This document discusses collaborative approaches between youth-focused alcohol and other drug (AOD) and mental health services in Hume LGA. It presents a case study of "Sarah", a 16-year-old referred for declining school functioning and low mood, who received support from both Hume Youth and Parents Drug Services (HYP-d) and headspace Craigieburn. The collaboration between these services allowed for clear safety planning, flexibility in service provision, increased professional support, and benefits for both services and Sarah as the young person.

1. Collaborative approaches to
Youth AOD and mental health
support in Hume LGA
Hume Youth and Parents Drug Services (HYP-d)
headspace Craigieburn

2. Presentation overview
• Today’s case presentation will demonstrate how collaborative
approaches between youth-focussed AOD & mental health services
can contribute to the achievement of positive outcomes for young
people and the community
• Hume LGA: high prevalence of familial conflict, criminal justice system
involvement, homelessness, mental health issues and reliance on
AOD
• Recognised need for a flexible service, with a multi-agency approach,
providing early intervention and counselling support

3. • HYP-d
- Federally funded to work across Hume LGA
- Primarily 1:1 counselling with 12-25 y/o
- Family support
- Work with schools and the community
• headspace
– Comm. Gov. initiative in 2006 - National Youth Mental Health Foundation
– Young people aged 12 – 25 years old
– Early Intervention model (mild – moderate concerns)
– Help for any issue (MH, AOD, Voc/Ed, General Health)
– Free or low cost services
– A welcoming environment that is youth friendly
– A range of professionals such as:
Doctors Psychologists
Counsellors Social workers
Occupational therapists Alcohol and drug workers

4. About ‘Sarah’
• 16yrs.
• Referred by school nurse- decline in school functioning, low mood.
• Family hx of MH issues, 2 sibs depn, same age cousin suicided.
• Biological Mo hx of AOD use. Sarah adopted by Bio GrandP’s at 2mths.
• Older sib sig. physical health issues, & depn.
• Prescribed Sertraline by Psychiatrist for MDE
• Regular appts in 2015 with psychologist
• Referral to ReGen HYP-d mid 2016 for info. re AOD impact on foetus (NAS)

5. HYP-d intervention
• Referred for support re: maternal heroin use during pregnancy
• Education & information re: neonatal abstinence syndrome
• Education & information re: addiction, Stages of Change etc
• YP presenting with emotional distress
• Identified as at risk of AOD-related harm in future
• Red flags: parental drug use; chronic illness; past suicide attempts; Hx
of self harm; mental health state.

6. Collaboration- what worked
• Good communication between community-based services
• Development and implementation of safety plan
• Consistent approach
• HYP-d outreach to school
• Advocacy with school

7. Challenges
• Lack of case management
• Appointment overload led to poor attendance outside of school-
based appointments

8. Benefits of collaboration – for services
• Clear safety planning that was able to be consistently reinforced by all
workers involved in Sarah’s care
• Flexibility of service provision
• Increased professional support/secondary consultation/collaboration
• All involved services able to access most recent information
• Strengthened relationships between services
• Highlights gaps in service provision, potentially provides opportunities
to expand service provision

9. Benefits of collaboration – For YP
• Flexibility of service provision – outreach @ school
• Working at YP’s pace
• Clear & consistent safety planning
• Information sharing – reduced need for YP to retell story
• Scaffolded service provision based on need – concurrent &/or
sequential

10. Questions?