Online – Elevate

Consumer Consensus on the Optimal Deliver of the Opioid Dependence Treatment Program – Webinar 3

Consumer Consensus on the Optimal Deliver of the Opioid Dependence Treatment Program

Description:

In this webinar, you will hear what people with lived-living experience of the Opioid Dependence Treatment Program (ODTP) have identified as priorities for optimal delivery of the program in Australia. The consumer consensus statement presented in this webinar was developed through consultation with AIVL member organisations and people across Australia who have direct experience of the ODTP.

Date: Wednesday 2 September

Time: 12:00pm – 1:30PM AEST

Cost: Online – A link will be sent to you before the webinar

Who should attend: This webinar is only available to staff who are working in a Victorian Department of Health (DH) funded AOD organisation.

Registration: Click here for more information and to register

Pharmacotherapy Systems, Mapping Challenges and Best Practice – Webinar 2

Pharmacotherapy systems, mapping challenges and best practice: What We’ve Learned and What It Means for Opioid Treatment

Description:

This webinar provides an overview of emerging findings from recent research that has aimed to build a shared understanding of challenges and priorities in opioid dependence treatment. It brings together insights from clinicians, consumers, and service leaders to highlight barriers to access, workforce and service issues, and areas where further evidence and alignment are needed.

The session is designed to inform and prepare stakeholders for the National Consensus for Action Forum: A Roundtable on Australian Opioid Dependence Treatment in Canberra focused on consensus-building, advocacy, and practical action.

Target Audience

Clinicians delivering opioid agonist treatment (OAT)
Clinical directors, service managers, and governance leads
Researchers and guideline developers engaged in opioid treatment
Consumers (though specific webinars are planed that are targeted primarily for this audience)

Key Outputs/Outcomes

By the end of the webinar participants will:

Shared understanding of challenges and priorities from a treatment system perspective
Greater alignment across clinical and system stakeholders
Documented points of convergence and uncertainty.

Relationship to the National Consensus for Action Roundtable

This webinar provides evidence informed context, ensuring that by September:

Major challenges and priorities are already mapped
Forum participants can focus on consensus statements, advocacy priorities, and action planning
The research process actively strengthens sector advocacy rather than running parallel to it

Date: Tuesday, 25 August

Time: 1:00pm – 2:30PM AEST

Cost: Online – A link will be sent to you before the webinar

Who should attend: This webinar is only available to staff who are working in a Victorian Department of Health (DH) funded AOD organisation.

Registration: Click here for more information and to register

Setting the Scene: Reforming Australia’s ODTP – Webinar 1

Setting the Scene: Reforming Australia’s ODTP – Key Evidence, Priorities and Unfinished Business

Description:

The ODTP National Consensus for Action Roundtable will be held on 7 September 2026 at Parliament House Canberra, where expert representatives including lived and living experience advocates, policy makers, clinicians, researchers and other key stakeholders will be joined by Australian Government Parliamentarians, bureaucrats and ministerial representatives to build and endorse a National Opioid Dependency Treatment (ODT) Program consensus statement. Our aim is that this document will outline critical, cross-jurisdictional ODT program principles that centre efficacy, equity and sustainability, and the associated actions required to implement meaningful healthcare and systems reform. This process is a crucial unified step towards an internationally accepted gold-standard for ODT in this country and a commitment to future healthcare innovation, that Australian communities should rightfully expect, and that clinical and policy experts agree is an imperative priority to deliver.

This webinar, the first in a series of three pre-roundtable events, will guide participants through a detailed overview of two key documents: the recently launched Harm Reduction Australia (HRA) Opioid Treatment Program Policy Brief and the PBS Post-Market Review of PBS ODTP Medicines Report to PBAC (March 2023). An overview of available ODTP medications, additional formulations and alternative approaches to ODT that have succeeded in other jurisdictions internationally, will also be explored. Informing the consensus building discussions that will take place at Parliament House in September, this webinar is intentionally informative and sets the groundwork for building meaningful consensus in the lead-up to the face‑to‑face Roundtable event. Providing a backdrop for policy and research perspectives in the Australian setting, we warmly invite webinar participants to take up the opportunity to participate by contributing questions, as well as to become familiar with what is possible in building our own successful future model for ODT.

Date: Tuesday, 11 August

Time: 1:00pm – 3:00PM AEST

Cost: Online – A link will be sent to you before the webinar

Who should attend: This webinar is only available to staff who are working in a Victorian Department of Health (DH) funded AOD organisation.

