This Treatment Improvement Protocol (TIP) responds to an increasing body of research literature that documents the effectiveness of brief interventions and therapies in both the mental health and substance abuse treatment fields. The general purpose of this document is to link research to practice by providing counselors and therapists in the substance abuse treatment field with up-to-date information on the usefulness of these innovative and shorter forms of treatment for selected subpopulations of people with substance abuse disorders and those at risk of developing them. The TIP will also be useful for health care workers, social service providers who work outside the substance abuse treatment field, people in the criminal justice system, and anyone else who may be called on to intervene with a person who has substance abuse problems. Brief interventions and brief therapies have become increasingly important modalities in the treatment of individuals across the substance abuse continuum.