The Indigenous Dual Diagnosis Project

Number 7.10 April 2009
for workers

Introduction

The Indigenous Dual Diagnosis Project is attempting to increase the coordination and collaboration between alcohol and other drug and mental health services, develop and facilitate culturally appropriate and relevant dual diagnosis training and resources, and build capacity in the Aboriginal workforce.

This fact sheet outlines some of the key themes and findings from the consultation report developed during the first stage of the project. These findings provide valuable insights for people working with Aboriginal clients with a dual diagnosis and their families and communities.

Project background

The Indigenous Dual Diagnosis Project, funded by the Department of Human Services, is based at the Victorian Dual Diagnosis Education and Training Unit (VDDETU) of St Vincent’s Hospital.

The project’s objectives include:

• consulting with the community regarding their experience in working with clients with a dual diagnosis and their training needs.
• developing and facilitating culturally appropriate and relevant dual diagnosis training and resources for the Aboriginal health workforce.
• using capacity-building principles to guide the project and enable long-term gains to evolve.

The first stage of the project involved speaking to over 100 workers across Victoria. This was to understand the issues considered most important by people working in the alcohol and other drug and mental health fields so an appropriate training program can be established.

The following stages of the project will involve developing and facilitating the training.

Key themes and findings from the consultation

1. Conduct training for mental health/social and emotional wellbeing workers and alcohol and other drug workers together.

Dual diagnosis training is important for all health and welfare workers regardless of their specialty.

Community education around dual diagnosis is also important. Families and parents are often the ones caring for their loved one and dealing with issues that are difficult to understand.

2. All new workers receive an introduction to dual diagnosis training

Providing ongoing training with a similar message would enable new workers to engage in training and would help to ensure some consistency across different organisations about the kind of treatment clients received.

For example, the Victorian Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation (VACCHO) is preparing to have the Aboriginal Mental Health First Aid as part of their new Social and Emotional Wellbeing course. It would be complimentary to have an Introduction to Dual Diagnosis follow on from this. VACCHO is also running the train-the-trainer course for the Mental Health First Aid and these trainers may be invited to be the trainers for the Introduction to Dual Diagnosis.

3. Access to mainstream mental health services

Accessing mental health services can be difficult, especially in regional and remote areas. Issues can also arise when different services have differing expectations or are unclear about what each service provides.

Suggestions for improving relationships include:

• Include in the training how the mental health systems works and include mental health workers in the training to build relationships.
• Develop formal structures for ongoing relationships that do not depend on the individual worker.
• Worker rotations or exchanges can help each worker gain insight into the other’s area.
• Regular meetings between workers where they can talk about clients and working together.
• Cultural consultants as mediators in mental health.

4. The stigma of mental health issues

The issues of shame/stigma around mental health included: