Monthly Newsletter | Edition 35

Editorial

Dear Colleagues, 

It has been a busy time at VAADA as we head towards Christmas. Our team has continued to lead conversations on alcohol and other drug policy in Victoria. VAADA’s 2026 State Budget Submission has four central themes and offers ten key priorities reflecting the AOD sector’s views of the challenges facing the AOD treatment system and opportunities for reform. The urgency in relation to overdose rates and access to treatment services cannot be understated. We look forward to initiatives being funded in the 2026-27 State Budget, while the new Victorian AOD Strategy should provide further opportunities to address these priorities.

The launch of VAADA’s 2025 AOD Workforce Report at Bendigo Kangan Institute’s (BKI) Health and Community Centre of Excellence was a highlight. Thank you to BKI for hosting a fabulous event in Broadmeadows, and to Emma King OAM, CEO HumanAbility for launching the report. With more than 500 respondents, the 2025 Workforce Report has workers telling us about themselves, their roles, workload, motivations and wellbeing. The report also sets out seven recommendations for workforce support for AOD professionals doing incredibly complex and important work. Thank you to everyone who took the time to complete the survey. VAADA will be drawing on the results as part of further work over the coming months.

In the last month, VAADA also released its 2025 Annual Report which showcased the amazing work and impact of the VAADA team in the previous financial year. I cannot be more grateful to the staff and the Board of VAADA for their incredible commitment and effort during this time. Hopefully the report does some justice to this work.

It was a real privilege to have Major Brendan Nottle Commanding Officer of the Salvation Army Melbourne attend as a guest speaker at our Annual General Meeting. Brendan spoke about compassion and its historical place in the DNA of Melbourne. It’s been quite shameful to see local governments recently acting against these principles and look to punish people already in precarious situations. VAADA is proud to support health and social services that provide pathways to help for people experiencing disadvantage, including people with AOD treatment and support needs.

Thanks for your support in 2025. Wishing you a safe and happy new year.

Chris Christoforou
Chief Executive Officer

VAADA Updates

VAADA released its 2026 State Budget Submission, setting out 10 key priorities to strengthen Victoria’s alcohol and other drug (AOD) system and ensure every Victorian can access the right care, where and when they need it.

From redesigning funding models and expanding workforce development to continuing harm reduction initiatives and preparing the sector to meet the aspirations of Treaty, the submission outlines a comprehensive blueprint for reform.

On any given day, 4550 Victorians are waiting for treatment while 584 people died of fatal overdose in the last financial year. This is a clear sign that investment can’t wait.

The VAADA 2025 Victorian AOD Workforce Survey Report was officially launched last week at Bendigo Kangan Institute’s (BKI) Health and Community Centre of Excellence. Thank you to everyone who joined us, to BKI for hosting, and to Emma King OAM, CEO HumanAbility, for launching the report and emphasising the importance of strong partnerships and a connected ecosystem in supporting the AOD workforce.

The 2025 report shines a light on:

• Who makes up the current Victorian AOD workforce and how this has shifted since 2023
• Emerging trends in workforce wellbeing, including some areas of concern
• How training needs and preferences are changing across the sector
• Opportunities to strengthen the Victorian AOD Workforce

The report also sets out 7 recommendations to better support the AOD workforce.

A huge thank you to everyone who took the time to complete the survey. Your contributions have provided meaningful data to inform our sector development and advocacy work.

We’re pleased to share VAADA’s 2025 Annual Report, highlighting a year of progress, collaboration and sector leadership. As a small but dedicated team, we’re proud of what has been achieved with the support of our members, partners and the AOD workforce.

This year saw major advances in harm reduction, including the Victorian Pill Testing Service, system improvements, and nation-leading work on synthetic opioid preparedness. We strengthened workforce capability through the AOD Leadership Accelerator Program with RMIT and hosted the 2025 VAADA Conference with over 1100 delegates.

Across 57 publications and 152 media features, VAADA amplified advocacy and sector visibility.

Thank you all for your continued support.

VAADA awarded a Life Membership to Heather Pickard OAM at its recent Annual General Meeting. Heather has been a sector leader for a generation, serving as CEO of the Self Help Addiction Resource Centre (SHARC) for 15 years, while having worked in the AOD sector for three decades. 

According to VAADA President Dr Tamsin Short, “Heather’s pioneering work in Lived Experience leadership and her commitment to partnership and collaboration across our diverse sector has left a lasting impact and legacy. I have worked with and admired Heather throughout my own career in the AOD sector, and learnt a great deal from her passion, wisdom and tenacity.” 

In accepting the Life Membership, Heather reflected on her time in the AOD sector, including some of the seminal shifts and notable periods of reform, noting that our sector remains as robust as ever.

VAADA thanks Heather for her outstanding work for the AOD sector in Victoria and looks forward to her continuing contribution to public life. 

VAADA is excited to invite expressions of interest for VAADABase 2026, coinciding with our recognition as a 2025 SIMNA Awards finalist for excellence in social impact measurement. Together, these milestones highlight our sector’s growing commitment to meaningful, data driven insights.

