AN increase in young people needing drug and alcohol treatment has a Melton support service stretched to capacity.
Four full-time clinicians at the Stepping Up Consortium, Melton’s only free, voluntary service, help more than 10 people with substance problems every hour.
General manager Shelley Cross says court-ordered youth treatment is the “number-one issue” at the Woodgrove shopping centre clinic.
“We have very high numbers of forensic cases coming across from the Sunshine court, meaning a very large demand for youth services,” she said. “Ice and alcohol are the most prevalent, principal concerns, but it’s also polysubstance misuse, where someone drinks and might try something different.”
Ms Cross says the service needs more funding to increase its provision of court-ordered treatment in Melton.
According to a submission to a state government’s inquiry into Melbourne’s outer suburbs last year, teenagers facing social isolation and first-home owners with mortgage stress ranked as the main substance abusers.
The Victorian Alcohol and Drug Association called for greater action to ensure support services kept pace with growing demand from the population boom.
Executive director Sam Biondo commended the state government for committing $23million over four years to boost numbers of support workers in outer areas, but he said a greater focus was needed.
“It’s an initial step to plug a gap, but it needs to continue to be built upon to establish better equipped and more accessible services,” he said.
With recent labour force figures showing Melton’s unemployment rate had reached 8.5per cent (up 2per cent from last year), Ms Cross said many people were feeling the pinch and turning to alcohol or drugs. “Everyone thinks it’s cheaper to live in Melton, but actually costs in Melton are escalating for basic necessities like rent and house prices. It’s not like downtown Melbourne, but people are struggling with rental payments and the cost of electricity and transport into the city.”
A spokeswoman for Mental Health Minister Mary Wooldridge said the government had boosted funding for counselling services in outer suburbs to address a growing need.
“We are working across all areas and levels of government to ensure infrastructure needs in growth areas are able to be accommodated.”
