Delivering integrated care for people with co-occurring mental health and alcohol and other drug conditions remains a major challenge, despite policy support and clear evidence of its benefits.

So what capabilities does the workforce need to make integrated care work in practice?

“Training alone isn’t enough. Without role clarity, shared understanding and organisational support, even highly skilled clinicians struggle to deliver integrated care,” explains the study’s lead author and Hamilton Centre Education and Training Lead Dr Katrin Oliver.

To explore this, researchers brought together mental health and AOD professionals, peer workers, leaders and lived experience advocates from across Victoria using co-design workshops to identify real-world training needs.

The results not only helped shape the establishment of the Hamilton Centre but also pointed to five key themes guiding workforce development in integrated care:

1. Foundational knowledge matters, especially role clarity, stigma reduction and system navigation

2. Training must be tailored to different workforces, including mental health, AOD and peer support

3. Face-to-face, relationship-based learning is preferred over passive online formats

4. Organisational and leadership support is essential, not just individual training

5. Practical, skills-based learning is preferred to formal qualifications

Participants emphasised that building relationships and shared understanding across sectors is just as important as developing technical skills,” Dr Oliver explains.

The study also highlights a move away from expecting everyone to be an expert in everything, instead supporting a ‘T-shaped’ workforce with deep expertise in one area and broad skills across others.

It also reinforces a critical point. Without supportive systems, policies and leadership, training efforts alone are unlikely to translate into practice.

Read the paper.