Under One Roof: Integrating Alcohol and Other Drug and Mental Health Programs

Written by Jennifer Frendin, Program Director, Community Services Odyssey House NSW.

Jennifer will be presenting at the up and coming Rethinking Mental Health Forum in Sydney on the 31st October 2018. Purchase your tickets here.

It is widely known that 75% of alcohol and other drugs users also have co-occurring mental health issues, and one in three people who use drugs and alcohol have multiple co-occurring mental health issues*. However, there is often segregation between alcohol and other drugs and mental health services, resulting in many clients falling through the gaps.

Odyssey House has been working to close the gap.

Established in 1977, Odyssey House has a long-standing reputation in assisting those with substance abuse issues in a residential rehabilitation setting, framed within the therapeutic community model. The recent expansion of community services across the whole of Sydney has allowed Odyssey House to assist more clients with a range of substance dependence issues, in various stages of their recovery journey, within an integrated model of care.

Odyssey House also has a commitment to supporting the mental health and wellbeing of careers and family members impacted by their loved one’s substance use. At the up and coming Rethinking Mental health Forum in Sydney we will be presenting our innovative evidence-based group programs designed to address alcohol and drug issues while supporting clients’ mental health recovery.

Odyssey House is committed to enhancing the social and emotional wellbeing of those impacted by substance abuse issues and co-occurring mental health and building safe and healthy communities.

*(Info sourced from the Guidelines on the management of co-occurring alcohol and other drug and mental health conditions in alcohol and other drug treatment setting, 2nd edition, 2016)