Alcohol and other drug (AOD) treatment services aim to support people to reduce harmful AOD use. Clients accessing these services often receive multiple episodes of treatment, with some clients requiring more intensive treatment (for example, more episodes of treatment over a number of years) to achieve their goals.

Using data from the Alcohol and Other Drug Treatment Services National Minimum Data Set (AODTS NMDS), this report examines characteristics and patterns of service use for 3 client cohorts who received treatment for either alcohol only or alcohol and another principal drug of concern (PDOC) from publicly funded specialist AOD services between 1 July 2013 and 30 June 2023.

The 3 client cohorts were those whose treatment pattern was defined as:

• non-recurring treatment (185,054 clients, or 76%) – clients who received treatment in fewer than 3 years within the 10-year period between 2013–14 and 2022–23
• recurring treatment (49,489 clients, or 20%) – clients who received fewer than 13 treatment episodes in at least 3 years
• intensive treatment (9,936 clients, or 4.1%) – clients who received 13 or more treatment episodes in at least 3 years (see Figure treatment intensity 1).