Registration: Click here for more information and to register

Group Facilitation Skills Training for AOD Workers (online)

1-day workshop:

Date: 23rd September 2026

Time: 10am – 4:30pm

Online: a link will be sent to you prior to the workshop date

Learning outcomes

By the end of the workshop participants will be able to:

Establish the culture of the group and safety within the group space.
Define content and process and apply both with balance between the two.
Identify common challenges that present in the delivery of group programs and apply strategies for managing these.
Understand how to work in a variety of group formats.
Apply skills and strategies for attending to responsivity in groupwork.
Apply skills for providing the group with a sense of closure at the end of a group program.

Eligibility Criteria

This training is open to people working in AOD-specific roles in publicly funded services (i.e. AOD, mental health locals).

Who is not eligible?

Students on placement or internships, workers outside of Victoria, workers not in an AOD-specific role.

Register

Registrations open 12th August

Terms & Conditions

If you cannot attend, cancel your registration and make your spot available to someone else on the waitlist.

When the Prescription Becomes the Problem

Registration: Click here to register

When the Prescription Becomes the Problem: Assessing and Managing Dependence on Benzodiazepines, Opioid Analgesics and other medications

This is a 45 minute Turning Point Connect & Learn webinar. To attend the webinar, click the link below to register.

Description: This presentation will look at how concurrent alcohol use changes risk, presentation and overdose potential, and what clinicians need to watch for in day-to-day assessment and management.

Dr Basanth Kenchaiah is a general adult and addiction psychiatrist with a particular interest in prescription medication dependence and managing inappropriate polypharmacy. He works part time at GV Health and St Vincent’s Hospital Melbourne, in addition to private practice at Delmont Private Hospital. He sits on the executive committee of the Australian Deprescribing Network and was until recently Chair of the Subcommittee for Advanced Training in Addiction Psychiatry, RANZCP.

Date: Tuesday,29 September

Time: 1:00pm – 1:45PM

Cost: Online – A link will be sent to you before the webinar

Who should attend: This webinar is only available to staff who are working in a Victorian Department of Health (DH) funded AOD organisation.

Registration: Click here to register

Methamphetamine use and psychosis: evidence, guidelines & what’s cooking

*This workshop is now full!*

This is a 45 minute Turning Point Connect & Learn webinar. To attend the webinar, click the link below to register.

Description: What’s really cooking in methamphetamine treatment? This talk explores current evidence for effective medication and psychosocial interventions, demystifies meth psychosis (what we know and what remains unclear), and bridges the gap between research and practice. We’ll unpack emerging guidelines and trials, including psychedelic-assisted approaches, to give clinicians an understanding of what you can offer right now, and what the next few years will bring.

Associate Professor Shalini Arunogiri is a clinical addiction psychiatrist and researcher at Monash University and Turning Point, Eastern Health. She is the Clinical Director of the Hamilton Centre, Victoria’s statewide centre for co-occurring addiction and mental health, and an NHMRC Emerging Leader Fellow. Shalini has been an investigator on six Australian national multisite randomised controlled trials of methamphetamine use disorder treatments: N-ICE, LiMA, Ready2Change, the Tina Trial, OLAM, and PsiMA.

Shalini completed her PhD on methamphetamine psychosis in 2019 and has published extensively on this topic, with over 37 research outputs and more than $11 million in grant funding focused on methamphetamine. Shalini is immediate past Chair of the RANZCP Faculty of Addiction Psychiatry, past Board Director of the International Society of Addiction Medicine, and Co-Editor-in-Chief of Advances in Dual Diagnosis. She works alongside clinician-researchers across addiction and mental health, committed to building the evidence base for integrated care and treatments for people who use methamphetamine.

Date: Tuesday, 27 October 2026

Time: 1:00pm – 1:45PM

Cost: Online – A link will be sent to you before the webinar

Who should attend: This webinar is only available to staff who are working in a Victorian Department of Health (DH) funded AOD organisation.

Registration: Click here to register

MARAM In Practice: Family Violence in AOD Work

This workshop is now full – you can join the waitlist here

MARAM In Practice: Family Violence in AOD Work, presented by Bella Tambakau & Sheridon Byrne

Date: Thursday 26th November 2026
Time: 9:30am – 3:30pm
Venue: Online
Cost: Free
Enquiries: tp@turningpoint.org.au
IMPORTANT NOTE: this training is only available to staff who are working in a Victorian Department of Health (DH) funded AOD organisation in an AOD role.

This workshop is designed for Victorian AOD workers, ideally who have completed foundational MARAM training although not necessary. The workshop aims to enhance practical understanding and application of the MARAM framework and applying it to day-to-day work with clients.

Participants will explore how to integrate MARAM principles into real-world scenarios through the use of case studies and facilitated breakout room discussions. These sessions will provide opportunities to apply knowledge, share insights, and learn from peers across the sector.

The workshop will focus on strategies to keep victim-survivors safe, reduce the risk of collusion with people using family violence, and strengthen confidence in responding to complex situations.

