An Alcohol & Other Drug Treatment & Education Service
National Drug Strategy 2010—20159 December 2010
MDP 701
GPO Box 9848
CANBERRA ACT 2601
Dear Sir/Madam
RE:The National Drug Strategy 2010-2015 Consultation Draft December 2010
We would like to congratulate the Ministerial Council on Drug Strategy for developing a clear, concise and relevant document.
The increased focus on workforce development is both welcome and relevant to an industry increasingly struggling to attract, train and retain its staff.
The introduction of a minimum qualification will help to up-skill and professionalise the workforce if our experience in Victoria is anything to go by.
The addition of worker well-being will lead to more effective practice and increase staff retention.
We also welcome the addition of using new technologies to make workforce development more accessible. We would like to suggest changing the wording a bit to acknowledge the important role that organisations play in ensuring access to many information websites, social networking pages, face book, twitter and other web 2 technologies in the communication and dissemination of information and knowledge. Organisations support the utilisation of new technologies to make workforce development more accessible.
Furthermore, there is a clear indication in the document that 'the internet is a key emerging medium for prevention and treatment approaches' which we completely support. We are aware there needs to be an increase in the evidence base for online AOD treatments which at the moment is very slim indeed. Therefore we would encourage a commitment to the implementation of demonstration projects with appropriately funded evaluations to explore the various options for online treatment and ultimately develop a much needed evidence base.
Evaluation findings from such projects would help to challenge pre-conceptions of how online therapy would work. They would either help to confirm the need for caution on automatically shifting all service types automatically to an online variant, or help to remove the equivocation from service funders etc. on whether to recognise such approaches as legitimate.
Thank you for the opportunity to make comments on the draft consultation paper.
If you require further advice or information, please call me on 9384 8880
Yours sincerely
Laurence Alvis
Chief Executive Officer
□Head Office: 26 Jessie Street Moreland Victoria 3058. Ph: (03) 9386 2876 Fax: (03) 9383 6705 Email:
□Youth Withdrawal: Gwenyth Williams House. 22 Jessie St Moreland 3058. Ph: (03) 9384 8855 Fax: (03)9384 2619
□Community Residential Drug Withdrawal: Cnr Banksia & Edwin Sts. Heidelberg 3081. Ph: (03) 9497 5155 Fax (03) 9497 5381
□Port Phillip Prison: c/-Moreland Hall. Cnr Doherty & Palmers Road Laverton 3028. Ph: (03) 9217 2222 Fax: 03 9217 7252