The Standard - Evidence Informed | Culturally Responsive
Community confidence in the work of human services is essential to achieving best outcomes. Alcohol and other drug services, and other human services, need to demonstrate safe, quality and evidence informed approaches to treatment and support.
The Alcohol and other Drug and Human Services Standard (the Standard), like its first edition, the Standard on Culturally Secure Practice (Alcohol and other Drug Sector), is a quality management system standard against which human services can achieve certification.
The Standard is flexible enough to be applied by a diverse range of human services. Throughout its development, the Standard has maintained a strong focus on culturally responsive and evidence informed ways of working.
The Alcohol and other Drug and Human Services Standard is registered with the Joint Accreditation System of Australia and New Zealand (JAS-ANZ).
A list of organisations certified against this standard can be accessed by browsing the JAS-ANZ Register.
Alcohol and other drug treatment service providers must be certified against the Alcohol and other Drug and Human Services Standard or another approved standard to comply with the National Quality Framework for Drug and Alcohol Treatment Services.
Development of the Standard
The Standard on Culturally Secure Practice (Alcohol and other Drug Sector) is the predecessor to the Alcohol and other Drug, and other Human Services Standard.
The Standard was developed in consultation with the alcohol and other drug sector and was the first to focus on cultural security. Development of the Standard was supported by the Western Australian Mental Health Commission (formerly the Drug and Alcohol Office) and the Australian Government’s Office for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health.
In 2018 and 2019 WANADA coordinated a review of the Standard on Culturally Secure Practice and the accompanying Scheme.
The review was overseen by a steering group of representative stakeholders and was informed by extensive consultation with the Western Australian specialist alcohol and other drug sector, accreditation and certification bodies, funding bodies, researchers and other interested parties.
The review led to a number of improvements, particularly in the areas of:
- governance (both clinical/practice and organisational);
- consumer and community engagement;
- cultural responsiveness;
- worker wellbeing;
- risk management, and;
- approaches to demonstrating effectiveness and evidence informed practice.
Overall, the review resulted in a more concise, robust and contemporary second edition that is relevant to a broader range of human services – the Alcohol and other Drug and Human Services Standard.
Under JAS-ANZ transitional arrangements, organisations certified against the Standard on Culturally Secure Practice (SCSP) needed to transition to the Alcohol and other Drug and Human Services Standard (AODHSS) by February 2023.
The National Quality Framework for Drug and Alcohol Treatment Services which applies to all alcohol and other drug treatment service providers, required services to be certified against the Alcohol and other Drug and Human Services Standard or another approved standard from 29 November 2022.
Learn More
WANADA welcomes your enquiries. For more information about the Standard, please contact WANADA on (08) 6557 9400 or via [email protected].