About

What is the Alcohol and Other Drugs Knowledge Centre?

The Australian Indigenous HealthInfoNet Alcohol and other Drugs Knowledge Centre (the Knowledge Centre) is a national website that provides relevant and culturally appropriate resources and information for health practitioners and community members working to reduce harms from alcohol and other drug (AOD) use among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

The Knowledge Centre collates a comprehensive range of quality materials such as patient education resources, clinical guidelines, culturally safe programs, peer reviewed publications and professional development information. The aim of the Knowledge Centre is to support the practice of AOD workers, community members, health practitioners, researchers, policy makers, and service managers to address problem alcohol and other drug use and the impact on the health of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

Harmful AOD use cannot be separated from the ongoing effects of colonisation and the social determinants of health. The Knowledge Centre takes a broad view of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health, along the lines used by the National Aboriginal Health Strategy Working Party [10967], and expanded by the National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation (NACCHO):

Health is not just the physical wellbeing of an individual, but the social, emotional, and cultural wellbeing of the whole community in which each individual is able to achieve their full potential as a human being thereby bringing about the total wellbeing of their community.

What can you find on the Knowledge Centre?

The Knowledge Centre contains timely and relevant information on a wide range of topics from specific drug types to harm reduction and social and emotional wellbeing.

Each topic (portal) provides a comprehensive collection of alcohol and other drug information including:

• Health promotion resources
• Health practice resources
• Publications
• Programs
• Organisations
• Courses
• Conferences, workshops and events
• Funding
• Jobs

Other features of the Knowledge Centre include:

• • Knowledge exchange products
    • Narrative reviews – we produce reviews which provide a synthesis of key information on specific topics, bringing together the relevant evidence, essential contextual evidence and policy implications for how AOD use affects the health of Aboriginal and Torres Islander people
    • Summaries of the reviews in plain language are available to ensure the information is accessible to a broad audience
    • Webinars, infographics and short films provide a suite of digital tools to offer users of our website alternative learning experiences.
  • Community portal – the portal was created for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Elders and community members. It contains strength-based approaches and up to date information on  useful resources, community-based organisations, programs to support people, funding opportunities and training for community members who want to learn new skills in addressing AOD issues.

Background

The Alcohol and Other Drugs Knowledge Centre was established by the Australian Indigenous HealthInfoNet (HealthInfoNet).

The high quality, relevant and up to date content of the Knowledge Centre is consistent with the National Drug Strategy 2017-2026 and the three pillars of; demand reduction, supply reduction, and harm reduction. The three pillars are supported by the Knowledge Centre’s commitment to build the capacity of the AOD workforce, promote evidence-informed practice across sectors, and encourage greater integration between policy, practice and research.

Governance

The Knowledge Centre is managed by the Australian Indigenous HealthInfoNet and is guided by a Reference Group made up of:

• stakeholders from peak AOD bodies
• members of the AOD workforce at the community level
• members with expertise in relation to drugs of concern.

These stakeholders come from various states and territories of Australia and include Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander representation. The composition of the Reference Group reflects the variety of input required to ensure coverage of the field to best support: the workforce at the community level; and people working in programs and policy.

The Reference Group and the national alcohol and other drug research centres (NDRI, NDARC and NCETA) provide valuable guidance through Reference Group meetings and on specific topics in their areas of expertise.