Support and case management
Support includes activities such as providing information and support to family members/friends/children, delivering peer-based support services, cultural support, and ongoing contact/regular communication between client/provider. Care co-ordination and case management involves ongoing treatment planning, goal setting and review and facilitation for client to achieve their goals. This includes supported referral and system navigation support to other services, if needed, such as health or social welfare services (Department of Health and Aged Care 2019). See glossary for further information on support and case management.
In 2022–23:
- Around 1 in 7 (15% or 35,712) treatment episodes reported a main treatment of support and case management:
- Almost 1 in 8 (13%) episodes included support and case management for clients’ own alcohol or drug use.
- Almost half (46%) of episodes were for clients who received treatment for someone else’s alcohol or drug use.
- Most support and case management treatment episodes for a client’s own alcohol or drug use were for people whose principal drug of concern was alcohol (38%), amphetamines (23%) or cannabis (22%) (tables Trt.3, Trt.37).
Client profile
In 2022–23, for clients whose main treatment was support and case management:
- Almost 3 in 5 (57%) clients receiving treatment for their own alcohol or drug use were male.
- More than 2 in 3 (67%) people receiving treatment for either their own or someone else’s alcohol or drug use were aged 10–39.
- Almost 1 in 5 (18%) people, were Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (First Nations) people received treatment for their own alcohol or drug use.
- Around 1 in 6 (16%) of First Nations people received support and case management for someone else’s drug use (tables SC.18–20).
Treatment profile
Among support and case management treatment episodes for clients’ own alcohol or drug use and someone else’s alcohol or drug use:
- The proportion of episodes lasting 1 day was higher for clients receiving treatment for someone else’s alcohol or drug use (73%) than for their own alcohol or drug use (12%).
- Most (79%) treatment episodes for support and case management lasted from one day to 3 months.
Over the 10-year period to 2022–23:
- For clients receiving treatment for their own alcohol or drug use, treatment episodes lasting 1 day increased from 10% in 2013–14 to 12% in 2022–23, peaking in 2015–16 (43%).
- Episodes lasting one to 3 months fell from 35% in 2013–14 to 31% in 2022–23.
- The proportion of treatment episodes for someone else’s alcohol or drug use that lasted 1 day rose substantially from 2013–14 (14%) to 2018–19 (87%) before falling in 2022–23 (73%).
- Median treatment duration for own alcohol or drug use dropped over this period from 48 days to 38 days since 2013–14.
- For someone else’s alcohol or drug use the median treatment duration dropped from 30 days to 1 day (tables Ov.11, Trt.39).
Department of Health and Aged Care 2019. National Framework for Alcohol, Tobacco and Other Drug Treatment 2019–29, Department of Health and Aged Care, Australian Government, accessed 6 March 2024.