Hawkesbury Welcomes New Community Alcohol and Drug Support Service
By Sophie Poredos
We Help Ourselves (WHO) Hawkesbury has opened its free community-based alcohol and drug support service, providing day treatments for those suffering with substance addiction.
WHO’s service will offer support to both individuals as well as family and friends with integrated recovery and care. The new centre targeting alcohol and drug (AOD) addiction is funded as part of Wentworth Healthcare and the Federal Government’s Community Health and Hospitals Program.
Wentworth Healthcare is a local not-for-profit organisation operating since 2012 in the Blue Mountains, Hawkesbury, Lithgow and Penrith regions, striving to improve the health and wellbeing of local people.
With 78,208 total alcohol and other drugrelated hospital admissions across NSW in 2022-2023, WHOS Executive Director, Garth Popple, said the organisation is excited to partner with Wentworth Healthcare to operate the WHOS Hawkesbury:
“WHOS Hawkesbury is a place where people of the Hawkesbury area experiencing issues associated with their substance use, can access our range of best practice community-based WHO’s service will be critical in targeting the growing concern of AOD addiction.
Within the Hawkesbury, over 2,000 people received treatment at an AOD treatment service funded by Wentworth Healthcare, and the most common drug of concern in the region was alcohol, accounting for over a quarter of those treated support services.”
Services provided as part of the centre include comprehensive AOD support, structured group work, counselling, case management, GP liaison, relapse prevention and access to services including housing and welfare.
Wentworth Healthcare CEO, Lizz Reay is passionate about framing AOD support with a community-based model:
“When it comes to supporting people with AOD concerns, residential rehabilitation services are important but aren’t always suitable in every situation. Some people have responsibilities that prevent them from being able to commit to a residential program and this can act as a barrier to seeking help. That is why communitybased support is so important. People need to be able to seek support and get well within their own community”.
Executive Manager Primary Care Development, Kate Tye, also wanted to highlight the unfortunate reality of AOD addiction that can affect anyone in their life-time, and how to support loved ones to access this service:
“Alcohol and other drugs concerns can affect anyone, it doesn’t discriminate. It’s important to encourage them to seek help and not to judge those affected by these issues. Let them know about this new free service, where no referral is needed, or encourage them to talk to their GP who can also provide them with help.”
You can access the service at 2 Forbes Street, Windsor, operates from 9.00am – 5.00pm, Monday to Friday. Patients can be referred by GPs, other specialists or self-refer, and can either walk-in or attend a pre-arranged appointment, by calling 4509 9110.
