FOR professionals
Youth AOD Learning Hub
The Youth AOD Learning Hub has been developed for youth work practitioners and provides a structured, guided course through the skills and knowledge necessary to be effective in Youth AOD practice. Clinical supervisors can also use the Hub, through the Reflective Practice Guides for supervisors provided with each course.
The Hub courses are free and online, designed with busy practitioners in mind. The courses are developed from evidence-informed practice knowledge, and are especially focused on the topics often encountered when supporting young people with problematic substance use.
Out of Home Care
The Out Of Home Care Toolbox provides effective and easily accessible information to the supporters and carers of young people who are in Out of Home Care. It is a reference tool for people working in the Out of Home Care sector (residential, kinship, and foster care), however YSAS workers might find this tool useful when providing assistance and secondary consults to OoHC workers when a young person isn’t engaged with drug and alcohol work. The tool is designed to help workers to identify if there is a problem with young person and then develop a solution, and covers a broad range of topics apart from AOD, including: mental health, aggressive behaviours, sexualised behaviours etc.
Youth AOD Toolbox
The Youth AOD Toolbox takes the vast range of evidence and literature that supports Youth Alcohol and Other Drugs (AOD) work, and presents it for practitioners assisting young people to develop resilience and achieve their goals.
Young Parents AOD
The Young Parents AOD Toolbox has been created using our evidence-based knowledge about what works with young people experiencing problematic substance use. This has been combined with the practice wisdom gained through providing support and care for young parents with AOD issues in the Southern Metropolitan region of Melbourne over the past 13 years. The Young Parents Project (YPP) has supported over 1000 young people, utilising the practice approaches described in this Toolbox.
About drugs and alcohol
Marijuana or Cannabis comes from a plant that originated in India but is now grown all around the world including here in Victoria. It is the most commonly used illegal drug in Australia. Cannabis is a depressant drug that can have hallucinogenic effects.
Ecstasy, or methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA), is an illegal stimulant. It’s often used at dance parties and is also known as E, XTC, eccy, the love drug, pills, bikkies, or googs.
Synthetics are known by lots of different names and have been made to try to copy the effects of drugs like cocaine, ecstasy, cannabis, heroin and LSD. Even though many are also called legal highs, lots of them are actually illegal.
Synthetic cannabis is supposed to be like real weed. Because they are synthetic or man-made, the side effects can be different from batch to batch, which can increase the chance of overdose. It is a depressant that can have hallucinogenic elements.
The number of people using tobacco, mostly as cigarettes, has reduced over the last few decades. However, smoking still causes more harm and illness than almost every other drug in Victoria.
Opioid painkillers are medicines that are usually prescribed to people for pain but are also often ‘diverted’ to be used illegally. They are a depressant and are similar to drugs such as heroin.
For people who use opiates such as heroin and the people who care about them, it's really important to know about Naloxone.
Methadone is a depressant similar to heroin and morphine. It is usually prescribed as a substitute for heroin, to help people reduce the harm of illegal use. Methadone is only legal with a prescription but is sometimes ‘diverted’ and used illegally.
The term ‘Magic mushrooms’ refers to several types of mushrooms that contain a chemical called psilocybin. Psilocybin is a hallucinogen.
Ketamine It is a depressant and a hallucinogenic. Ketamine was originally made to be an anaesthetic and is still used for this purpose sometimes.
Inhalants include volatile substances, aerosols, gases and nitrates. Inhaling spray paint fumes is the most common inhalant accessed however petrol, gases and glue are also used.
Ice is often in the media, and use has become more common in Victoria. Ice is an illegal stimulant.
Most commonly known as speed, amphetamines can give you a high, a bad comedown or even an overdose, so it's good to get a heads up on what it's about.
Alcohol is the most readily available drug in Australia and is the first drug that most young Australians try. Just like any other drug, it's important to know the facts about drinking alcohol.
Cocaine is an illegal stimulant made from the leaves of the coca plant. It's also known as C, coke, nose candy, snow, rack, white lady, toot, Charlie, blow, white dust, pebbles, Chang and stardust. Freebase is known as base. Crack is referred to as rock or wash.
Heroin is used by less than 1% of the Australian population, but it is the fourth most common drug of concern for young people wanting support from alcohol and other drug services. Heroin is an illegal depressant.
GHB is depressant, which means it slows down the body’s reaction to things. It used to be used as a legal anaesthetic but is now mostly (but not always) illegally used as a drug at parties and clubs.
It is a dissociative which means you will feel a sense of being “out of your body”. It’s also a hallucinogen, so you can see or hear things that aren’t there when you use it. It can make you feel “woozy”, slow your reaction time and cause you to have less control of your movements.
Buprenorphine is a prescribed drug that is used as a legal replacement for heroin. It is also often prescribed to help heroin withdrawal. It is sometimes called Bup or B.
Benzos is a short name for Benzodiazepines (pronounced ben-zoh-die-az-a-peens). Benzos aren’t one drug but actually a whole heap. Benzos are depressant drugs which mean they slow your body’s reaction to things. They're also called diaz, tranx, sleepers, downers, serras (Serepax), moggies (Mogadon), normies (Normison) tranquillisers.
Often referred to as acid or trips, LSD (lysergic acid diethylamide) is a well-known hallucinogen.