Alcohol and other drug treatment services in Australia annual report 2024–25

Closed treatment episode

An episode of treatment for alcohol and other drugs is the period of contact, with defined dates of commencement and cessation (start and end date), between a client and a treatment provider or team of providers in which there is no change in the main treatment type or the principal drug of concern, and there has not been a non-planned absence of contact for greater than 3 months.

A treatment episode is considered closed where any of the following occurs:

• treatment is completed or has ceased (see reasons for cessation)
• there has been no contact between the client and treatment provider for 3 months, or
• there is a change in the main treatment type, principal drug of concern or delivery setting.

Treatment episodes are excluded from the AODTS NMDS for a reporting year if they:

• are not closed in the relevant financial year
• are for clients who are receiving pharmacotherapy (through an opioid substitution therapy program) and not receiving any other form of treatment that falls within the scope of the collection
• include only activities relating to needle and syringe exchange, or
• are for a person aged under 10.

All information included in the AODTS NMDS regarding clients and treatment services are based on a closed treatment episode (there is an end date which falls within the reporting period). Each treatment episode has 1 principal drug of concern and 1 main treatment type. If the principal drug or main treatment changes, then a new episode is recorded.

The Alcohol and Other Drug Treatment Services National Minimum Data set is a service-based collection and not a demand-based collection, noting that services are limited by the number of clients they are able to provide treatment to, and that this may not be reflective of the demand for services by the broader community.

Drugs of concern

The principal drug of concern is the main substance that the client stated led them to receive treatment from the AOD treatment agency. In this report, only clients who received treatment for their own substance use are included in analyses of principal drug of concern. It is assumed that only the person using the substance themselves can accurately report principal drug of concern; therefore, these data are not collected from those who received treatment for someone else’s drug use.

Additional drugs of concern refers to any other drugs the client reports using in addition to the principal drug of concern. Clients can nominate up to 5 additional drugs of concern, but these drugs are not necessarily the subject of any treatment within the episode.

All drugs of concern refers to all drugs reported by clients, including the principal drug of concern and any additional drugs of concern.

Reasons for cessation

The reasons for a client ceasing to receive a treatment episode from an AOD treatment service include.

The reason the client ceased to receive a treatment episode from an alcohol and other drug treatment service. The client can have: 

• completed treatment – where the treatment was completed as planned
• a change in the main treatment type
• a change in the delivery setting
• a change in the principal drug of concern
• been transferred to another service provider – including where the service provider is no longer the most appropriate, and the client is transferred or referred to another service. For example, transfers could occur for clients between non-residential and residential services, or between residential services and a hospital – excludes situations where the original treatment was completed before the client transferred to a different provider for other treatment
• ceased to participate against advice – here the service provider is aware of the client’s intention to stop participating in treatment, and the client ceases despite advice from staff that such action is against the client’s best interest
• ceased to participate without notice
• ceased to participate involuntarily – where the service provider stops the treatment due to non-compliance with the rules or conditions of the program
• ceased to participate at expiation – where the client has fulfilled their obligation to satisfy expiation requirements (for example, participation in a treatment program to avoid having a criminal conviction being recorded against them) as part of a police or court diversion scheme and chooses not to continue with further treatment
• ceased to participate by mutual agreement – where the client ceases participation by mutual agreement with the service provider, even though the treatment plan has not been completed. This may include situations where the client has moved out of the area
• been to a drug court or sanctioned by court diversion service – where the client is returned to court or jail due to non-compliance with the program
• been imprisoned (other than sanctioned by a drug court or diversion service)
• died.

The grouped categories used in the report for reason for cessation:

• expected/planned completion: episodes where the treatment was completed, or where the client ceased to participate at expiation or by mutual agreement.
• ended due to unplanned completion: episodes where the client ceased to participate against advice, without notice or due to non-compliance.
• referred to another service/change in treatment mode: episodes that ended due to a change in main treatment type, delivery setting or principal drug of concern, or where the client was transferred to another service provider.
• other: episodes that ended due to the client returning to court or jail due to non-compliance with a drug court program or sanctioned by court diversion service, imprisoned (other than drug court sanctioned), died, or reasons not elsewhere classified.

Treatment types

Treatment type refers to the type of activity used to treat the client’s alcohol or other drug use. Rehabilitation, withdrawal management (detoxification) and pharmacotherapy are not available for client’s who received treatment for someone else’s drug use. 

