Rehabilitation
Rehabilitation is an intensive treatment program that integrates a range of services and therapeutic activities, including counselling, behavioural treatment, social and community living skills, relapse prevention and recreational activities. This type of treatment is not available for people who received treatment for someone else’s alcohol or drug use. See glossary for further information on Rehabilitation.
In 2023–24, for a client’s own alcohol or drug use:
- More than 1 in 14 (7.0%, 16,870) treatment episodes included rehabilitation as the main treatment type.
- The most common principal drugs of concern for treatment episodes were alcohol (43%) or amphetamines (40%) (tables Trt.3, Trt.47).
Client profile
In 2023–24, for clients whose main treatment was rehabilitation (7,734 clients):
- 3 in 5 (60%) people were male.
- 3 in 5 (59%) people were aged 30–49.
- 3 in 10 (29%) people were Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (First Nations) people (tables SC.18–20).
Treatment profile
Among rehabilitation treatment episodes for a client’s own alcohol or drug use:
- 1 in 3 (36%) episodes lasted 1–3 months, while a further 30% lasted between 2–29 days in 2023–24.
- Over the 10-year period to 2023–24, the duration of episodes of rehabilitation remained relatively stable, which may be related to rehabilitation treatment programs lasting a set period of time (Table Trt.52).
- In the 10 years to 2023–24, the median treatment duration for clients’ own alcohol or drug use was highest in 2016–17 at 53 days and dropped to 43 days in 2023–24 (Table OV.11).