CARE Ideas Exchange

The CARE Ideas Exchange is a key outcome of the Consumer Participation Training project, which took place at the ibis Melbourne Hotel & Apartments on Thursday 4th May 2017. Over 90 people, from across Victoria and interstate, attended this full day event focusing on the role and future of consumer participation in the Alcohol and Other Drugs (AOD) sector.

Overview of Project 
MC, Heather Pickard, Chief Executive Officer, SHARC

Power and Passion: Why Your Experience Matters and How to Drive Change in the AOD Service Sector
Keynote by Jacqui Gibson-Roos, consumer & Darlene Cox, Executive Director of Health Care Consumers Association Inc. 
Presented by Jacqui Gibson-Roos

‘The Big Toolbox’ Guide to Starting a Consumer Group Russell Chilcott & Richard Gornall, the former Southern Region Consumer Advisory Council (SRCAC)
Russell Chilcott & Richard Gornall, the former Southern Region Consumer Advisory Council (SRCAC)

High Quality Care in the 21st Century
Professor Jane Burns, Professor of Innovation and Industry at the University of Sydney

‘Let Love In’ Fostering Family Participation Workshop
Edita Kennedy, APSU Project Worker & Marg Quon, family member

Creating an Effective Inter-professional Network of Leaders in Mental Health
Jo Stubbs, Project Manager at Victorian Mental Health Interprofessional Leadership  Network

Advocating for Change from Within
Wayne Wright, Manager of Southern Dual Diagnosis Service

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Consumer Participation Training Resources

Training Resources for Alcohol and Other Drugs (AOD) Services in Victoria

A project funded by the Commonwealth Department of Health, Substance Misuse Service Delivery Grant Fund

APSU  has delivered numerous Consumer Participation Training in each of the AOD cathcments in Victoria.

The practical training courses aimed to teach AOD workers how to improve the participation of consumers in the sector and more specifically in their own organisations.  Participants had ample opportunity to discuss and develop an action plan for participation and were then supported to bring this training back to their own organisations.

These Consumer Participation training resources are here to assist you and your organisation in successfully implementing and embedding consumer participation into your organisation’s culture, processes and procedures. APSU staff are more than happy to assist you with any questions about the training materials or even if your considering a training session for your organisation. We can be contacted on apsu@sharc.org.au 

Consumer Participation Training Course Outline

Consumer Participation Training Course Instructor Kit

Consumer Participation Course Workbook

Consumer Participation Management Course

 Managers Training Workbook 

 Consumer Participation Action Plan Template

Consumer Participation Board presentation

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"Better Practice" Resources

APSU Sample Consumer Participation Plan

Remuneration-Position-Paper- APSU Oct 2017

SHARC-Consumer Participation-Policy

Community Advisory Committees (CAC) – Six Steps

CAC Example Recruit Ad

CAC example questions for Interview 

Want to share your organisations Better Practice in consumer participation? Just complete the form below and attach your document as a pdf. 

Resources

APSU Forum on Prescription Monitoring and Codeine Legislation Changes

APSU Summary of Safe Scripts Forum 2017

Safe Script Forum – Supports for Consumers

So you want to start a consumer group? – The story of SRCAC

This publication has been developed by the members of The Southern Region Community Advisory Council (SRCAC).

Broadening the Source

A practical guide to family participation in the Victorian alcohol and other drug sector.

Straight from the Source

A practical guide to consumer participation in the Victorian alcohol and other drug sector.

The Peer Model Manual

A step-by-step practical guide to the three APSU training modules:

• Peer Helper Training
• Experts by Experience
• Speaker Bureau

Locked Out

Experiences of AOD consumers with a criminal record accessing employment and education.

Remuneration Position Paper

Position paper on remuneration and reimbursement of consumers of alcohol and other drug services.

Consumer Participation 

A wealth of consumer participation resources including training materials, handouts, exercises and the instructor toolkit.

Click here to view and join our mailing list for the ‘Consumer Participation in Action‘ e-Newsletter

Consumer Participation

Consumer participation in the alcohol and other drug sector consists of including consumers (as defined above) in the decision making processes around:

• their own treatment
• service planning, development, delivery and evaluation
• AOD policy
• AOD research
• education and training of AoD professionals.

We invite you to scroll down and explore the consumer participation resources, activities and better practice examples. (selecting the heading or picture will open a new tab) 

Want to become part of the Consumer Participation Network? 

The Consumer Participation Network is a virtual network of self-identified “champions” from across Victoria and is an outcome of the  Care Ideas Exchange , which was funded by the previous substance misuse grant. APSU’ s website will be an opportunity for the sector to share and provide a central point to gather and keep “Better Practice” resources in consumer participation. Members of the Network will receive the quarterly “Consumer Participation in Action” e news highlighting consumer activities submitted by other network members from across Victoria. 

Join Below

Want to share on our website your organisations”Better Practice” in consumer participation resources?

