Background: Anabolic-androgenic steroid (AAS) use, once predominantly male, has risen among women from 1.6% in 2014 to 4% in 2024. Motivations underlying AAS use amongst men have been explored, less is understood about women’s motivations for AAS use. This study investigated gender-based differences in motivations associated with AAS use.
Methods: Data for this study were sourced from the 2024 Global Drug Survey and included a sample of 1366 men and 134 women who reported lifetime use of AAS. To explore gender-based differences in motivations, chi-square analyses were conducted. Co-occurrence patterns within each gender and motivation were visualised using UpSet plots.
Results: Predominant motivations for AAS use amongst women included enhancing athletic/physical performance (64.2%), improving body appearance/cosmetic reasons (52.2%), and supporting occupational performance (51.3%). The least common motivation reported was increasing sex drive (27.6%). Among these, the motivations that differed significantly by gender was using AAS to increase sex drive, and for hormone replacement therapy (all χ²s > 12.47, all ps < .001), which were more commonly reported by men.
Conclusions: This study demonstrates that women are primarily motivated to use AAS to enhance athletic and sporting performance, for cosmetic reasons, and to support occupational functioning; these motivations are broadly similar to those reported by men. However, motivations relating to hormone replacement therapy and enhancing libido represent areas where men and women differ. Understanding gender-specific motivations for AAS use can inform the identification of key areas for tailoring prevention strategies and designing targeted educational campaigns.

I want to Share my story and share awareness without stigma. Drugs doesn’t care what colour you are or how much money you make.

Addiction
Recovery

Early Intervention and Prevention

Show the long term effects
The before and after
The journey for a First Nation Woman and the future before and after recovery
Kids of addicts

Gambling and substance use often co-occur, but it remains unclear whether they represent distinct behaviours or shared expressions of broader psychological and social vulnerabilities. This project explores the latent structure of substance use and its overlap with gambling harm in a large, treatment-seeking cohort, with the goal of identifying transdiagnostic traits and distinct risk profiles.

Using baseline data from over 18,000 clients accessing publicly funded alcohol and other drug (AOD) services, we apply confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), and structural equation modelling (SEM) to explore how patterns of substance use, including the unique role of alcohol, relate to gambling severity. Initial findings suggest that alcohol is structurally distinct from other substances, and that methamphetamine-heavy profiles are more strongly linked to gambling risk. Future stages will extend this model by integrating psychological constructs and adverse life experiences to examine shared and additive influences on gambling severity.

These findings are part of an ongoing PhD project focused on understanding the intersection of substance use, psychological vulnerability, and gambling harm in AOD treatment seekers. This work supports a more nuanced, transdiagnostic understanding of addiction and gambling, with implications for early identification and intervention within AOD treatment settings.

On August 31, 2022, I stepped into Monash University, trembling with nerves and hope. My partner walked with me through the gardens, grounding me with gentle support and breathing techniques. Inside the Biomedical Imaging building, I met my guide and the medical team. The room was plain, but I felt a strange anticipation as I swallowed the psilocybin capsule, not knowing what awaited me.

As the medicine took hold, the world shifted. The dull wallpaper bloomed into living vines and flowers, ancient buildings, and even Lord Ganesh. I was mesmerized, afraid to move and lose the magic. Suddenly, I was rushed for an fMRI scan, my stomach churning with nausea. My guide offered me an orange—its taste was so intense, I couldn’t bear it. Ginger pills helped, and soon I was lying in the scanner, ready to let go.

In that moment, my consciousness drifted away from my body. I saw a golden fountain surrounded by dazzling lights. Krishna appeared, playful and welcoming, as if I’d finally arrived where I belonged. Then, a cold, dark brush swept through—my mother’s presence. I summoned all my strength to dissolve the pain into golden light. I saw my grandfather and my younger self, a bittersweet reunion with the honesty and love I’d missed.

In 2022-2023 the use of illicit substances remains highest among young people than any other population group (35% for 18-24 year olds).
However, research and experience suggest that young people are reluctant to engage in health and treatment services , .
So how do alcohol and other drug services best support the population of young people that are most in need?
In this presentation I would like to consider from research, practice experience and lived experience from clients and Peer Workers how we can best deliver effective drug and alcohol treatment for young people. Through my work at Streetlink Youth Health Service at Uniting Communities, experience has taught us that substance use issues require a mix of service responses offering; youth friendly flexible service offerings from a multidisciplinary team focusing on harm reduction, involving families in treatment and valuing lived experience through Peer Workers and our young people.
In providing more effective treatment support we may then be able to support children and young people to learn coping strategies that will better serve them now and into their future.
Reference list provided in full presentation.

