Client demographics

In 2017–18:

  • nearly all (98%) clients in the Australian Capital Territory received treatment for their own drug use, of which, most (68%) were male (Figure 25; Table SC ACT.1)
  • clients receiving treatment for someone else’s drug use were more likely to be female (70%)
  • over half (54%) of clients were aged 20–39 years (Table SC ACT.2)
  • over 1 in 10 (12%) clients identified as Indigenous Australians, which is lower than the national rate (16%) (Tables SC ACT.3 and SC.4)
  • the majority (85%) of clients were born in Australia and nearly all (96%) reported English as their preferred language (Tables SC ACT.21 and SC ACT.22).

Patterns of service use

Of the 4,109 total clients who received treatment in 2017–18:

  • 57% (2,333) received treatment in 2017–18 only
  • 12% (504) received treatment in both 2016–17 and 2017–18
  • 6% (227) received treatment in each year from 2015–16 to 2017–18
  • 3.1% (129) received treatment in each year from 2014–15 to 2017–18
  • 3.5% (145) received treatment in all years, from 2013–14 to 2017–18.

Over the period 2013–14 to 2017–18, a total of 12,400 clients received treatment in the Australian Capital Territory. Of those:

  • 72% (8,932) received treatment in only a single year
  • 17% (2,144) received treatment in any 2 of the 5 years
  • 7% (826) received treatment in any 3 of the 5 years
  • 2.9% (353) received treatment in any 4 of the 5 years
  • 1.2% (145) received treatment in all 5 collection years.