Abstract Objectives: A clinic to assess and treat mental health (MH) within a community substance use disorder (SUD) service has been implemented with the aim to facilitate engagement, progress, and completion of substance use treatment. Methods: This study was completed to assess the effectiveness of such an integrated service. The records of individuals seen within the clinic during 2022 and 2023 were assessed for the reason for referral, diagnosis, and treatment offered, and outcome of MH and SUD. Results: A total of 118 individuals were assessed. The majority (58%) were referred due to a lack of progress in treatment. The most frequent MH diagnosis was bipolar disorder (57%), followed by smaller numbers of diagnoses of psychosis, PTSD, anxiety and depression. Seventy-four (63%) individuals improved in MH, and eighty (68%) in SUD. Conclusions: Despite the limitations due to the naturalistic methodology, this early work suggests that an integrated type of provision of MH treatment within a SUD service might have a beneficial complementary role within the existed parallel treatment model implemented in England.
Kouimtsidis et al. (Fri,) studied this question.