Building a Global Home: The Birth and Growth of ISSUP Pt.2
Building the Future Together: Joanna Travis-Roberts on 10 Years of ISSUP
A special three-part series celebrating 10 years of of the International Society of Substance Use Professionals (ISSUP).
In this second episode, host Associate Professor Goodman Sibeko speaks with Chief Executive Joanna Travis-Roberts about the remarkable journey of ISSUP itself. From its official launch in Bangkok in 2015 to a thriving global network of over 45,000 members, Joanna takes us behind the scenes of ISSUP’s founding, exploring the early partnerships, critical decisions, and challenges that shaped its identity.
Joanna reflects on the administrative hurdles of starting a global platform, the evolution of governance and leadership, and the unique role of ISSUP’s national chapters in adapting the mission to local contexts.
More than a history lesson, the episode captures the values that continue to define ISSUP: openness, inclusivity, and a commitment to strengthening the global substance use workforce. With candid reflections on both obstacles and successes, it’s a compelling look at how an ambitious vision grew into a collaborative home for prevention, treatment, and recovery professionals worldwide.
Featured Voices
Host – A/Prof. Goodman Sibeko
ISSUP Global Scientific Advisor.
Head of Addiction Psychiatry, University of Cape Town.
LinkedIn: goodmansibeko
Twitter/X: @profgsibeko
Guest – Joanna Travis-Roberts
Chief Executive of ISSUP
Learn more about Joanna on issup.net
Time Stamps
Professor Goodman Sibeko (00:00)
Hello and welcome back to our ISSUP 10 year anniversary podcast series. In the previous episode, we got to know Joanna Travis Roberts, the person, the professional, the passion behind her work. Today, we're going to move on to the story of ISSUP itself from an ambitious vision launched in Bangkok in 2015 to now a vibrant global community with over 45,000 members. ISSUP's journey is really nothing short of remarkable.
But how did it all begin? What challenges were faced in those early days and how did the partnerships come together across the continents to make it happen? In this episode, is gonna take us behind the scenes of ISSUP's founding, sharing the collaborative strategy, the critical decisions and turning points that really shaped a truly global platform for advancing substance use practice. Joanna, thank you so much for joining us.
ISSUP really officially launched in a meeting in Bangkok on the 6th of July 2015 with a few global partners with funding from the US Bureau for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs. What were the conversations behind the scenes that really led to the forming of this consortium at this inaugural gathering?
Joanna Travis-Roberts (01:07)
Thank you very much, Goodman. Thanks for having me back. It was great to chat on the first episode and I went inside after my working day and said to my family, ⁓ they rounded it off and said that it was inspirational and they all laughed. So, you know, that brought me back down to down to earth after all. So, yes, the 10 years ago in Bangkok is where it was officially launched in July 2015, but there was much work as you can imagine and conversations that happened before that point. And it was a group of key international organisations, agencies that were brought together by INL and to talk about how can all the pieces of the puzzle come together? How can this workforce, support and development, talk to each other and be a unified approach rather than in multiple pieces. So we always talk about that meeting as being the coherence and collaboration meeting. I wasn't there. So I don't know if it was called that from the outset or that was just the energy that evolved during that conversation.
But out of that came this idea of an umbrella organisation, one organisation that can fit the pieces together without duplicating what anybody else is doing. So not coming in as a competition for any of the existing work that was happening or that was planned, but to come in as someone that could pull it all together and really make it available to the workforce. And so that's where ISSUP's concept and name came into existence and we were then originated as a project of Colombo Plan with that State Department funding as you said with INL and we started to grow there and I was brought on in April of 2015 as a lead on the digital side of things so working on the website and things the plans that had already started and turning it into the very first version of what you see now.
So we had that already the first launch by that meeting in Bangkok and Colombo Plan were the ones that did the work in terms of organising that as an actual event. And it was a great start. The recording is there on YouTube if anybody wants to go and have a little walk down memory lane. But it was a great start to ISSUP, an amazing way to launch.
Professor Goodman Sibeko (03:39)
That's, know, I love the idea of chaos and collaboration because I think that's so much, you know, how a lot of the work happens. suddenly realise all the work that's happening and you realise that there isn't really clear alignment because we all really mean well. We all try to achieve the same mission, but it's really about trying to make sure that we don't duplicate unnecessarily and that we don't work in silos and really bring those.
