Member News | Edition 2

Member Spotlight | Vincent Care Victoria

It's Ozanam House Open Day, a public showcase of an exceptional service. Molly describes Ozanam House "as a keystone service of the Victorian homelessness system.” Operating since the 1950’s, and redeveloped by Vincent Care Victoria in 2019, Ozanam House provides 134 units of accommodation, making it Victoria’s largest homelessness accommodation setting. “Ozanam House provides its residents with an amazing array of services such as health services, meals and other wraparound supports. There is an inspirational team working here. It’s a pretty great place to work," says Molly.

Ozanam House exists within the homelessness system as a referral point for people requiring crisis accommodation. According to Molly however, “often, just like drug and alcohol work, people who have chronic and recurring homelessness aren’t often connected with the service system, and they are a hard group of people to reach. As a system, we need to try harder to reach those people who aren’t currently accessing our help”.

We ask, what’s inspiring about Ozanam House?

“The people who have been residents here, who’ve left but stayed connected with the service and come back to volunteer, to contribute back in the House. People who have been connected for 20, 30 years, that’s always lovely to see,” says Molly. “We’ve got a lot of community members who volunteer here, serving breakfast and lunch, and that’s always really lovely as well. We’ve also got people coming through our doors, as drop-in clients and residents who then go on to bigger and better things, finding stable housing. We have so many of those stories, and it’s easy to forget how inspiring each of those stories really is".

Vincent Care Victoria seeks to address drug and alcohol use through the perspective of homelessness, For Molly “people experiencing homelessness often have alcohol and other drug use problems and certainly people who are facing homelessness find it difficult to access drug and alcohol services and equally people who are drug and alcohol users often find it difficult to access housing and housing assistance”.

Amongst Vincent Care Victoria’s drug and alcohol services is Quin House - an 11 bed drug and alcohol residential rehabilitation program, that has a therapeutic approach and is very much focused at the intersections of AOD. “We focus on helping men that face barriers to accessing other drug and alcohol services, people who may have experienced homelessness, been in custody or had contact with the correctional and justice systems. The program has an outreach component as well as a residential component”.  According to Molly, “what would make a massive difference for us is having somewhere for people to go. Better access to homes and ongoing stable housing is the critical thing”.

International Overdose Awareness Day Events

#LetsTalkNaloxone2025
Spread the word about naloxone this Overdose Day!

This International Overdose Awareness Day (31 August), NSPs, AOD services and harm reduction partners are invited  to join #LetsTalkNaloxone2025—a simple, coordinated campaign to spread the word about naloxone.

The ask is that every organisation commit to just one small action during 27 August – 3 September. It could be adding naloxone discussions to your Overdose Day event, raising awareness at staff meetings, running short information sessions, posting on social media, or promoting naloxone in your workplace or community.

To take part:
✅ Nominate a Naloxone Champion
✅ Commit to at least one action or event
✅ Share basic details of your activity 

Penington Institute will provide a starter kit with posters, templates, fact sheets, and resources to make participation easy. Together, small actions will create big impact.

Member update from The Loop, HRVic and YSAS

Fixed Site Pill Testing Service Now Open in Fitzroy

The Loop, is are pleased to advise you that the fixed site Victorian Pill testing service is now open at 95 Brunswick St, Fitzroy.

🗓️ The days/hours of operation are:

• Thursday 12-4pm
• Friday 3-7pm
• Saturday 1-7pm

☎️ The contact number is 1800 762 844.

VAADA acknowledges the opening of the Victorian Pill Testing Service as an important milestone in reducing community harms from drugs. The service is absolutely necessary in light of the unacceptable number of fatal overdoses that continue to occur in Victoria. VAADA commends The Loop, Harm Reduction Victoria and Youth Support and Advocacy Services (YSAS) on their work in establishing the service.

Member update from Odyssey Victoria

GHB Practice Guide

The Centre for Impact & Change is working with Odyssey Victoria to develop a GHB practice guide to support work with specific priority groups, specifically people who use GHB who are pregnant, who are women experiencing violence and coercive control, or who are young people.

This survey seeks sector insights on supporting people in these priority groups and aims to identify the sector’s resource needs.

✍ Start the survey!

The survey will be open for two weeks, closing Sept 2.

Member update from Barwon Health

Member update from First Step

The First Step Journey

Later this year, First Step is celebrating 25 years of walking alongside people through mental health challenges, substance use, and complex life circumstances.

As part of their anniversary, they're exploring their rich history – but the first 15 years are a little light on documentation. That’s where they need your help.

Were you a client of First Step between 2000 and 2015?

Or did someone close to you receive support from them during that time?

They'd love to hear from you. Please reach out to Nelly below.

Every story counts.

Member update from the Alcohol and Drug Foundation

The Alcohol and Drug Foundation has launched two new guides for health workers

Opioid Pharmacotherapy
This guide provides an overview of opioid pharmacotherapy. It’s designed to inform anyone working with people who are dependent on opioids and is also useful if you're interested in learning more about opioid pharmacotherapy. After reading this, you’ll know more about the various pharmacotherapy options and how to support people who are dependent on opioids to access pharmacotherapy, if they choose to. We created this guide in collaboration with the Pharmacotherapy Advocacy Mediation Support (PAMS).

👁️‍🗨️ View guide

Performance and Image Enhancing Drugs (PIEDs)
If you're a health worker, you don’t need to be an expert on performance and image enhancing drugs (PIEDs) to support people who use them. Having a non-judgemental, person-centred care approach, and connecting them with appropriate resources can make a real difference. This guide covers the essentials to better equip you when supporting people who use PIEDs in your everyday practice. When developing this guide, we worked with expert reviewer Dr Timothy Piatkowski, who is a leading researcher in harm reduction and PEIDs.

👁️‍🗨️ View guide

Member update from ACSO

ACSO Commences Transition to New AOD Client Management System

ACSO would like to advise the AOD sector that they have commenced a project to retire their existing AOD client management system (Penelope) and replace it with Community Care by KPMG.

This represents a critical step in modernising their digital infrastructure, improving the client experience, and streamlining processes for ACSO and their partners.

The new system will enhance referral and information sharing, as well as provide improved portal access for external users. Importantly, they anticipate the way partners interact with them will remain fundamentally the same, simply supported by a refreshed, purpose-built system interface.

A portal rollout is anticipated in November. User guides and instructional videos will be available from late October.

ACSO will continue to provide updates and share key information through VAADA communications channels.

Member update from Neami, cohealth, Western Health, Eastern Health and Alfred Health

Growing Victoria’s network of Mental Health and Wellbeing Locals

Victorians will soon have greater access to free mental health and wellbeing support, with seven new Mental Health and Wellbeing Locals opening from late 2025.

Building on the success of 15 existing sites – which have already supported more than 23,000 people – the new services will provide free, community-based care without the need for a referral or Medicare card.

Neami National, cohealth, Western Health, Eastern Health and Alfred Health services will lead delivery alongside other partners.

These new Locals mark another important step in delivering the Royal Commission’s vision for a responsive, connected mental health system.

Events Calendar and Jobs Board

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