Tasmanian teenage drug and alcohol counselling services 'stretched'

For example in North West Tasmania, there are 2.5 youth drug and alcohol counsellors servicing the region, from Smithton to Port Sorell, while in Launceston young people facing substance issues have access to a specialist counsellor one day a week.

Anecdotally, young people are mostly seeking help for cannabis, followed by alcohol and then acid and magic mushrooms.

Alcohol, Tobacco and Other Drugs Council chief executive Alison Lai said youth drug and alcohol support services were a big focus for the sector, but there was not a lot of government funding in this space.

She said young Tasmanians were turning to mainland Australia to seek intensive drug and alcohol support.

Youth, Family and Community Connections team leader Damian Collins said the increasing need for youth drug and alcohol support services was connected to the pandemic hangover.

Mr Collins said the need for youth drug and alcohol counsellors was growing, not just on the North West but across the state, and keeping up with the demand was "a stretch".

He said YFCC has up to ten drug and alcohol counsellors working on the North-West and West Coast, and 2.5 of these were trained to work with youth.

"In terms of keeping up, it is quite a challenge," Mr Collins said.

"We work hard to not make people wait, especially when people are putting up their hands up for help for drugs and alcohol. It is often a finite period of time.

"We work hard to ensure that people get the help they need, when they need it, but that is becoming an increasing challenge as the needs of the population continue to grow."

He said since the pandemic, the needs of young people seeking help were complex.

"There is a lot of overlap, issues of family violence, ill mental health, disordered eating along with self-medicating with alcohol and drugs and the complexity increases with homelessness or those who might not have a safe place to sleep," Mr Collins said.

"When it comes to drug and alcohol use, the vast majority of youth are basically self medicating for underlying issues.

"If you don't have a safe place to sleep you might drink to the point of pass-out, or smoke a whole lot of cannabis to help you sleep better.

"This is what people resort to, to sleep through the night.

"So we can't just work with someone on their cannabis use and then push them back into their world if they have all these other things going on.

"The reality of anything landing and helping is minimal, so you have to work to provide that wrap around service, but then, all other support services are stretched as well."

Mr Collins said without access to specialist drug and alcohol counsellors, young people might further disengage or experience poor mental health.

"Discovering that help isn't there can be one of the most damaging things that can happen," he said.

"It takes a lot of strength and courage to go to a service and ask for help, but if the services aren't there, the young person might feel stigmatised, disengage from their communities, and increase their use to self medicate and compensate for any lack of self worth that they might be feeling."

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