So it's great to see how ISSUP was able to become that. What really with some of the sentiments shared in terms of identifying the needs. So what identified needs really drove the establishment of ISSUP as far as you know.
Joanna Travis-Roberts (04:13)
I think, as you said, was a lot of good things happening, but not necessarily happening together. At the same time, there was a lot of work happening on the development of the universal curriculum. And it was about having a place for the people that are taking those trainings to then be part of a community. So I think that they were the needs that were identified.
When I try and describe people to ISSUP that don't work in our field, I always start out by saying, you know, we're like a professional body, but we are free and accessible to anybody. And we work in countries where the professional bodies might not already exist. But we also work in places where they do. And we just we don't ever want to duplicate that. But just being that support, the need for people to have that place to go.
If they are taking training, if they are exploring this as a profession, if they are been doing it for 20 years and want to tweak what they're doing or look at their approach or find new colleagues and networks, just having a place to go to be very accessible and open to them. That's the need that existed and it still exists now. And that's really what drove us then and keeps helping us as we evolve.
Professor Goodman Sibeko (05:32)
That's great. I think what's really good to see is how ISSUP has taken on this role of being the home for this curriculum project and really taken steps to expand this. I know we're really working hard now at finalising some really exciting projects, which we'll talk about when they are ready. So congratulations to ISSUP for all of that. And really also exploiting the national chapters as a resource for expanding the reach of these, which is really great.
I like the idea of saying it's also a home for guidance and I think increasingly a home for networking as well, especially on our events.
Joanna Travis-Roberts (06:06)
Yes, absolutely. The networking elements are really important and they exist online and that works more often in sort of smaller groups and people with really shared interests. But you're right, you can't beat that in-person element of networking and I wish we could do it five times a year, but it's so much work. There's absolutely no way that we could.
Professor Goodman Sibeko (06:27)
Absolutely. in terms of the initial vision for the structure of ISSUP, so now I think we have a good understanding of what the need was and what we hoped to create in terms of what would be hosted. So what was the vision for? What would hold the structure and the platform of ISSUP?
Joanna Travis-Roberts (06:43)
The has actually changed quite a lot. So as I said, we were a project initially and we talked a lot about the most effective way of undertaking this work and so registered as an organisation. And at that point we had a huge board, I think 15 or 16 amazing experts, real people that knew what they were talking about from around the world.
But from an admin perspective, that's very difficult to certainly with a new organisation, but I think even with an existing one to work with such a large group. And that was before we were used to working with meetings on Zoom and Teams and things like that. So we were trying to do things in person. we really streamlined that. So we registered in February 2016, but spent a lot of time streamlining from a large board and lots of discussions about strategy and direction with that larger group, which were very important. But once we got ourselves established, we had a smaller executive committee and they were the ones that were really driving it forward.
So we sort of turned the structure upside down and made that group the actual board, which has made it much easier, I think, work in terms of getting things agreed and moving things forward on our strategy.
So the administrative element of it was quite difficult because it's unusual to set up a global facing organisation with global board members and global membership, but registered in one country. It's quite tricky to do that. So a lot of the admin took us some time, but we got there in the end. I think
We've learned as we've gone along, we've had some very important experts giving us and continuing to give us advice on that side of things. So I think that was quite a lot of what we were doing. But also for me to make what we were doing clear and understandable from the outside world. Because it is confusing to say, well, are you a professional society? Are you a membership group, you know, but to try and keep making it clear in terms of what we were providing at that point and that we can't certify, you know, everyone we do that with partners, we can't prove everybody's level of expertise, we're an open and we rely on people telling us things and saying who they are and that's what we take at face value.
Professor Goodman Sibeko (09:10)
That's so important, allowing space for folks to have a space where they can come to expand their own knowledge and to expand their own networks. So I think that that's great, but certainly a challenge in trying to make sure that we have the right people and that we are continuing to attract people and that people who might be interested see the rest of the membership and think it might be of value to them. And I think what you've mentioned sounds like a really tall order. It's hard enough to manage an organisation at a local level with local stakeholders and you're trying to do it on a global platform.
