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Resource landscapes for young people

leaving residential drug and alcohol services

Personalise
Yellow tiles on a wall

We seek to understand the resourcing opportunities of young people after exiting residential alcohol and drug (AOD) treatment, so to understand how resources are arranged and aligned in ways that maximise positive outcomes in young peopleā€™s substance use. We take a sociological approach to conceptualise ā€˜resourcesā€™ as those available through institutional systems, such as social, health and criminal justice services, and those accessible through personal networks and settings such as through bonds with family and peers, access to identities of worthiness, and ā€˜attitudesā€™ that reflect positive representations of self and future. The project provides innovative and detailed evidence about the resourcing needs of young people, informing the development of better models of care, reducing disparity and increasing the relevance of services to young people.

Our approach and method

The research conceptualises young peopleā€™s AOD treatment trajectories as socially produced sets of opportunities, not as individually authored journeys. This sociological approach represents a departure from existing AOD treatment research, which is dominated by epidemiologically and psychologically-informed studies that focus on young peopleā€™s deficits ā€“ their problems, ā€˜riskyā€™ behaviours and disadvantages - and fail to take sufficient account of the profoundly social nature of substance use. We draw on longitudinal in-depth interviews with 38 young people in NSW and Victoria, who were interviewed at treatment exit and then again at six and twelve months.

  • Caluzzi, G., MacLean, S., Gray, R., Skattebol, J., Neale, J., Ferry, M., ā€¦ Bryant, J. (2024). Opportunities and limits: exploring young peopleā€™s views of staff care in residential alcohol and other drug services. Journal of Youth Studies, 1ā€“18.

    MacLean, S.J., Caluzzi, G., Ferry, M., Bruun, A., Sundbery, J., Skattebol J., Neale, J., Bryant, J. (2024). Young people returning to alcohol and other drug services as incremental treatment. Social Science & Medicine, 357: 117181Ā 

    MacLean, S. J., Caluzzi, G., Ferry, M., Bruun, A., Skattebol, J., Neale, J., & Bryant, J. (2022). Why we stopped using the term ā€˜aftercareā€™. Drug and Alcohol Review, 41(1), 3-6.

    Bryant, J., Caluzzi, G., Bruun, A., Sundbery, J., Ferry, M., Gray, R. M., Skattebol J., MacLean, S. (2022). The problem of over-medicalisation: How AOD disease models perpetuate inequity for young people with multiple disadvantage. International Journal of Drug Policy, 103.

    Caluzzi, G., MacLean, S.J., Gray, R. M., Skattebol, J, Bryant J (2023). ā€œI just wanted a change, a positive changeā€: Locating hope for young people engaged with residential alcohol and drug services in Victoria, Australia. Sociology of Health and Illness.

    Hopwood, M., Bryant, J., Neale, J., Caluzzi, G., Skattebol, J., & MacLean, S. (2024). Alcohol and other drug continuing care for young people: identifying helpful program mechanisms. International Journal of Adolescence and Youth, 29(1).Ā 

  • Research Summary 1: Should we be using the term aftercare

    Research Summary 2: The problem of overmedicalisation

    Research Summary 3: Reimaging futures without drug and alcohol problems

    Research Summary 4: Learning how to live well

    Research Summary 5: Identifying impactful program mechanisms

    Research Summary 6: Exploring staff care for young peopleĀ 

    Research Summary 7: Incremental treatment gains

    Recommendations from the project Resource Landscapes for Young People Nov 2024
    • Professor Joanne BryantĀ 
      School of Social Sciences, UNSW Sydney
    • School of Allied Health, Human Services and Sport, Centre for Alcohol Policy Research
      La Trobe University
    • Dr Jennifer Skattebol
      Transforming early Education And Child Health Research Centre
      Western Sydney University

    • Addictions Department, Kingā€™s College London
      Centre for Social Research in Health, UNSW Sydney
    • Centre for Alcohol Policy Research, La Trobe University
      School of Social Sciences, UNSW Sydney
    • Mr Mark Ferry
      Chief Operating Officer
      Ted Noffs Foundation
    • Mr Andrew Bruun
      Chief Executive Officer
      YSAS Youth Support and Advocacy Services
    • Dr Jacqui Sundbery
      YSAS Youth Support and Advocacy Services

  • Australian Research Council Discovery Grant DP200100492 ā€˜Aftercare for young people: A sociological study of resource opportunitiesā€™.