A report on the ‘Keep Your Head Together’ project: a dual diagnosis population health prevention initiative undertaken in Western Sydney, Australia

Abstract

Dual diagnosis is common among substance-using adolescent populations. Increasingly, young people are presenting to mental health and drug and alcohol service providers with dual diagnosis issues. Early intervention and treatment services are being researched and developed. However, there are few programmes established in the area of prevention. A comprehensive population health-based dual diagnosis prevention project incorporating community education, resource development, community awareness raising, and professional training was undertaken in Western Sydney, Australia. Evaluations demonstrated that a multifaceted strategy was effective in raising community awareness, generating help-seeking behaviour in individuals concerned about dual diagnosis, increasing knowledge and confidence of professionals working in the field, and establishing sustaining partnerships to extend the reach of the project beyond initial funding parameters. Potentially sensitive issues such as dual diagnosis and substance use can ...