Support and case management
Support includes activities such as providing information and support to family members/friends/children, delivering peer-based support services, cultural support, and ongoing contact/regular communication between client/provider. Care co-ordination and case management involves ongoing treatment planning, goal setting and review and facilitation for client to achieve their goals. This includes supported referral and system navigation support to other services, if needed, such as health or social welfare services (Department of Health and Aged Care 2019).
In 2024–25:
- Support and case management accounted for 18% (43,594) of all treatment episodes:
- 13% (28,604) of episodes were for clients’ who received support and case management for their own alcohol or drug use.
- 50% (14,990) of episodes were for clients who received support and case management for someone else’s alcohol or drug use.
- Support and case managed episodes most commonly involved alcohol (35%), cannabis (22%) and methamphetamine (21%) (tables Trt.3, Trt.37).
Client profile
In 2024–25, 17,649 clients received support and case management:
- Of the people who received support and case management for their own alcohol or drug use:
- 60% were male
- 67% were aged 10–39
- 23% were Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (First Nations) people.
- Of the people who received support and case management for someone else’s alcohol or drug use:
- 60% were aged 10–39
- 13% were First Nations people (tables SC.18–20).
Treatment profile
In 2024–25:
- Support and case management episodes lasting 1 day were more common for treatment related to someone else’s alcohol or drug use (53%) than for clients’ own use (12%).
- Most (83%) treatment episodes for all clients lasted from one day to 3 months.
Between 2015–16 and 2024–25:
- Among support and case management treatment episodes for own alcohol or drug use:
- Episodes lasting 1 day fell from 43% in 2015–16 to 12% in 2024–25.
- Episodes lasting one to 3 months rose from 23% in 2015–16 to 32% in 2024–25.
- The median treatment duration rose from 17 days to 35 days.
- Among support and case management episodes for someone else’s alcohol or drug use:
- Episodes lasting 1 day rose substantially from 2015–16 (7.6%) to 2018–19 (87%) before falling in 2024–25 (53%).
- The median treatment duration dropped from 36 days to 1 day (tables Ov.11, Trt.39).
In 2019–20, changes were made to categories under Main Treatment; the word ‘only’ was removed from support and case management. The removal of the word ‘only’ from support and case management, 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.
Department of Health and Aged Care 2019. National Framework for Alcohol, Tobacco and Other Drug Treatment 2019–29, Department of Health and Aged Care, Australian Government, accessed 6 March 2024.