We are excited to announce the release of the VAADABase AOD Sector Insights Report (2024-25) – the first data insights report from the VAADABase data collaboration project.
Our sector, like many others within health and community services, collects valuable information. However, this data often sits in silos, is difficult to access and analyse in a timely manner, or flows “upstream” without returning meaningful insights back.
VAADABase was created to address this challenge. Since 2023, 17 AOD agencies have partnered with VAADA and Latitude Network to securely share de-identified client data. Together, we have co-designed data dashboards that help organisations understand both their own de-identified data as well as sector-wide trends in a timely manner.
The AOD Sector Insights Report provides a foundational understanding of who is accessing AOD treatment, presenting drug of concern trends and co-occurring needs. The 2024-25 report draws from 15 participating agencies, encompassing insights from 25,258 clients and 60,788 closed service events delivered across 126 service outlets. While this sample doesn’t encompass all funded AOD providers statewide, it offers valuable insights into our sector and demonstrates the immense value of collective data for informing planning, advocacy, and service delivery.
Some key findings from the report include:
- The most common demographic accessing AOD services were individuals aged 30-39, identifying as male, presenting with alcohol as their primary drug of concern, living in private residence, with a mental health diagnosis of mood (affective) disorder.
- Mental health co-occurrence was significant, with 68% of clients reporting a mental health diagnosis.
- 11% of clients were born outside Australia.
- Substance use patterns showed alcohol as the primary presenting drug of concern, followed by stimulants and cannabinoids in both metropolitan and regional settings. Geographic analysis revealed that metropolitan services managed more diverse substance presentations, while regional areas showed particularly elevated methamphetamine treatment relative to other substances.
- Plus a lot more! To read the full report, click here
Join VAADABase
VAADABase is welcoming new agencies to join our data collaboration. So if your organisation is a Victorian AOD service interested in joining, we’d love to hear from you.
Contact: Esther Toomey, Project Coordinator, VAADA