AOD treatment services 2013-14

Last week the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare released the Alcohol and Other Drug Treatment Services 2013-14 report.  The data for this report series comes from the National Minimum Data Set (NMDS).  NMDS is collected by Healthy Options programs as well as other organisations' programs funded by the government.

Some of the main trends and findings in the data:

Client demographics

• Nationally, there were 118,741 clients (1 in 200 of the population).  112,573 were attending the service for their own drug use; 7174 were significant others 
• Two thirds of clients identify as male and 14% identify as Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander
• Two thirds of significant others were female
• The treatment population seems to be ageing, with a slight decrease in 20-29y/o and an increase in 40+y/o

Drugs of concern

• The most common primary drug of concern is alcohol (40%), al though this has decreased from 2009-10 (48%)
• There has been an increase in clients with amphetamines as the reported primary drug of concern up from 7% to 17%
• There has been an increase in clients reporting inhaling and smoking as their method of use for amphetamines
• 54% of clients have more than one drug of concern

Treatment

• Over half of all agencies are located in major cities.  Only 7% are in remote or very remote areas
• The most common stated intervention remains "counselling" 43%, followed by assessment and withdrawal management 
• The median duration of treatment episodes was 3 weeks.  79% of episodes were closed within 3 months and 24% within one day
• Clients whose principle drug of concern is amphetamines or heroin generally have longer treatment episodes   
• 64% of client cessations were expected (e.g. treatment completion).  Unexpected cessations (e.g. non-compliance) accounted for 20% of cessations
• Expected cessation was highest for ecstasy (87%) and lowest for buprenorphine (45%)
• Unexpected cessation was highest for amphetamine (25%) and lowest for ecstasy (8%)

Full report available here:  http://tinyurl.com/o8eqqm6

July PD activites

Some of the professional development activities available during July.  Be sure to add any further suggestions in the comments or contact the library.

 

Write – presentations and papers

Rural and remote mental health symposium

Abstracts now open for the symposium and this year’s topic is Innovation and Opportunity
Conference topics include:

• Working smarter: overcoming the challenges and innovative solutions
• Developing programs that build resilience, reduce stigma and offer accessibility to services
• Service delivery strategies, development, implementation, management and evaluation
• Child and youth mental health: prevention and early intervention
• e-Health, tele-Health, technology and social media
• Suicidal and self-harming: behaviour and prevention
• Aboriginal health and engagement
• Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CALD) community programs, support and education
• Recovery in the Bush
• Building healthy communities: policy, practice, community innovation
• Employment opportunities for better health outcomes
• The voice of the lived experience

Submissions due: 17^th July 2015

http://anzmh.asn.au/rrmh/

The 2015 Australian Stop Domestic Violence Conference

Abstracts now open for this year’s conference on the topic of “Connecting the dots…”

Presentation topics include:

• Community (e.g. Educational Programs, Homelessness, Intervention, Helplines)
• Communication and Interstate Collaboration
• Law Enforcement, Protection and Legal System
• Government and Policy Making
• Mental Health (e.g. Impact on service provider personnel, Preventative care, Access to services, Identification of core issues and diagnosis)
• Indigenous Communities
• Special Topics/Open (e.g. Children, CALD, Disability, Elder Abuse, IPV and Sexual Assault, LBGTI, Parental Violence)
• Research

Authors or organisations interested in speaking at the Conference, are invited to submit an abstract or paper of no more than 300 words outlining the aims, contents and conclusions of their paper or presentation; or about their intended role in a workshop.

There are spots available for oral presentations, workshops, and poster presentations.

Submissions due: 29^th August

http://stopdomesticviolence.com.au/submit-abstract/

Read – professional reading

Gorman, D. M. (2015), ‘Everything works’: the need to address confirmation bias in evaluations of drug misuse prevention interventions for adolescents. Addiction, doi: 10.1111/add.12954.

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/add.12954/full

Darvishi N, Farhadi M, Haghtalab T, Poorolajal J (2015) Alcohol-Related Risk of Suicidal Ideation, Suicide Attempt, and Completed Suicide: A Meta-Analysis. PLoS ONE 10(5): e0126870. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0126870 

http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0126870

Morandini, J. S., Blaszczynski, A., Dar-Nimrod, I. and Ross, M. W. (2015), Minority stress and community connectedness among gay, lesbian and bisexual Australians: a comparison of rural and metropolitan localities. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health, 39: 260–266. doi: 10.1111/1753-6405.12364

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1753-6405.12364/abstract?campaign=woletoc

Attend – informal learning sessions, journal club, seminar series

Journal club (available to Healthy Options workers only)

Journal club for this month is yet to be finalised.  Below date is tentative only.  Details will be provided as soon as possible.

When: Thursday, 16th July, 2pm

The addicted brain – Emory University

This is a course about addiction to drugs and other behaviours. It will describe what happens in the brain and how this information helps us deal with and overcome addiction. It will also discuss other topics such as government policy and our vulnerability to take drugs.  Course is delivered in 7 online modules

When: Available anytime

https://www.coursera.org/learn/addiction-and-the-brain

Attend - conferences

Aboriginal Health Conference

The conference theme Healthy families - healthy futures will be addressed through presentations, clinical updates, practical workshops, hands-on concurrent sessions and case study learning opportunities that are professionally accredited and delivered by expert specialists and speakers.  Includes optional family program/child care.

When: 4-5^th July

Where: Perth

Cost: $320-450

http://www.ruralhealthwest.com.au/professional-development/conference/2015/07/04/default-calendar/aboriginal-health-conference-2015

Australian Winter School Conference

Now in its 28th year, AWS aims to support health care professionals in developing skills and knowledge in responding to and treating alcohol and drug related issues, including mental health. It brings together practitioners, researchers, policy makers and workers from across the sector including community and private practice and all levels of government and provides a forum for cross-disciplinary dialogue. The conference suits those working in alcohol and other drugs, including nurses, allied health, GPs and other support agencies. It also appeals to those working in EDs and mental health care.
When: 22-24 July
Where: Brisbane
Cost:  See website for costs (and for the clever names they’ve given the various ticket types)
http://winterschool.org.au/

Listen – podcasts, webinars

Dovetail webinar: Practical harm reduction

This webinar will include an overview of the types of harms that young people using substances might experience and practical strategies that young people can use to reduce these harms.  The webinar will cover cannabis, MDMA (ecstasy), LSD and methamphetamine, with strategies that can be applied at any stage of a young person's engagement with a service from intake / assessment, through to treatment and relapse prevention.
When: 9am – 10am (AEST) Friday, 3^rd July.
http://www.dovetail.org.au/latest-news/2015/june/dovetail-webinar-practical-harm-reduction-friday-july-3rd-9am-10am.aspx

Everyday racism – Podsocs

Everyday racism is alive and well in Australia. But do we know what it is, how it manifests and how it affects people in our community. Jessica Walton talks about everyday racism.
Duration: 23mins
http://www.podsocs.com/podcast/everyday-racism/