Background:
Integrated treatment is now the recommended practice for patients with comorbid mental health and alcohol and drug disorders. Up to 80% of patients present to alcohol and drug services with mental health problems, primarily the higher prevalence disorders (anxiety and depression). Alcohol and drug workers do not always have extensive mental health experience, and the focus of research and clinical programs is often on the more acute disorders, such as psychosis, meaning that few programs have been developed for this population. To provide truly integrated treatment, there is an urgent need to up-skill alcohol and drug workers to both screen and intervene with both clinical and subclinical mental health disorders.
Aims/Methods:
The PsyCheck Project has proceeded in three phases: 1) the development of screening and intervention tools, 2) the evaluation of the implementation of mental health screening and intervention within a range of drug and alcohol settings and 3) the best practice dissemination of the program. Each phase has undergone extensive evaluation. This presentation will overview the outcomes of phases 1 and 2 and outline the dissemination strategy including early evaluation results.