• assessment only – where only assessment is provided to the client (service providers would normally include an assessment component in all treatment types)
• counselling – can include cognitive behaviour therapy, brief intervention, relapse intervention [WB1] and motivational interviewing
• information and education – where information and education is provided to the client (service providers would normally include an information and education component in all treatment types)
• pharmacotherapy – where the client receives another type of treatment in the same treatment episode and includes drugs such as naltrexone, buprenorphine and methadone used as maintenance therapies or relapse prevention for people who experience dependence on certain types of opioids. Where a pharmacotherapy is used for withdrawal, it is included in the withdrawal category. Due to the complexity of the pharmacotherapy sector, this report provides only limited information on agencies whose sole function is to provide pharmacotherapy
• rehabilitation – focuses on supporting clients in stopping their drug use, and to prevent psychological, legal, financial, social and physical consequences of drug use. Rehabilitation can be delivered in several ways, including residential treatment services, therapeutic communities and community-based rehabilitation services
• support and case management – support includes helping a client who occasionally calls an agency worker for emotional support, while case management is usually more structured than ‘support’. It can assume a more holistic approach, taking into account all client needs (including general welfare needs) and it includes assessment, planning, linking, monitoring and advocacy
• withdrawal management (detoxification) – includes medicated and non-medicated treatment to help manage, reduce or stop the use of a drug of concern.

The main treatment type is the principal activity that is determined at assessment by the treatment provider to be necessary for the completion of the treatment plan for the client’s alcohol or other drug use for their principal drug of concern. One main treatment type is reported for each treatment episode. ‘Assessment only’ can be reported only as main treatment types.

In 2019–20, changes were made to categories under Main Treatment; the word ‘only’ was removed from support and case management and information and education. The removal of the word ‘only’ from support and case management and information and education, changed reporting rules for agencies; allowing agencies to be able to report and more accurately capture these items as an additional treatment in conjunction with a main treatment type.

Additional treatment types refer to other treatment types provided to the client, in addition to their main treatment type. Up to 4 additional treatment types can be reported. For example, a client may receive counselling as their main treatment and support and case management as an additional treatment. Up to four additional treatment types can be recorded for each client.

Note that Victoria and Western Australia do not supply data on additional treatment types. In these jurisdictions, each type of treatment (main or additional) results in a separate episode.

Client counts

Every client in the Alcohol and Other Drug Treatment Services National Minimum Data Set (AODTS NMDS) is assigned a statistical linkage key (SLK-581).

Client counts are based on the number of valid SLK-581s in the AODTS NMDS. 

National client counts are based on the first time a client’s SLK-581 appears in the AODTS NMDS in the financial year. All clients are counted once in national totals irrespective of the number [WB1] of times they receive treatment (distinct count).

Treatment and demographic characteristics of clients counted at the national level are based on the first treatment episode for the client within the financial year the data was collected.

State and territory client counts are based on counting the first occurrence of an SLK-581 in the AODTS NMDS in each jurisdiction in that financial year. Clients who receive treatment in more than one jurisdiction will therefore be counted in each of these jurisdictions (overlap count). This is most common among clients who reside close to interstate borders and travel interstate for treatment. For example, clients who reside in Queanbeyan, NSW and travel to Canberra, ACT for treatment. This means that the sum of clients at the state and territory level can be greater than the national total.

This report uses both national and state and territory counts to describe trends at both national and jurisdictional levels, as well as movements between jurisdictions. For more information, refer to the supplementary table footnotes and the SLK-581 guide for use [PDF 96kB].

New client

Clients who have received treatment from a publicly funded AOD agency in the financial year for the first time, having never received treatment in any previous year. This is based on if a client’s Statistical Linkage Key-581 has not appeared previously in the data collection since 2013-14. This does not account for miscoding of, or changes to, client name, date of birth or sex.

Returning client

Clients who have received treatment from a publicly funded AOD agency in the financial year plus at least 1 previous year since 2013–14. This is based on if a client’s Statistical Linkage Key-581 has appeared previously in the data collection since 2013-14. This does not account for miscoding of, or changes to, client name, date of birth or sex.

Diversion client type

Clients who received at least 1 AOD treatment episode during a collection year resulting from a referral by a police or court diversion program. The 2 subtypes in this group are:

• diversion only clients – received treatment as a result of diversion referrals only
• diversion client with non-diversion episodes – received at least 1 treatment episode resulting from a diversion referral, but also received at least 1 treatment episode resulting from a non-diversion referral in a collection year.

Median

The midpoint of a list of observations ranked from the smallest to the largest.SLK-581 guide for use [PDF 96kB]