Joanna Travis-Roberts (09:42)
Yes, it wasn't easy, but it's also the advantage and the benefit of ISSUP. So it's worth every time that might pose a challenge, it's worth finding a way around it. And we are by no means perfect. I would love to have every single resource translated into every language and adapted to every context. And, you know, just budget wise, that becomes very, very difficult. AI is helping us.
The evolution of AI, that's going to become much easier. But, you know, things like that, we will never be perfectly global, but we're trying the best we can with the resources we have and with the amazing volunteers and community that is ISSUP members and ISSUP national chapters, because many people do lots of things for free to help ISSUP as volunteers.
Professor Goodman Sibeko (10:32)
That's great. One of the things I'll ask you later on is about where ISSUP's going. So I look forward to having a conversation about what happens to those translation goals, those curriculum development goals. You've already started alluding to some of the challenges, know, governance, management that have led to how ISSUP has evolved in terms of leadership and management. Could you just sort of bring us, you know, into your confidence about what you feel were the biggest challenges and hurdles when ISSUP was starting up in terms of governance, funding and buying from organisations and stemming from that, you know, how has the leadership and sustaining or sustenance direction established?
Joanna Travis-Roberts (11:09)
Yes, absolutely. as I mentioned, sort of admin and governance of it all was definitely a challenge. I think one thing that we were very conscious of in those early days is that people didn't see us as a threat or a competition, that we were never established to be that and the ethos of the staff working at the time, which was Jeff Lee, who was the first chief executive myself and Jack Tonkin, who's still our website developer now, was to be something extra for people, something extra for our members, maybe on top of the professional development they were already doing in their countries, but also something extra for the people that have resources that people can use so that we are not setting up things in competition, but we're perhaps providing access, making people more aware of what's out there, helping communicate things that might be sitting in certain organisations, platforms that people don't know about. So I think that always was a concern and maybe sometimes still is that ISSUP is sort of taking over things, but we've never wanted to do that.
And we've always wanted to give credit for the fact that ISSUP is, a lot of it's offering, is based on what other people have done and are doing. And it's, just trying to make people aware of that and access things that are there for them to use.
Professor Goodman Sibeko (12:38)
Yeah, you know, it's such a competitive space with limited funding and everyone sort of trying to do good work, but accessing the same resources. And so folks don't buy into, you say you're a collaborator, that you want to work together. And it's great to hear how you've highlighted ISSUP's value add in that context. Do you think it's easier now to sell ISSUP as a value adder as opposed to a competitor or is it so pretty much the same?
Joanna Travis-Roberts (13:04)
It's definitely easier now. Yes, I think because people can see what we've done and what we are doing. There's some evidence behind my words now rather than people just trusting what we were saying at the beginning. And so, yes, it is definitely easier. I'm sure that there is still some resistance in some parts, but it's not just ISSUP that wants to collaborate. We're very lucky that there are lots of other agencies out there that want to be open and share things and so it's great that we can work with those and that the people that might see us as a threat I think understand when they when we start to work together that we never want to be that.
Professor Goodman Sibeko (13:44)
And hopefully our growing membership serves as a champion for that. know, over the last 10 years, ISSUP's grown remarkably to 45,000 members plus and still growing every day across 200 countries, and territories. We've launched more than 30 national chapters, hosted over 280 webinars with over 78,000 attendees. And we've reached over 2 million website visitors, which is really nothing short of remarkable. So congratulations on that. In your view, which programs, chapters, or initiatives really stand out as particularly transformative?
Joanna Travis-Roberts (14:20)
Now, this is a difficult question because it's like asking me to choose my favourite child. But yes, I was thinking about it. It's amazing how much it's grown. And when you list those numbers, it's astonishing to me. I mean, if you'd go back and we could have this chat at that first event in Bangkok and I could never hope to be into over 200 countries and territories. It's it's astonishing really that It's grown so much and it's grown because of the work we've been doing, but because of the work that people are doing on the ground, because of the membership and the national chapters talking and promoting ISSUP. So it's, you know, it really is incredible. And I hope that everyone feels a sense of ownership of that growth, not just the ISSUP staff and the ISSUP team.
