Welfare and General Counselling Services

Beyond general medical practice, there is a range of welfare and general counselling services where individuals can self-refer. These include, inter alia, homeless shelters, criminal justice settings, and family protection services. Screening in these contexts offers the opportunity for problem identification and referral for intervention. It is likely in a significant proportion of cases that excessive alcohol intake has contributed to the presenting problem (relationship, financial, parenting, mental health, employment, violence, housing). However, due to the breadth of services available and lack of Australian data, it is difficult to draw conclusions as to the effectiveness of screening in these other primary care contexts. Other data have indicated mixed results for screening implemented in welfare contexts, possibly due to the highly heterogeneous nature of the context.