Addiction does not exist in isolation, nor does recovery. For many individuals, substance use challenges intersect with justice involvement, making continuity of care across the life course essential. Drawing on three years of experience as an Alcohol and Other Drugs (AOD) counsellor with QuIHN (Queensland Injectors Health Network) this presentation explores the realities of supporting people impacted by addiction within Queensland prisons, probation, and parole services.

Working at the intersection of health and justice revealed the critical importance of cross-sector collaboration. Individuals leaving custody often face disrupted treatment pathways, stigma, and barriers to reintegration. Through partnerships between NGOs, government services, and corrections, it is possible to create more connected systems of care that extend beyond institutional walls and into community reintegration.

This presentation will share practical insights into harm reduction, counselling, and education strategies delivered in both custodial and community settings, highlighting successes and challenges in sustaining engagement and recovery. It will also reflect on lessons learned about bridging gaps between justice and health sectors, and the role of collaboration in fostering safer, more supportive environments.

Ultimately, this session will encourage practitioners, policy-makers, and service providers to consider how whole-of-system approaches can improve outcomes across the life course. By uniting government, NGOs, and private providers, we can move beyond fragmented care toward a model of support that offers hope, dignity, and continuity for individuals impacted by addiction.

Background: Mainstream Alcohol and Other Drug (AOD) services are increasingly recognising the importance of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander worldviews in supporting culturally safe practice and genuine reconciliation. Lives Lived Well (LLW) has implemented Red Dust Healing, a therapeutic program grounded in Aboriginal perspectives created by Tom Powell and Randall Ross. Following a 2024 pilot, a structured organisation-wide rollout commenced in 2025 across residential and community AOD settings.

Model of Care: Red Dust Healing draws on Aboriginal concepts of identity, belonging, and responsibility, using visual tools and story to explore the impacts of colonisation and rejection while fostering self-reflection, acceptance, and empowerment. Though from an Aboriginal perspective the program is for all people and is facilitated by Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal staff for Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal participants. Program fidelity is supported through a model incorporating thorough facilitator training, comprehensive facilitator resources, and a fortnightly community of practice facilitated by experienced Red Dust Healing trainers. At a policy level, Red Dust Healing has been embedded into the clinical governance framework and in the evidence-based practice policy at LLW.

Implementation: Evaluation data from 2024–2026 indicate high workforce engagement and acceptability. Facilitators describe Red Dust Healing as transformative, enhancing self-awareness, empathy, and capability in culturally safe practice. Aboriginal facilitators report strengthened identity and leadership, while non-Aboriginal staff highlight increased confidence and cultural competence. Client feedback demonstrates greater trust, belonging, and service engagement.

Conclusions: The benefits of embracing Aboriginal perspectives include enhanced workforce capability, cultural safety, and client outcomes. Sustained success relies on reflective practice from clinicians, and organisational commitment to continuous learning. Red Dust Healing demonstrates that decolonising practice is achievable when Aboriginal perspectives are embraced and embedded across systems, creating reconciliation through action.

Initial Psychometric Evaluation of the YES Survey: An Appropriate Experience Measure for Alcohol and Other Drug (AOD) Treatment Settings
Background: Capturing the lived experiences of people in alcohol and other drug (AOD) treatment is critical for evaluating and improving person-centred care. The Your Experience of Service (YES) Survey is widely used across Australian health systems but has not previously been formally validated for AOD contexts. This study reports the initial psychometric evaluation of the YES Survey within a large Autsralian AOD treatment sample.
Methods: A cross-sectional dataset was collected from 354 consumers engaged in residential and community-based AOD programs. Linear mixed models (LMMs) examined variability across different subgroups. Item Response Theory (IRT) was applied to assess threshold parameters, differential item functioning and identify possible item redundancy. Internal consistency was evaluated using Cronbach’s alpha and McDonald’s omega. Convergent validity was assessed through correlations with measures of satisfaction, health care climate and other experience measures.
Results: Items demonstrated strong endorsement and minimal missingness, indicating good face acceptability. LMMs showed significant between-service variance, supporting sensitivity to contextual differences. Gender also predicted experience scores. IRT analyses indicated ordered response thresholds and strong item discrimination, particularly for domains related to Respect, Participation, and Safety. Reliability was excellent across total and domain scores (α = .92–.96). Convergent validity analyses revealed moderate-to-strong associations in the expected directions (r = .32–.58).
Conclusions: Findings provide strong preliminary evidence that the YES Survey performs reliably and meaningfully in AOD treatment contexts. Results support its use as an appropriate and sensitive Patient Reported Experience Measure (PREM) for AOD services and lay the foundation for further validation, including confirmatory factor analyses and short-form development.

