Clean Slate Clinic provides a dedicated telehealth withdrawal service that supports individuals experiencing alcohol, stimulant, or cannabis dependence to undertake safe, clinically supervised withdrawal and recovery at home. As a social enterprise, Clean Slate is committed to achieving measurable social impact and improving equity of access to high quality care in regions where conventional metropolitan models often don’t suit community needs.

In collaboration with the Western Queensland Primary Health Network, Clean Slate commenced as a pilot program in 2022. The model represents an adaptation of an evidenced based, evaluated metropolitan withdrawal service to a contextually informed approach, designed for rural and remote settings. Independent evaluations and ongoing data collection demonstrate positive outcomes, including improved client engagement, enhanced community participation, and sustained recovery results. These findings provide evidence of the model’s success and its potential scalability across other regions.

The in-home telehealth withdrawal model enables individuals to undertake withdrawal while remaining connected to family, kin, cultural and community supports. By combining virtual clinical oversight with locally based care, the model aims to overcome barriers of distance, cost, stigma, and limited-service availability, ensuring safety, continuity, and culturally responsive care throughout the withdrawal process.

Flexibility within a semi structured clinical framework allows practitioners to tailor interventions to local social and cultural contexts. Partnerships with government, community members and non-specialist clinical teams further enhance safety, service integration, and local capability, while reducing clinical risk for rural providers.

The presentation will examine:
• Delivery of person-centred withdrawal care through telehealth in rural and remote contexts
• Management of anonymity and mutual support through online group programs i.e. the Yarn SMART Meeting
• The influence of flexibility and relationship-based practice in achieving engagement and recovery outcomes

This model demonstrates that evidence based, technology enabled withdrawal care can deliver equitable and effective outcomes for the Bush.