But in terms of transformative, I think the national chapters have definitely been huge because there's such variety. We started off with a small group They were doing very different things. And I think we really embraced that when we then started to develop this concept of national chapters, because the role of the national chapter is to deliver the mission within that local context, language, need whatever the framework is within a country and there's no way that ISSUP could begin to do that without the knowledge, experience of the host organisations who let's remember are again working as volunteers.
So that has been huge and I think as we've seen that grow and develop in so many different ways that has been amazing to see the strength of it and to maximise and make the most of that incredibly strong network. I think when you look then at the other ways that we work, so online, the brilliance of that is that we can be so flexible with things that are online. If something is emerging as an issue, we can have a webinar put together and out, you know, within a matter of weeks. You can put, flood the sort of membership with articles, research, knowledge on certain areas.
So for me, the adaptability of being online is wonderful and the way that we can go in so many directions. And we've talked already about the event and how good that feels to actually be together. And the event does the same things as the national chapters do and the online work does, but it has such a different feel because we're in person and it's a real chance to take stock and celebrate what people are doing. So I have really sat on the fence there and basically named everything that we do, but I think they have been important and transformative for different reasons.
Professor Goodman Sibeko (17:07)
It sounds to me, Joanna, as if you're, what brings it all together is what you're saying is ISSUP is really its membership. Because the national chapters bring us closer to our membership and make sure that we can be contextually appropriate.
The online platform ensures that we have reached and that we use adaptability at exactly the same time as I was thinking. And of course, that human component that comes through in the events. And I think we can maybe use this opportunity to encourage our membership to please share on the KnowledgeShare platform and to visit the KnowledgeShare and sort of be inspired and see what's happening globally from their peers.
So, I mean, we've already sort of alluded to the Knowledge Share. But in your view, how have ISSUP's core tools like the Knowledge Share, the ICAP certification, INEP plus webinars and networks contributed to one of our key missions, which is global capacity building.
Joanna Travis-Roberts (17:59)
So I think they all do it in different ways and it's difficult to sort of summarise but they are all working to different needs and we talked about this in episode one. We get a lot of feedback from our members, we're talking to them often, as you said we hear things through our national chapters so we hope that we are in touch and responding to what people are saying that they need and what they're talking about but they are different pieces of a puzzle.
And I think even that list that you've articulated just shows how ISSUP is not ISSUP alone because the ICAP certification and credentials are part of ICUDDR CCAA. So that's the agency that is working on those. INEP plus is something that was developed as part of the European prevention curriculum and is hosted by Charles University and they give us access to that to use. really demonstrates how we build on things that are already there and hopefully make them advertise them and make people use the wealth of resources that exist.
But something like the knowledge there is huge because it does a couple of things. It's a resource in that it's a library. So it goes back.
10 years and a lot of the things that we put in there at the outset were older than 10 years. So we sort of backfilled it at that point. So it's this really interesting catalogue of things if you're searching that you can use. It pushes information out there constantly. So new things emerge and they go in there and they're pushed out to our membership.
But it's also a way for people to showcase what they're doing. If you're doing a piece of research and it's not going to be published in a journal, then it can go there, you know, and people then can read it and everything is in there from an anecdote or a news story about something that happened last week in a town somewhere, all the way through to huge multi-partner, multifaceted research pieces. And that exemplifies, I think, how ISSUP wants to be very inclusive and showcase what other people are doing as well as the things that the ISSUP team are producing.
Professor Goodman Sibeko (20:16)
So these are really old puzzle pieces for reach and accessibility, puzzle pieces that allow people to have a space to find and expand their own sense of their personal value in the DDR space and to share and grow. hopefully that serves objectively as evidence of ISSUP as a collaborator, because you can actually physically go and see that people are contributing, people are sharing, people are commenting, people are arriving.
And I think that ties very much into my next question. We've spoken a little bit about the event as such a key element of what ISSUP does. So the ISSUP conference, which is our main event, is much looked forward to annually. How do you feel that this and other ISSUP activities have really solidified out the goals of bringing the workforce together in a supportive network?
Joanna Travis-Roberts (21:00)
So the ISSUP event is so important to be able to meet our membership, as I said, but also for people to come in a way that's perhaps different to other conferences. We try wherever possible to make it free. It's not always possible because, know, we don't, ISSUP doesn't get funding for these events. It's totally run on the back of our local partners, often our national chapters getting funding at a local level, which is amazing for us that people are willing to do that and work with us to host an event. But we try to make them as open and accessible for people.
