Cause for Concern

In 2016 YSAS asked the Victorian Youth AOD workforce to complete the Youth Needs Census, a unique census that collected data on young people accessing youth AOD services. From the Census data we were able to develop a better picture of those young people utilising youth AOD service, their backgrounds, complexities and so much more!

One surprising, yet important finding, was that young people accessing AOD services are falling behind in the fight against tobacco. ThYNC showed the young people included in the Census tended to smoke more than those in the general community. Dr. Karen Hallam took a further look at this in Cause for concern: Australian youth engages with alcohol and other drug services are falling behind out community progress in reducing tobacco use published in Early Intervention in Psychiatry.

ThYNC 2016 is available here.