This descriptive qualitative study explored the lived perceptions and views of middle school teachers, school counselors, and Licensed Professional Counselors (LPCs) within central Alabama's middle school system. The problem explored is adolescent substance abuse students whose academic attainment may be affected by their drug abuse. Interdisciplinary collaboration practices among school and counseling professionals were examined to determine the attitudes toward interdisciplinary practices to address adolescent substance abuse students' academic attainment. The purpose of the study was to explore school and counseling professionals' lived experiences and perceptions in creating and implementing an interdisciplinary collaborative team within central Alabama's public middle school system. A descriptive qualitative approach was used where 30 participants completed an open-and-closed ended questionnaire to describe their attitudes in creating and implementing an interdisciplinary team within central Alabama's public middle school systems. An analysis of the participants' responses yielded five primary themes. The five descriptive themes were (a) purpose of an interdisciplinary team within middle schools, (b) benefits of an interdisciplinary team, (c) student support through community collaboration, (d) current collaborative practices, and (e) negative influence of substance abuse on student achievement. Contributing factors toward the creation and implementation of an interdisciplinary team included the purpose and benefits, the use of current community resources, and recognition of the negative impact substance abuse has on an adolescent's academic attainment. Factors that were not pertinent to the development of a collaborative team included promotion of group collaboration and professional boundaries, and school counselor as an interventionist. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]