VAADABase is a Victorian data-collaboration project bringing AOD treatment agencies together to generate powerful, de-identified insights that support planning, service improvement and advocacy. Agencies using the Victorian Alcohol and Drug Collection (VADC) are eligible to join in 2026.

By joining VAADABase, your organisation will receive:

• Your own secure, interactive dashboard displaying agency-level data
• Access to a statewide ‘sector dashboard’ showing broader system trends
• Quarterly snapshots summarising key organisational and sector insights
• Opportunities for shared learning through our VAADABase Learning Labs
• Quarterly project meetings where members help shape dashboard enhancements and strategic direction
• AOD Insights Reports released across the year

A snapshot from the latest AOD Insights Report 24/25 is available here

Our SIMNA finalist recognition reflects the collective effort of VAADA’s team, AOD agencies, lived experience workers, practitioners and sector partners—working together to strengthen a fairer, more responsive AOD system. We congratulate the other finalists and thank SIMNA for acknowledging organisations committed to meaningful, evidence-based impact.

*De-identified data from 15 participating AOD Treatment agencies across the 24-25 financial year

VAADA welcomes the Australian Government’s additional funding for cohealth, which will keep general practice services in Collingwood, Fitzroy and Kensington running until 31 July 2026. This ensures continuity of care for people who rely on these essential services. For thousands of Victorians experiencing AOD harms, cohealth offers trusted, accessible and often life-saving support.

VAADA CEO Chris Christoforou says, People experiencing AOD harms, including dependence, need stability, continuity, and safe access to care."

VAADA supports cohealth’s ongoing engagement with the government to secure sustainable, high-quality health and AOD services for communities experiencing health inequities.

VAADA is deeply disappointed that the City of Yarra is politicising a vital health service supporting some of the community’s most vulnerable people. The Medically Supervised Injecting Room (MSIR) has prevented fatal overdoses, reduced public drug use, and connected thousands with health and social services they would not otherwise access.

VAADA agrees that additional supervised injecting facilities are needed in other areas to ease amenity pressures in North Richmond but rejects harmful, stigmatising claims that misrepresent the MSIR or the people who use it. Everyone has the right to safe, respectful health care, and the service exists in North Richmond because drug-related harm has long been concentrated there.

VAADA urges Victorians to continue supporting this life-saving, dignity-affirming service.

VAADA has joined partners to urge the Victorian Government to reconsider its stance on cannabis decriminalisation, warning that current laws harm vulnerable people and fail to reduce drug-related harm.

Each year, about 7800 Victorians are penalised for cannabis possession, with Aboriginal people disproportionately targeted. These laws mirror the failures of past punitive approaches, causing trauma and reinforcing disadvantage. With strong public, expert and interstate evidence in favour of reform, the call is for cannabis use to be treated as a public health issue, not a crime.

Criminalisation harms communities, drives inequity and diverts resources away from health led approaches.

The launch of  Partner Peaks was held on Tuesday, 11 November, marking a new collaboration between the Centre for Excellence in Child and Family Welfare, Mental Health Victoria, and VAADA.

The event featured the first webinar in the series, The Surprising Truths about Psychosocial Safety Workshop, presented by Dr Michelle McQuaid and is now available to stream on YouTube.

Ning describes his placement at VAADA as one of the most meaningful parts of his social work journey so far. 

"At VAADA, I began to see how the work behind the scenes can shape what happens on the frontline. It helped me realise that building strong systems is just as important as direct client work and sometimes even determines whether services can happen at all", Ning says.

"As someone from a culturally diverse background, VAADA’s commitment to inclusion and reducing stigma also shaped how I think about my future career. I saw how advocacy can give a voice to communities who are often overlooked, and how policy can become a tool for equity rather than just paperwork."

We would like to sincerely thank Ning for his contributions during his placement at VAADA. We thoroughly enjoyed having him as part of our team. We wish him all the very best in his future and are confident he will continue to make a positive impact within the social work community. We'll miss you Ning!

Family Violence

In Support of 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence VAADA walked for change and has released a Position Paper on the role of the AOD sector in responding to gendered violence 

VAADA is proud to release its new position paper, Strengthening the Role of the AOD Sector in Responding to Gendered Violence, in support of the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence. The paper outlines the strong intersection between alcohol and other drug (AOD) use and domestic, family and sexual violence (DFSV), highlighting significant gaps in support for people who use drugs and who also use violence. While not all people who use substances perpetrate violence, substance use can escalate harm when gendered drivers are present.

On 28 November, VAADA also joined the Specialist Family Violence Advisors in AOD and Mental Health and Wellbeing at the Respect Victoria Walk, demonstrating our continued commitment to eliminating violence against women and children and centring the safety of women and gender-diverse people who use substances. Their voice matters. Their safety matters.

Visit VAADA's social media pages to see our 16 Days of Activism Campaign

Workforce Development

As we wrap up 2025, we want to celebrate that Elevate! has delivered 28 training sessions across the Victorian AOD sector. We're excited to share that the new 2026 training calendar is on its way, with our first sessions starting in February 2026. Sign up to the Elevate newsletter to be the first to find out about new offerings and dates early in the new year.

In the meantime, you can continue learning at your own pace with our self-paced modules below...

Sector Updates