: Lead Story

HBRT Director Mary M. Velasquez has been named the inaugural Lori Holleran Steiker Endowed Faculty Chair in Substance Use and Recovery by The University of Texas at Austin School of Social Work. The $3.5 million gift from Revolution Recovery (formerly known as Austin Recovery) provides permanent support for excellence in research, teaching and programming in…

The HBRT team published “Screening, Brief Intervention, and Referral to Treatment (SBIRT) for Risky Alcohol and Other Substance Use: Best Practices for the Prevention and Treatment of Substance-Exposed Pregnancy in Girls and Women of Reproductive Age,” in the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) Fall 2025 Practice Perspectives newsletter. The article adapts a recent literature…

The Health Behavior Research and Training Institute team and partners from NASW and NASW Foundation participated in Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD) Impact Week in Washington, D.C. HBRT presented, “Strengthening Social Work Education to Prevent Substance-Exposed Pregnancy,” at the Impact Week poster reception and also took part in the FASD National Partner Network meeting for…

The Health Behavior Research and Training Institute’s (HBRT) work on substance-exposed pregnancy prevention (SEP) was featured in the Summer 2025 issue of the National Association of Social Workers’ (NASW) Social Work Advocates magazine. The article highlights HBRT’s efforts to train social workers in screening, brief intervention, and referral to treatment as part of a Centers for Disease Control and…

HBRT Director Dr. Mary Velasquez discussed cannabis use in pregnancy in a new episode of the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) podcast, Social Work Talks. Dr. Velasquez was joined by Dr. Roger Zoorob, a subject matter expert for the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) and the Richard M. Kleberg Senior Professor and Chair…