Across all treatment episodes in 2020–21, counselling was the most common main treatment type for treatments delivered in a non-residential setting (49%) or outreach setting (31%) (Figure TREATMENTDELIVERY.1).
In 2020–21, treatment provided varied among people receiving treatment for their own drug use:
- Non-residential treatment settings were the most common where the principal drug of concern was heroin (71% of episodes), cannabis (71%), alcohol (64%) or amphetamines (64%).
- Residential treatment settings were the next most common setting for people receiving treatment for heroin (13%), alcohol (17%) or amphetamines (15%) as a principal drug of concern. Outreach settings were a common setting for those receiving treatment for cannabis (11%) as a principal drug of concern.
- Withdrawal management was the most common main treatment delivered in a residential setting, consisting of almost half (46%) of all episodes.
Treatment provided also varied among people receiving treatment for another person’s drug use:
- Counselling was the most common main treatment delivered in home settings, consisting of half of all episodes (53%). This was followed closely by counselling delivered in non-residential settings (52%) and home settings (41%).
- Counselling was also the most common main treatment delivered in outreach settings (41%).
Length of treatment
Clients whose principal drug of concern was amphetamines spent longer in treatment, with a median duration of 36 days.
In 2020–21, the median treatment duration across all treatment episodes was 4 weeks (28 days). For each client type the following was reported:
- Among clients receiving treatment for their own drug use, the median duration of treatment was 27 days, similar in 2019–20 (26 days).
- Among clients receiving support for someone else’s drug use, the median duration was 37 days, a small increase from 2019–20 (35 days), and more than double the median duration in 2018–19 (14 days).
The duration of treatment episodes varied by main treatment type and principal drug of concern:
- Among all clients, the median duration was 64 days for clients receiving counselling, 43 days for rehabilitation, 29 days for support and case management, 8 days for withdrawal management, and 1 day for assessment only.
- Among the four most common principal drugs of concern, median treatment duration was longest for amphetamines (36 days), followed by heroin (27 days), alcohol (26 days) and cannabis (20 days). Since 2011–12, the median duration of heroin treatment episodes fell from 32 days to 27 days and the median duration of amphetamine treatment increased from 26 days to 36 days.
What are the common reasons for ceasing treatment?
In 2020–21, almost 3 in 5 (59%) of all treatment episodes ended in a planned or expected completion, and 1 in 5 (20%) treatment episodes ended due to an unplanned completion (Figure REASONCESSATION.1). These figures have remained relatively constant over the 10 years from 2011–12.
Reasons for ceasing treatment varied based on main treatment type. For example, 36% of treatment episodes where rehabilitation was the main treatment type ended due to unplanned completion, while 72% of treatment episodes where withdrawal management was the main treatment type ended in a planned or expected completion.
Figure REASONCESSATION.1: Closed treatment episodes, by reason for cessation and main treatment, 2011–12 to 2020–21