Available courses

Coping With Stress and Uncertainty During COVID-19

Feeling overwhelmed and on edge in the wake of COVID-19? You’re not alone. As difficult as this situation is-and as powerless as you might sometimes feel-there are steps you can take to improve your health and wellbeing. 

This course has been developed to help AOD workers cope with stress and uncertainty during COVID-19. It explores the factors that make coping difficult and outlines a variety of helpful tips and strategies to support you to look after yourself during these challenging times.

By the end of this course, you should be able to:

  • explain why coping during a public health crisis as an AOD worker is challenging
  • identify your stress response and emotional triggers 
  • apply proven coping and relaxation tools and techniques to reduce stress and enhance health and wellbeing.


Engaging with Families and Significant Others in the AOD sector

This course aims to equip practitioners with knowledge and practical skills to engage and support families and significant others impacted by problematic substance use. 

Topics include: 

  • Why it is important to engage and support families and significant others
  • Strategies to engage with families and significant others
  • Brief interventions including single session consultation
  • Building referral and support pathways
  • Organisational change  

There are four modules in this course, each module will take approx. 45 minutes to complete.

Who should complete this course?

Generalist AOD and non AOD services from the Health and NGO AOD treatment sector. Practitioners, support professionals and other relevant personnel wanting to learn more about engaging with families and significant others.

This course was developed by NADA in partnership with Family Drug Support and the Ministry of Health NSW Government. 

Asking the question: Recommended Gender & Sexuality Indicators

For an organisation or service delivery to be inclusive of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) people and communities, it means taking into account a person's lived experience of gender identity, sexual orientation, body diversity and intersex status.

This module aims to build the capacity of alcohol and other drugs (AOD) workers and organisations to be LGBTI inclusive, by providing guidance on gender and sexuality indicators that can be implemented to meet the specific needs of all clients.

The module will take 35-50 minutes to complete.

Who should complete this course?

Front line staff and managers working in alcohol and other drug service provision should complete this course.


This resource has been developed by ACON, in partnership with NADA and Central and Eastern Sydney PHN.

AODTS NMDS elearning course - an interactive guide to the data set

The aim of the Alcohol and Other Drug Treatment Service National Minimum Data Set (AODTS NMDS) resource is to develop a nationally consistent approach to alcohol and other drug service data collection.

The training objectives are to:

  • increase participant awareness of the data elements in the AODTS NMDS;
  • increase participant understanding of common errors in NMDS data collection;
  • increase service capacity to accurately record and report AODTS NMDS data; and,
  • increase participant awareness of the resources available to support data collection and reporting.

The module will take 30-45 minutes to complete.

Please note: The information in this resource is based on the 2018-19 AODTS NMDS Data Collection Manual. The manual is updated annually and should always be referred to in the first instance.

This module was developed by the State and Territory Alcohol and other Drugs Peak Network.

Complex Needs Capable eLearning Course

This resource aims to build the capacity of alcohol and other drugs (AOD) workers and organisations to better support clients with complex needs, with a particular focus on cognitive impairment and criminal justice contact. A number of topics will be added over time to this course. Current topics include:

  • What we mean by complex needs and why it's important for AOD workers to consider it in their and their organisations practice
  • What cognitive impairment is and how you can identify it
  • Strategies that you can implement in your practice

There are five modules in this course, each module will take 45-60 minutes to complete.

The e-learning resource is supported by a :

Who should complete this course?

Front line staff and managers working in alcohol and other drug service provision should complete this course. Prior understanding of alcohol and other drug misuse and treatment is assumed.



Magistrates Early Referral Into Treatment (MERIT)

The MERIT program provides a referral pathway away from the criminal justice system for eligible clients. 

Workers from across the NGO AOD sector should be aware of this program as it provides early referral into treatment at any time up to the first court appearance. MERIT differs from other drug court initiatives as all legal, supervision and treatment issues are dealt with by a single team of case workers. 

The module will take 35-45 minutes to complete.

This module was developed by the Health Education Training Institute  and is hosted by NADA in collaboration with the NSW Ministry of Health. 

If you would like further information about the MERIT program visit http://www.merit.justice.nsw.gov.au/.  


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