Simply fill in the fields and upload/send your pdf documents and we will upload them to our “Better Practice” page.

Straight from the Source, developed by APSU, is a practical guide to consumer participation in the Victorian alcohol and other drug sector.

Broadening the Source, developed by APSU is a practical guide to family participation in the Victorian alcohol and other drug sector.

Training Resources

These Consumer Participation training resources are here to assist you and your organisation in successfully implementing and embedding consumer participation into your organisation’s “culture, processes and procedures.

“Better Practice” Examples

This page provides examples of Better Practice in consumer participation. From this page you can upload/send us any examples your organisation would like to share. 

 CARE Ideas Exchange– May 2017

The CARE Ideas Exchange is a key outcome of the Consumer Participation Training project, which took place at the ibis Melbourne Hotel & Apartments on Thursday 4th May 2017. Over 90 people, from across Victoria and interstate, attended this full day event focusing on the role and future of consumer participation in the Alcohol and Other Drugs (AOD) sector.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Flipside

Flipside No 46

2018 Winter – Love is love

Flipside No 45

2018 summer – Harm reduction

Flipside No 44

2017 winter – Relationships

Flipside No 43

2017 autumn – Stigma

Flipside No 42

2016 spring – Opportunities

Flipside No 41

2016 autumn/winter – The anniversary edition

Flipside No 40

2015 winter – This one goes out to the ones we loved

Flipside No 39

2015 autumn – Privacy, confidentiality, anonymity

Flipside No 38

2014 spring – Ice

Flipside No 37

2014 winter – Education

Flipside No 36

2014 autumn – It’s the little things…

Flipside No 35

2013 spring – Change

Flipside No 34

2013 winter – Out of the red & into the black

Flipside No 33

2013 summer – Consumer participation

Flipside No 32

2012 spring – Prescription drugs

Flipside No 31

2012 autumn/winter – Recovery and peer support

Flipside No 30

2011 spring/summer – Criminal records

Flipside No 29

2011 winter – Home sweet home

Flipside No 28

 2011 autumn – Smoking

Flipside No 27

2010 winter – Love

Flipside No 26

2010 autumn – Gambling and other addictions

Flipside No 25

2009 summer – Hep C and other stuff

Flipside No 24

2009 winter – Parenthood

Flipside No 23

2009 summer – Peers

Flipside No 22

2008 spring – The black and white of waiting times

Flipside No 21

2008 autumn – Before it comes to this – teeth and other health issues

Fipside No 20

2008  summer – Songlines and footprints

Flipside No 19

2007 spring – Pissed

Flipside No 18

2007 autumn/winter – Drugs for drugs

Flipside 2007 Summer

2007 summer – Boulevard of broken dreams

Flipside 2006 Spring

2006 spring – Dual diagnosis: under pressure

Flipside 2006 Winter

2006 winter – Centrelink: welfare law turns nasty

Become A Member

Speaker Bureau

APSU is inviting expressions of interest from people with a lived experience of alcohol and/or other drug (AOD) misuse and family members affected by a loved one’s AOD misuse to become members of our Speaker Bureau.

APSU’s Speaker Bureau members are people who are willing to speak publically at forums, meetings, presentations, conferences and other community or corporate events. Speaker Bureau members nominate themselves for this role and they choose what topics they are prepared to speak about.

Speaker Bureau members are remunerated as  participants (as well as trained and supported by APSU) and are empowered in their endeavor to help raise awareness, overcome stigma and shame, and educate people about addiction, recovery and hope.

The vast majority of evaluations over the years demonstrate that Speakers Bureau members have an immediate, positive, and often transformative effect, on their audience members.

If you would like to become a Speaker Bureau Member simply join APSU. Membership is free.  Join Here

Request Speaker

"Your Feedback Matters"

This quick survey is a way to better understand your experience in accessing the Victorian Alcohol and Other Drug (AOD) Treatment system. By gathering your experiences APSU can work with the AOD treatment sector to make continuous improvements to the system in the future. Alternatively if you would like complete the survey and provide feedback in person with someone at APSU phone:

                                                                     1300 442 552

                                                        Monday – Friday 9 am -5 pm. 

                                   (Leave a message for a callback if unattended, engaged or outside business hours).

THIS SURVEY IS FOR FAMILY MEMBERS AND PEOPLE WHO USE/HAVE USED VICTORIAN AOD SERVICES.

                                  THIS SURVEY IS NOT DESIGNED FOR SERVICE PROVIDERS. 

                                                       Start Survey – Click Here (opens new window)

Feedback Flyer

Contact Us

Association of Participating Service Users

(Please note this form is for general enquiries/feedback only. If you are applying for a student placement or a volunteer please use the relevant forms in the ”About Us’ section on the SHARC home page.)

Address: 140 Grange Road, Carnegie, 3163
Phone: 9573 1700
Email: apsu@sharc.org.au