Workforce Development

Workforce development in the alcohol and other drugs (AOD) sector aims to build the capacity of organisations and individuals to prevent and respond to harms from AOD use and promote evidence-based practice. It adopts a systems approach that goes beyond the provision of education and training to include issues such as recruitment and retention, workforce planning, professional and career development, and worker wellbeing [33154].

A number of challenges have been identified that impact on the capacity of the AOD workforce to effectively respond to harms from AOD use in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. These include; difficulties recruiting staff in regional and remote areas, high demands placed on staff in communities, and tension between Western models of care and culturally secure service provision [47503][47167].

The need for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander leadership and voices at all levels of planning and service delivery has been identified as a key strategy to strengthen the AOD workforce [47167].

Other recommendations are:

• having flexible recruitment strategies that enable Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people with diverse experiences and valuable cultural knowledge to contribute their skills to the AOD sector
• supporting career pathways for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander AOD workers
• providing a whole-of-organisation approach to cultural safety in mainstream health services
• building partnerships between mainstream AOD services and Aboriginal community controlled organisations.

Embedding culturally safe AOD training for workers across health systems also helps remove the stigma from AOD care and addresses potential harms from AOD use as part of routine healthcare [49619].