SANDAS Seminar Series 2025

Seminar 1 – 25th February, 12pm

Michele Campbell & Jennifer Uzabeaga
Network of Alcohol and Other Drug Agencies (NADA)

Becoming Gender Responsive: working with women engaged in alcohol and other drug treatment.

Michele and Jennifer will be presenting a workshop on Becoming Gender Responsive: working with women engaged in alcohol and other drug treatment. Exploring women’s experiences of treatment and adapting treatment modalities to ensure women’s voices are heard and their needs are met.

Watch the recording of this seminar here. 

Seminar 2 – 4th March 2025

Noha Elnahas & Mehak Khandeparkar
Survivors of Torture and Trauma Assistance and Rehabilitation Service (STTARS)

Thrive and Connect: Working with people from diverse multicultural backgrounds.

Noha and Mehak from STTARS will begin the seminar by providing a general overview of STTARS and details about the THRIVE AND CONNECT PROGRAM they are a part of. This will be followed by a case presentation, which will include a case formulation and the therapeutic strategies used to support this specific client. By the end of the presentation, the audience can expect to receive basic practical tips on engaging people from diverse multicultural backgrounds, including working with interpreters.

Watch the recording of this seminar here

Seminar 3 – 11th March 2025

Peter Jessup, Engagement Officer
Commonwealth Department of Health and Aged Care

Let’s Talk About Aged Care

Join the Department of Health and Aged Care for a discussion on Commonwealth funded aged care services; what they are and how to find them, and you may be able to help support your client’s access to services (via My Aged Care).

The Department will talk participants through the range of aged care services, the assessment process and finding services that meet older people’s needs. There will be time for discussion and questions.

Watch the recording of this seminar here

Seminar 4 – 18th March 2025 

Sam Raven, Senior Policy and Project Officer, SANDAS

Alcohol and Other Dug Treatment Services National Minimum Data Set (AODTS NMDS)

The State and Territory AOD Peaks Network is dedicated to creating a unified national approach to alcohol and other drugs data collection. We have organized a 60-minute seminar specifically for workers in government-funded AOD treatment services in SA who are responsible for recording NMDS-required data. This seminar will offer a concise overview of the NMDS requirements and provide participants with the chance to ask questions, clarify uncertainties, and discuss common challenges faced by organizations and individual clinicians regarding the NMDS.

Watch the recording of this seminar here

SANDAS Seminar Series 2024

Seminar 1 – 12th March, 12pm
Dr Catherine Earl: Foundation for Alcohol Research & Education (FARE)
Catherine is the Director of Research and Policy at FARE, working to improve public policy in the area of alcohol harms. Catherine’s presentation focuses on the advocacy work of FARE in relation to preventing alcohol harm in South Australia and nationally.

Watch the recording of this seminar here

Seminar 2 – 19th March, 12pm
Brett Hodges and Mat Tipping : AOD Lived & Living Experience Workforce FAQ’s (frequently avoided questions)
This seminar focuses on a series of commonly encountered questions around the development of the AOD lived/living experience workforce and responses from two AOD LLE Educators working at Insight, Queensland’s specialist provider of alcohol and other drug training, education, clinical resources and practice advice for workers and services.

Watch the recording of this seminar here

Seminar 3 – 26th March, 12pm
Dr Vicky Cock – Clinical Director DASSA: Vaping: Is it all smoke with no fire? Hear about the latest on vaping and what’s happening in the South Australian policy context.                                  Currently Vicky is a consultant Addiction medicine Specialist and the Clinical Director for DASSA. She has an interest in the management of medical co-morbidities associated with substance use. In particular alcohol related liver disease and the provision of hepatitis C care to marginalised population groups – with a focus on current IV drug users. She is a firm advocate for the principles of harm reduction across the specialty and the reduction of all forms of stigma directed at those who choose to use substances. She is also a keen teacher, educator and researcher.

Watch the recording of this seminar here. 

SANDAS SA State AOD Treatment Services Forum

This yearly event takes place in around May/June each year and is an opportunity to hear from funding bodies, policy makers, local services about what is happening and new in the AOD sector.

SANDAS currently provides the following networking opportunities. To enquire about joining any of these networks, please contact sandasinfo@sandas.org.au

Comorbidity Network Group

The Comorbidity Network Group focuses on connecting Alcohol and Other Drug Programs with the Mental Health sector with the aim of improving outcomes for clients with comorbidities and to share knowledge amongst organisations in these fields. Guest speakers are invited from AOD, Mental Health and other relevant service organisations, and information is shared between workers at the six-weekly meetings.

Membership from workers in the alcohol and other drug or mental health sector is welcome, provided their current role is relevant to the network’s focus. Contact SANDAS for more information.

AOD Peer Network

The AOD Peer Network is an opportunity for Lived Experience/Peer workers in the Alcohol and Other Drug sector to come together to share information, provide support, network and learn. The network meets quarterly and meetings usually include lunch.

If you are a Lived Experience/Peer worker in the SA AOD sector and want to know more about this network, contact Sam Raven on sam@sandas.org.au

Refund of registration fees

• If a SANDAS event is cancelled, a full refund of any registration fees paid will be made within 30 days of the cancellation.
• If a registered participant cannot attend an event for any reason, SANDAS should be advised by email at sandasinfo@sandas.org.au or by phone on (08) 8231 8818 as soon as possible. A full refund of registration fees will be made if this advice is received at least ten working days prior to the commencement of the event.
• No refund is payable if cancellation advice is received less than ten working days prior to the commencement of the event. Whilst we understand that personal circumstances or work commitments can change unavoidably at short notice, SANDAS cannot accept responsibility for such changes.

Non-attendance

• No refund is payable if a participant is late for or fails to attend an event.
• Where a person or organisation has registered to attend an event but has not paid fees in advance, they will be liable to pay those fees if they fail to attend without ten working days’ notice.

Substitutions and Transfers

• Where a registered participant cannot attend, they may send a substitute. Requests for substitutions can be made by calling SANDAS on 08 82318818 and can be made at any time up to the event commencement date.
• SANDAS does not offer a facility for registration fees to be transferred to another event.