Page 2118 - Week 07 - Thursday, 20 August 2020
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Pilots and evaluations enable us to try, test and learn, to ensure that we deliver the right solution for our community here in the ACT. While the ACT government are proud of these achievements under the drug strategy action plan, we are also continually open to feedback and analysis of opportunities for improvement.
I know that we can and must do more to break down the silos that exist between mental health services and alcohol and other drug services. In November last year I was privileged to open the 12th annual Comorbidity Interagency Day, a mental health and alcohol and drug services exhibition organised by CatholicCare and supported by ATODA and a wide range of service providers across the mental health and alcohol and other drugs sector. The annual event showcases our excellent community and government service, encourages collaboration and promotes coordinated and quality care for people experiencing both alcohol and other drug and mental health conditions in the ACT.
I saw commitment and ingenuity from those dedicated workers. But I also heard the very real challenges that come with shifting models of care, bridging sectors and delivering truly coordinated care across the continuum. The ACT is fortunate to have the expertise of dedicated and skilled service providers across the wide range of supports to assist individuals with alcohol and other drug issues, as well as their families and community.
We know that many young people with serious mental health problems use drugs to self-medicate. This can be in response to complex development trauma. We recognise that a holistic response is required to fully understand and address drug usage and possession in a psychosocial developmental context. This can mitigate deepening complications and compounding challenges, including engagement with the justice system, which potentially have permanent lifelong ramifications.
There is work underway. For example, the alcohol and drug services, in partnership with adult community mental health services, have led the development of a warm referral procedure that aims to facilitate referrals for adult mental health consumers, including younger people, to access a range of alcohol and other drug programs. But we recognise that there is more to do. This includes for young people.
On that note, I would like to thank Mr Pettersson, Ms Lee and Mrs Kikkert for their work in the inquiry into youth mental health, which also raised some of these issues. These challenges are not unique to the ACT, but I believe that with our services we are uniquely placed to make progress and deliver better coordinated care for people—young people and adults—who present with alcohol and illicit drug use issues and comorbid mental ill health challenges.
I welcome the motion from Mr Pettersson and his advocacy for our continued focus on a harm minimisation approach. I recognise, as I have said, that there is still work to do—work that would be an important focus of a re-elected Labor government.
MR HANSON (Murrumbidgee) (4.36): It is a bit disappointing, in a sense, that the amendment has been moved, because otherwise we could have had a unity of view in this place today. That being said, it has been moved and I will not have a crack at
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