Abstracts
KEYNOTE ADDRESS
The risks of drinking: how to measure
them, what guidelines to offer
Professor Robin Room, Director, AER Centre for Alcohol Policy
Research, Turning Point Alcohol & Drug Centre
The risks of drinking are measured with
increasing accuracy. Volume of drinking over time
is crucial for most chronic illnesses, though the pattern
of drinking also matters for some and may not for others. Amount
consumed on an occasion matters for risk of injury. For
the cumulative risk of injury, the pattern of drinking occasions
over time is crucial. Guidelines on low risk drinking set
an arbitrary cut-off on continuous curves of risk. At what
level should they be set? What is an acceptable level of
risk? These issues are discussed in the context of
the current revision of the Australian Guidelines. Download presentation
PROJECT PROFILES
PsyCheck: disseminating
a comorbidity screening tool
Sandra Roeg, Senior Education & Training Officer,
Turning Point Alcohol & Drug Centre
Although traditional in-service professional
development courses have been the cornerstone of workplace
initiatives, it is now recognised that education and training
in isolation from other strategies are generally ineffective.
Even though staff are aware of the evidence for best practice
and are willing to change, making the change can be difficult.
To create an environment for practice change, support and
drive from key staff is vital but this is only the beginning.
The dissemination phase of the PsyCheck project employed principles that took a whole of workforce approach to practice change in treating co-occurring mental health and substance use problems in the alcohol and drug sector. This presentation reflects on the challenges, highlights and keys to practice change. Download Powerpoint presentation (PDF)
JustAskUs website: a resource for
university students seeking help for alcohol, other drugs,
and mental health issues
Rick Loos, Telephone Counsellor, Turning Point Alcohol &
Drug Centre
As of 2004, approximately 945,000 tertiary
students were enrolled in higher education institutions,
nationally. The Department of Health and Ageing created
an initiative to establish a network of university campus
counsellors to focus on identifying early onset psychosis,
substance abuse and family support needs. In addition, the
initiative would support the provision of information to
students about mental illness and substance abuse and arrange
referral to appropriate specialist and mainstream community
services.
Turning Point was asked by the Commonwealth Government to
develop a website to support this initiative. The JustAskUs
website has been conceptualised as a centralised online
hub for student information across the areas of mental health,
alcohol and other drugs. This is intended to include a level
of background information and resources in relation to each
of these topic areas and pathways into treatment and support.
The JustAskUs brand is designed to target the tertiary student
population, in addition to significant others connected
with this group. Download Powerpoint presentation (PDF)
Access Point Stimulant Treatment Centres:
improving access to methamphetamine
intervention
Dr Nicole Lee, Head of Research, Turning Point Alcohol
& Drug Centre
The rate of stimulant use in Australia
is among the highest in the world and treatment services
are still grappling with the best way to respond to users
of these drugs. National Minimum Dataset statistics show
that approximately 11% of episodes of care are for amphetamines
as a primary drug of concern. However, many of the clients
are already known to the treatment sector. Mid-level
users in particular, who are socially and economically stable
but experiencing a range of problems with their use, including
dependence and mental health problems, do not see existing
alcohol and drug services as meeting their needs.
To address this treatment gap, two new centres for people who use stimulant type drugs have opened in Melbourne. Located in Fitzroy and St Kilda, the Access Point Stimulant Treatment Centres are a Commonwealth Government funded not-for-profit health service offering treatment, support and information for people who use stimulants.
This presentation will outline the rationale for the establishment of the centres, the services offered and the results from a needs analysis, utilisation data and early outcomes. Download Powerpoint presentation (PDF)
Measuring the harm from other people's
drinking in Australia: what is the impact of the drinking
on family members, friends, workmates and strangers?
Anne-Marie Laslett, Research Fellow, Turning Point Alcohol
& Drug Centre
One person's drinking often results in
harm to others. These harms can be due to injuries, violence,
or aggression or more subtly through neglect or insults.
Psychomotor impairment, lengthened reaction time, impairment
of judgement, emotional changes and decreased responsiveness
to social expectations are described as types of impairment
produced by alcohol intoxication (Babor, et al , 2003).
Do these mechanisms contribute to a diminished ability to
foresee consequences and manage emotions that result in
poor decisions and actions that affect others, once or repeatedly?
In turn does this result in failure or imperfections in
the social roles we take on as a partner, parent, family
member, friend, workmate or community member?
As part of the range and magnitude of alcohol's
harm to others the AER Centre for alcohol policy team uses
routinely recorded data from police, hospitals and child
protection; major existing national health, safety and satisfaction
general population surveys and a new national survey specifically
designed to describe and measure the impact of the drinking
of family members, friends, workmates and strangers. The
results to date from this two-year project include a better
understanding of how we might conceptualise and begin to
measure alcohol problems caused by others. Download Powerpoint presentation (PDF)
Turning Point in
Asia: six nation capacity building project for opioid substitution
therapy and methadone maintenance treatment
Jo Hayter, IDI OST Project Manager, Turning Point
Alcohol & Drug Centre
The Illicit Drugs Initiative is implementing
projects to strengthen regional responses to the development
impacts of illicit drugs, and increase Australia's engagement
in combating the production, trade and use of illicit drugs
in the South-East Asia region. The IDI is funded and administered
by the Asia Transboundary Section of AusAID. The six countries
included in this initiative include China, Thailand, Cambodia,
Lao PDR, Vietnam and Myanmar.
Over the past two years these projects have succeeded in developing new partnerships across Asia for methadone maintenance treatment research and training. New technical and professional resources for leaders of MMT programs in the Asia region have been made accessible. A peer-based support network is now established for exchange between the “Mr/Dr Methadones” in Asia. Ongoing adaptation and development of training programs for MMT clinicians addressing their priorities is resulting in greater staff retention in the workforce and bringing accreditation models to the region for the first time. The formation of a regional working group of key stakeholders and experts in opioid substitution therapy (OST) will ensure professional support mechanisms are in place for long term technical, conceptual and practical exchange. Download Powerpoint presentation (PDF)
Local area alcohol and drug use profiles:
City of Maribyrnong, a case study
Sharon Mathews, Research Fellow, Turning Point Alcohol
& Drug Centre
The Epidemiology and Surveillance Program
has been commissioned by numerous local government areas
to provide alcohol and other drug use profiles. The work
for some areas is ongoing, providing the ability to monitor
patterns in harms related to alcohol and other drug use.
In other areas we provide a snap shot at a particular time.
This work has tended to be based on secondary sources of
data or available data, and provide local areas with a good
evidence base from which to platform planning, strategies
and policy initiatives.
A recent project for the local government area of Maribyrnong
has been conducted. This project examined health and crime
data across all local government areas in the former western
metropolitan region and the three out of region ‘hotspots’.
A series of key informant interviews were conducted to provide
a qualitative dimension. The results will be used to inform
the City of Maribyrnong Local Drug Strategy.
The Symposium presentation will provide an overview of the
results from the City of Maribyrnong project. Download Powerpoint presentation (PDF)
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