Alcohol and Drug Support Service - Client Charter
The Alcohol and Drug Support Service provides 24/7 respectful, confidential, telephone counselling, information, referral and support lines for families and individuals impacted by alcohol and drug use.
This charter is to provide you with information about your rights and responsibilities as the person accessing this service.
Your rights
You have a right to a confidential, non-judgemental, professional, respectful and accountable service.
Your responsibilities include:
BEING ABLE TO ENGAGE – When contacting the service, you engage appropriately with the service and the counsellor and you are not significantly impaired by the effects of alcohol or other drugs.
COMMUNICATION – Providing accurate information about your alcohol/drug use and/or current situation to enable us to provide the best possible support. Feeling able to ask questions and let us know about your experience of our service.
Our rights
RESPECT – Alcohol and Drug Support Service staff are entitled to respect and courtesy and not being subjected to abusive and/or aggressive language.
Our responsibilities include:
SUPPORT - We work with you and support you to get the best possible outcomes.
RESPECT – Listening carefully and treating you with dignity and courtesy.
INFORMATION – Providing you with information about a range of quality, evidence based services and treatment options specific to your individual needs, in a way that is easy to understand and free from bias.
CONFIDENTIALITY – Ensuring your information is kept confidential unless disclosure is otherwise authorised and/or required, and that the information we keep is stored in accordance with the Mental Health Commission’s (MHC) record keeping policies.
SAFETY – We have a duty of care to take steps if safety concerns arise during a client contact in order to ensure the safety of vulnerable people (for example a caller with suicidal ideation).
NON-DISCRIMINATION – Providing services that do not discriminate and are inclusive of age, gender, sexuality, spiritual beliefs, country of origin, cultural identity or disability.
PROFESSIONAL – Providing services that are delivered with professional care, skill and competence. Providing the best possible service by ensuring staff keep their skills and knowledge up to date. Ensuring the service participates in ongoing professional review and development and follows relevant professional codes of conduct and ethics.
COMPLAINTS – If and when required we will provide information about the process for making a complaint.
Feedback, compliments and complaints
FEEDBACK - Providing feedback is an important part of helping us to improve the services we provide. Feedback can be a compliment, suggestion or complaint and you can provide feedback in person, by phone or in writing. If you would like to provide feedback on your contact with our service please email us at alcoholdrugsupport@mhc.wa.gov.au or call (08) 9442 5000 or 1800 198 024 (country callers) and ask to speak to the Coordinator.
COMPLAINTS – You can comment on or complain about the service you received by speaking directly to us or via Mental Health Commission - Contact Us. Complaints will be dealt with in a timely and professional manner following the Mental Health Commission’s organisational complaints process.
RELEASE OF INFORMATION – Under the Freedom of Information Act 1982 every person has a right to request access to documents about them. If you would like more information please visit the Mental Health Commission website or click here: Freedom of Information.
OTHER RELEVANT SERVICES - If you are unhappy with the response from our service or feel uncomfortable approaching our service directly you can contact the following services for assistance:
Health and Disability Services Complaints Office (HaDSCO)
(08) 6551 7600 or Free Call 1800 999 057
HaDSCO is an independent state government agency providing a free impartial resolution service for complaints relating to health or disability services in Western Australia.
Health Consumers Council of Western Australia (HCC)
(08) 9221 3422 or Free Call 1800 620 780
HCC’s Advocacy Service provides flexible, individualised support, including providing information about your health rights, helping you to get linked with a service, attending appointments with you and assisting you to make a complaint.
(08) 9325 8387
Peer Based Harm Reduction WA (PBHRWA) provides peer-based support, information and education, advocacy and harm reduction services. PBHRWA is the primary harm reduction organisation for the state of Western Australia (WA). As a peer based organisation PBHRWA is a part of the national network of drug user organisations and a member of the Australian Injecting and Illicit Drug Users League (AIVL), the national peak body organisation representing drug user organisations in Australia.