New ROADs (NR) delivers South Australia's largest and most comprehensive Alcohol and Other Drug (AOD) treatment service. Operating since 2012, NR offers a stepped care model that includes intensive residential care, community-based residential options (staffed and non-staffed), outpatient counselling, Police Drug Diversion, and group work. In the last financial year, NR delivered around 20,000 counselling, case management, and brief intervention sessions, where 73% of clients met all of their recovery goals.



This workshop explores NR’s trauma-informed, culturally safe, and harm minimisation approach, which tailors care to the individual rather than requiring individuals to adapt to rigid service structures. Participants will gain insight into NR’s integrated care model, which addresses fragmentation between AOD, mental health, housing, and social support systems.



The session highlights how embedding lived experience leadership and aligning interventions with the cycle of change fosters empathetic, non-judgmental, and responsive care. Tools such as the “My Road Map” care plan will be showcased to demonstrate how NR supports clients across health and life domains, reinforcing a radically client-centred approach that embraces unconditional positive regard and views lapse as a learning opportunity, not failure.



NR’s innovative community engagement strategies, including creative spaces, community gardens, and tenancy support, help reduce stigma, build social connection, and create vocational pathways. These initiatives support meaningful reintegration and challenge traditional notions of recovery.



Working in collaboration with Corrections, DCP, and other UC services such as Newpin, NR’s “no wrong door” philosophy ensures responsive care for complex co-morbid presentations. With over 400,000 Australians missing out on needed AOD treatment annually, integrated models like NR’s are emerging as best practice.



This workshop is ideal for practitioners, service designers, and policy makers seeking to implement integrated, person-centred AOD care grounded in evidence and lived experience.

Dr Mark Whittington introduces a package of treatment which includes an immersive audio album, an accompanying clinicians’ teaching guide, an addict’s workbook and an introduction to the rationale and theory of metaphors in therapy. The Wildfire of Addiction is a powerful narrative that employs the imagery of fire to illustrate the destructive and uncontrollable nature of addiction. Through vivid descriptions of a spreading blaze—at first warming and comforting, then raging out of control—the piece dramatises the personal, social, and environmental devastation caused when addictive behaviour is left unchecked. The story follows an individual whose small indulgences ignite a conflagration that not only consumes their own life but also endangers loved ones and innocent bystanders. In parallel with the wildfire, the narrative explores the mechanisms of denial, guilt, and self-deception that fuel dependency, as well as the breaking point where survival demands confrontation with painful truths. Amidst devastation, the possibility of transformation emerges: the phoenix rising from ashes symbolises the potential for recovery, responsibility, and renewal.
Dr Whittington observes: Addiction is a “full contact mind game” where self-deception and denial act as accelerants to destructive behaviour. Actual change begins with acceptance, responsibility, and the courage to abandon comforting illusions. He underscores how addiction is never an isolated problem. It radiates harm outward like fire. The inverse, of course, is that recovery radiates hope. The wildfire narrative functions as both a cautionary tale and a redemptive vision. It shows that even from the ashes of ruin, one can rise toward a new beginning. In this way, the powerful metaphor of the wildfire provides emotional distance, psychological insights and proven practical coping strategies.

Introduction: People accessing treatment for alcohol and other drug (AOD) use experience high rates of loneliness. An Australian study found that people accessing treatment for AOD were seven times lonelier than the general population and were five times more likely to deem loneliness a serious concern. Groups for Belonging is a 6-session (12-hour) group-based intervention that has been adapted from the social identity informed intervention Groups for Health. A pilot study revealed Groups for Belonging to be feasible and acceptable for delivery in residential AOD treatment services. The Building Belonging Project is a multi-state project examining the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of delivering Groups for Belonging within routine care offered by AOD treatment service providers.

Methods: Participants are attending community based or residential treatment services provided by either public sector or non-government treatment providers across New South Wales (NSW), Victoria (VIC), Queensland (QLD) and the Australian Capital Territory (ACT). The study is being conducted as a parallel cluster randomised controlled trial (RCT), involving 26 clusters (13 treatment, 13 control, N = 520), with randomisation occurring at the service level. Depending on randomisation, participants complete treatment as usual (i.e., treatment for substance use provided by participating services) or Groups for Belonging + treatment as usual.

Discussions and Conclusions: This project aims to determine the effectiveness of a loneliness intervention, Groups for Belonging, for people accessing residential and outpatient treatment services for substance use disorders. The presentation will include key insights from clinicians delivering the loneliness intervention as part of the project, and highlight how the intervention may be integrated into routine care across the AOD treatment sector.