Capital Health Network

Reaching Out

Reaching Out provides drug and alcohol outreach counselling to people aged 13 years and over at a convenient, safe and comfortable place. The service provides screening for mental health, domestic and family violence, suicide risk along with brief interventions and individual treatment plans to clients.

The program works with ACT Corrections and the Canberra Hospital Detox Unit to establish strong referral points and refine the referral process to ensure optimum outcomes for clients. In addition to conducting counselling outreach appointments, Reaching Out provides weekly to fortnightly in-reach services to Samaritan House, Canberra Recovery Services, McKillop House and the Canberra Hospital Detox Unit. In the past year, over 125 clients received AOD treatment services under the Reaching Out program.

Support Connections

Support Connections is also an outreach case management program that works in partnership with anyone over the age of 16 years who wants to stop or reduce their use of alcohol or drugs. The program assists clients to make changes in their lives, connect them with other health and community services, develop crisis and relapse prevention plans, or explore harm reduction strategies to help clients become more in control and improve their health and wellbeing. Face-to-face and telehealth appointment options are available for each program.

A number of clients in Canberra received valuable outreach support for their addiction over the period. The program worked with specialist homelessness services such as Men in Need Of Support Accommodation (MINOSA), Aiding in Secure, Safe, Independent and Stable Tenancies (ASSIST), Community Assistance and Support Program (CASP) and Axial to ensure clients with high and complex support needs are receiving appropriate AOD support and assistance to obtain and maintain their tenancies. In the past year, over 60 clients received AOD treatment services under the Support Connections program

Client story – Support Connections

Gary (pseudonym) a 64 year-old male was referred to AOD Support Connections upon discharge from detox at The Canberra Hospital. Prior to his admission to detox, Gary reported long-term struggles with alcohol, at times consuming over 1.5 litres of wine a day.

Gary identified a number of barriers to his wellbeing and ability to maintain sobriety. This included his high tolerance and dependence on alcohol, issues with his finances, his house being in disrepair, and inability to maintain his current home.   The Case Manager made a referral to the Community Assistance and Support Program (CASP) for support with maintaining his home.

It became apparent that goal-oriented support was difficult for Gary, as he had relapsed into consuming harmful levels of alcohol again. The Case Manager made a referral for AOD counselling and supported him to coordinate his appointments. Not long after this, Gary started to come to the realisation that he was unwell and needed help. With support, Gary engaged with Karralika and completed an assessment to attend the residential therapeutic rehabilitation program. While awaiting admission, the Case Manager continued to provide intensive case management over the next month to prepare Gary to attend the residential program. Prior to being exited from the program, Gary successfully completed detox at The Canberra Hospital before admission to Karralika’ s residential program.