Page 4109 - Week 13 - Thursday, 2 December 2021
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of co-occurring alcohol and other drug and mental health conditions, and then develop an implementation plan for responding to co-occurring mental health and AOD conditions, which includes the development of guidelines.
The alcohol and drug services sit within the integrated mental health, justice health, alcohol and drug services division of Canberra Health Services. A key priority of MHJHADS is improving the treatment of co-occurring conditions. Canberra Health Services’ dedicated alcohol and drug services provide holistic health care, screening assessment, treatment planning, intervention and care coordination. The team at CHS are currently developing “responding to people with co-occurring mental health and drug and alcohol conditions” to further progress improvements across our service system. The plan will focus on enhancing staff members’ responsiveness to identifying co-occurring conditions and taking a holistic approach to their clinical engagement.
The ACT government has long partnered with a broad range of dedicated and nation-leading community alcohol and other drug and mental health services. The screening and assessment of mental health disorders is routine practice for community alcohol and other drug treatment providers and reflects a person-centred approach to working with people on co-occurring issues. These services also provide support to access specialist mental health services where needed.
A key example of a community partner service delivering integrated care is Ted Noffs, which includes a comprehensive mental health history and suicide assessment as part of the specialist alcohol and drug admission assessment. Ted Noffs has a psychologist on staff who can assist young people attending the alcohol and other drug program with mental health issues as part of their treatment plan, with clinical treatment planning each week and consultation with a clinical psychologist. They also maintain joint management, consultation and liaison with Mental Health ACT and partnerships with other mental health services.
It is important to acknowledge that there are different mental health disorders of differing severity and multiple drug disorders of differing severity, and there are potentially a very large number of combinations of alcohol and drug disorders that would be very challenging for a single service to deal with appropriately. However, the government recognises that better integration of existing services, collaboration and engagement in the service system will help stop people falling through the cracks when they present with both mental health challenges and addiction.
I particularly want to acknowledge the work in the community sector in relation to the annual comorbidity showcase that brings together community-based mental health and alcohol and other drug services, recognising this challenge, offering them the opportunity to engage and speak to one another, to meet one another, and to better establish those cross-referral processes within the community sector.
As I said earlier, a key aim for me as Minister for Health is better integrating our health system and ensuring that people are able to access the care they need when they need it. It is a key reason why ACT Labor committed, before the last election, to establish a service for young people experiencing mental illness with comorbidities,
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