Bella Tambakau is a Specialist Family Violence Advisor in Alcohol and Other Drugs, auspice to Turning Point. Bella brings forth her extensive experience in the family violence sector in crisis and direct response to her current role, where she supports AOD services to build family violence capacity and support the alignment to the MARAM framework.

Sheridon Byrneis a Trainer within the workforce development team, with over two decades of experience in the family violence sector. Her career spans a wide range of roles, including work in women’s refuges, family violence crisis counselling, program coordination, and project leadership. Sheridon has delivered significant training and capacity-building initiatives across multiple sectors, particularly at the intersection of family violence, alcohol and other drugs, and mental health. Her work includes private consultation and the design of tailored training programs that support sustainable, effective practice. Sheridon is deeply committed to fostering systemic change and empowering practitioners to engage in family violence work with confidence and resilience.

Who should attend? This workshop is designed for Victorian AOD workers, ideally who have completed foundational MARAM training although not necessary. The workshop aims to enhance practical understanding and application of the MARAM framework and applying it to day-to-day work with clients.

NOTE: This online training is only available to staff who are working in a Victorian Department of Health (DH) funded AOD organisation in an AOD role, please register with your WORK email, your ticket will be cancelled if you do not use your work email, thank you.

Register Here!

Cancellation policy: This training is free, however if your circumstances change please log into your Eventbrite account and cancel your registration or alternatively email tp@turningpoint.org.au to advise of your inability to complete.

Understanding Trauma and Addiction

Date: Wednesday, November 11 April 2026 10:00 AM – 2:00 PM

Location: Online

Description:

This half day workshop provides AOD workers with information and strategies to work with clients who have histories of trauma and substance use. The workshop covers frameworks of trauma, its impact on the brain, the link between trauma and addiction, and recommended treatment approaches when working with this cohort.

Eligibility Criteria

This training has been funded for workers employed in a Victorian State-funded Alcohol and Other Drug (AOD) service including those under the AOD Traineeship Program.

Who is not eligible?

Workers from other community sectors such as Family Violence, Homelessness and Mental Health and AOD workers outside of Victoria.

Terms & Conditions

Please ensure you have clearance from your line manager to attend. If you cannot attend, cancel your registration and make your spot available to someone else on the waitlist.

Motivational Interviewing: Foundation Skills (online)

*To enrol, change ‘Enrol Now’ to ‘I’m Going’. Check if you’ve enrolled correctly under ‘My Courses’

Date: Wednesday, 10 February 2027, 9:00 AM – 4:30 PM

Location: Online

Description

Motivational Interviewing is a skills-based approach to conversations about change that focuses on the client’s needs and wants. MI offers a framework for navigating the common experiences of resistance and ambivalence that so often accompanies the change process.

This two-day workshop introduces the framework and rationale of MI, core skills and application of these skills across the change process. Combining theory with practice, the workshop provides a comprehensive overview into what MI is, what it isn’t and how it works in practice. The training is highly interactive, with a focus on practical skill development.

The workshop is suitable for both workers with no knowledge of MI and for those who want to refresh and deepen their understanding and practice of the core skills of MI.

Eligibility Criteria

This training is open to people working in AOD-specific roles in publicly funded services (i.e. AOD, mental health locals).

Who is not eligible?

Students on placement or internships, workers outside of Victoria, workers not in an AOD-specific role.

Terms & Conditions

If you cannot attend, cancel your registration at least 24 hours before the cancel your registration and make your spot available to someone else on the waitlist.

No shows will be charged a $50 cancellation fee.

Understanding Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)

Date: Thursday 11 March 2027

Time: 9:30am – 1:00pm

Location: Online

Description:

Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT) is one of the key practice skills you need for effective alcohol and other drug treatment. This interactive workshop offers an engaging and practical introduction to CBT and makes CBT meaningful in day to day practice. Improve your understanding of CBT theory and practice, learn a comprehensive CBT framework, and develop skills in tailoring strategies and treatment for different client presentations.

Key learning outcomes:

Gain core knowledge and clinical skills in different types of behavioural and cognitive therapies
Understand the CBT approach to assessment, formulation, brief interventions and treatment planning
Apply knowledge and practice of key alcohol and other drug specific CBT interventions

Eligibility Criteria

This training has been funded for workers employed in a Victorian State-funded Alcohol and Other Drug (AOD) service including those under the AOD Traineeship Program.

Who is not eligible?

Workers from other community sectors such as Family Violence, Homelessness and Mental Health and AOD workers outside of Victoria.

Terms & Conditions

Please ensure you have clearance from your line manager to attend. If you cannot attend, cancel your registration and make your spot available to someone else on the waitlist.