And if we can't, if there is still costs attached, we try and make things watchable afterwards so that if you can't be there for whatever reason, if it's financial or just any constraint that we might face that people can then still access some of the content that has come out through the course of the event. We try and be inclusive in the speakers so that a range of work is discussed and heard about. And the networking, the side meetings, the trainings, that's what makes an ISSUP event unique. It's not a traditional conference. The sessions that happen in the conference room are really not the only thing. There's so much happening around an ISSUP event and people use the ISSUP event to have their own meetings, their own network elements and we try and work with our partners so that we can facilitate that as much as possible so that people can optimise that sense of us all being there to have many reasons, to meet in person, but there's a certain magic and I'm not sure I can fully articulate it or put my finger on it about everybody being together. Everybody's so positive and celebratory of their work and the achievements and the sharing elements of learning from each other that it really does feel very special when you're there and we hope that they continue to be useful and inspiring to people.
Professor Goodman Sibeko (23:08)
Yeah, I think that speaks to what we hope is that through the event, people get to feel that ISSUP cares about them, that ISSUP is about humans and it's about making an impact. And it's not just a bunch of resources on a website. So hopefully the event is an opportunity for people to experience that. I think what you've spoken about, is really, a lot of folks might not be aware the extent to which the national chapter is involved and that speaks to you're highlighting them as such a key activity. People may not know about the funding, the organisation, the amount of efforts that national chapters put in.
Joanna Travis-Roberts (23:41)
It's really remarkable. And I think you're right. think no one can really fully understand how much work they do. I mean, we're in the process of planning our Indonesia event for September and there's a team from that national chapter, six or seven people working on this week in week out. And they are the ones that find us the place, get the local funding, work with the local speakers and drive this event forward. And it's also why no two events are ever the same. We don't have a fixed blueprint that an ISSUP event has to look like this. There are some very ISSUP elements that we want to always carry between events, but every event has to be tailored to the local needs, what is available, and we adapt.
We are very adaptable to what there is, but you'll never get to ISSUP events being the same because of that, because the local groups work so hard and do so much. There's no way we could do that without them.
Professor Goodman Sibeko (24:45)
And it's been wonderful to see how different they are and yet how the human element still comes across in each one of them. So that common thread really remains. So Joanna, for my final question for this episode, and I know we've probably covered this to some extent, so it might feel like a bit of repetition, but in a few words, what would you say is your favourite ISSUP product or activity right now today, as we sit here today? And...
Does your favourite change from time to time depending on what's happening, the priorities? What do you say?
Joanna Travis-Roberts (25:12)
Definitely changes all the time. think my favourite at the moment, as you said, we're working on a couple of exciting initiatives and training opportunities and that to me is huge. So that's definitely my favourite at the moment because I think it's consuming all of us. But it's a perfect articulation of us trying to respond because our member survey last year clearly shouted at us that people want more access to training and we are hoping to broaden that access. So that's definitely my favourite product at the moment. And it does change, ask me tomorrow, maybe something different.
Professor Goodman Sibeko (25:51)
That's my favourite too. We're having a lot of fun putting it together. So Joanna, thank you so much. That's great. So today we've heard the awesome, fascinating story of ISSUP, its founding partnerships, the growth from that first gathering in Bangkok and the milestones that have marked its first 10 years. It's clear that ISSUP's really become more than an organisation. It's a global community, a home.
What we've learned along the way and where do we go from here? And so in our next episode, what are we gonna do is reflect on what ISSUP has achieved, look at what lessons we've learned and look at the vision for the next decade of impact. So don't miss it. Join us for the next episode.
About the ISSUP Exchange
The ISSUP Exchange podcast series explores the evolution of responses to the challenges of substance use—from research and training to ethics, quality standards and evidence-based practice. We connect the dots so you can see the big picture.
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About ISSUP
ISSUP is a global network that unites, connects, and shares knowledge across the substance use prevention, treatment, and recovery support workforce. Our mission is to make our members’ work as effective as possible—by providing access to training, resources, and a vibrant professional community.