# ‘SASADECC’—A Unique Model of Collaborative Care Between Government and Non‐Government Health Services for Adolescents With Complex Substance Use Issues

## TL;DR

This paper presents a successful collaboration between government and non-government services to help adolescents with complex substance use issues and mental health problems.

## Contribution

A novel collaborative care model for adolescent substance use combining government and non-government services is described and evaluated.

## Key findings

- 149 clients were referred from Sydney Drug Education and Counselling Centre to SASA for specialized care.
- Participants showed significant improvements in substance dependence and depression and anxiety symptoms.
- Most clients reported progress in substance use goals and psychological and social functioning.

## Abstract

Despite the importance of early intervention, major treatment gaps exist for adolescents with substance use issues. This report describes a unique collaboration between government and non‐government health services—The Specialist Addiction Service for Adolescents (SASA) adolescent addiction psychiatry service and Sydney Drug Education and Counselling Centre youth alcohol and other drug counselling service.

The collaboration developed organically from available resources and close collaboration between the services. Informal client and referrer feedback, demographic data, outcome measures and clinical notes (2019–2022) were reviewed.

Feedback on the collaboration was positive overall. There were 149 Sydney Drug Education and Counselling Centre clients seen by SASA during the study period. Of these, 50 study participants were identified with valid serial outcome measures (VSOM) for analysis. Study participants did not differ significantly in demographics and primary drug of concern compared to all clients (with and without VSOM) combined. Overall, participants showed statistically significant improvements between entry and exit scores for the Severity of Dependence Scale, and for the Depression Anxiety Stress Scales—Short Form (DASS21) depression and the anxiety subscales, but not for the stress subscale. The majority of participants reported improvements towards substance use goals and psychological function. Many also improved in other areas of concern including social‐occupation function and risk issues.

The collaboration provides a useful model of collaborative care between government and non‐government services for adolescents with substance use issues. This paper reflects on learnings from the model for consideration in future service developments.

The collaboration provides a model of a specialist alcohol and other drug (AOD) service for adolescents.The collaboration provides a model of collaborative care between government and non‐government AOD services.Selective referral by AOD counsellors to psychiatric assessment and interventions can help clients engaged in AOD counselling where underlying mental health issues are impacting treatment progress, as demonstrated by improvements in outcome measures, clinical notes and feedback from clients and referrers.

The collaboration provides a model of a specialist alcohol and other drug (AOD) service for adolescents.

The collaboration provides a model of collaborative care between government and non‐government AOD services.

Selective referral by AOD counsellors to psychiatric assessment and interventions can help clients engaged in AOD counselling where underlying mental health issues are impacting treatment progress, as demonstrated by improvements in outcome measures, clinical notes and feedback from clients and referrers.