In 2023–24:
- Over 3 in 4 treatment episodes ended within 3 months, both for clients who received treatment for their own alcohol or drug use (78%, 170,825) and for someone else’s alcohol or drug use (79%, 17,082) (Table Ov.9).
- The median duration of treatment episodes was 4 weeks (27 days) for clients’ own alcohol or drug use and two and a half weeks (17 days) for clients who received support for someone else’s alcohol or drug use (Table Ov.10).
- For clients’ own alcohol or drug use, counselling had the longest median duration (67 days), while assessment only had the shortest (3 days) (Figure DURATION 1) (Table Ov.11).
Over the 10 years to 2023–24:
- Treatment episodes ending within 3 months has remained the most common duration for client’s own alcohol or drug use (78%, 170,825).
- For clients’ own alcohol or drug use, the median duration of treatment episodes fluctuated, from a low of 16 days in 2015–16, to a high of 29 days in 2021–22 before falling slightly to 27 days in 2032–24:
- These trends were driven primarily by changes in the duration of support and case management and other treatment episodes.
- The median duration of counselling has increased from 53 days to 67 days over this period (Figure DURATION 1).
- For clients who received support for someone else’s alcohol or drug use, the median duration fluctuated more widely, rising from a low of 14 days in 2018–19 to a high of 37 days in 2020–21, then falling to 17 days in 2023–24 (tables Trt.12, Ov.11). This fluctuation was driven primarily by decreases in support and case management treatment duration and increases in counselling duration.
