Abstract
Substance misuse and mental health disorders are commonly occurring co-morbidities in young people. This paper reports on a pilot project to embed three specialist Alcohol and Other Drug (AoD) workers to be embedded in a youth early psychosis service to upskill mental health clinicians in managing substance misuse. Evaluation of the project used a mixed methods approach. Quantitative results showed that clinical staff members’ knowledge of substance misuse, knowledge of AoD treatments and services, and overall confidence in working with young people with a substance misuse issue improved following implementation of the project. Qualitative results indicated four themes which emerged: defining the role of the AoD workers; support and upskilling of the mental health staff; openness and effective communication between the embedded workers and mental health teams; and barriers to collaboration. The results provide support for the embedding of specialist alcohol and drug workers in youth mental health services.
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Acknowledgements
We acknowledge and thank the participants who gave up their time to contribute to the research process. This work was carried out on the traditional lands of the people of the Kulin nation, in South Central Victoria, Australia, and we pay our respects to Elders past, present and emerging.
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Hopkins, L., Whitehead, R. & Pedwell, G. Integrating Substance Misuse Specialists in a Youth Early Psychosis Service: Increasing Mental Health Clinicians’ Knowledge and Confidence. Community Ment Health J 59, 1321–1329 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10597-023-01117-x
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10597-023-01117-x