VAADA - The Victorian Alcohol and Drug Association

23/12/2025

As the 2025 year comes to a close, the VAADA team is getting ready for a Summer break. The office will close from 4 PM on Wednesday, December 24, with staff back on board on Monday, January 5, 2026.

The VAADA Communications team will be taking an extended break during January. If you are a VAADA Member and have jobs or events you’d like featured on our website, these will now be published upon our return on Wednesday, January 20, 2026. VAADA ENEWS and most socials will also pause over this period.

If you or someone you care about needs support with alcohol and other drugs during this time, help is always available. Please visit VAADA’s Get Help page to find services and support options across Victoria 👉 https://www.vaada.org.au/get-help/

We wish everyone a safe, happy and restful break and look forward to the new year.

22/12/2025

🌟 So good to hear that the Victorian Department of Health have announced another site that the mobile Victorian Pill Testing Service will be attending during the 2025-26 festival season.

You will now see them at Victoria's Pride Street Party on the 8th of February 2026! 🌈

The team has already had a successful event at Split Milk in Ballarat and will head next to Dangerous Goods XXL in Footscray, Pitch Music and Arts in Mafeking, plus one final event yet to be announced.

16/12/2025

📣 VAADA has appointed its Executive Office Bearers for the next 12 months, and we are pleased to announce the following changes to the VAADA Board...

Dr. Tamsin Short will continue as President and Clare Davies (CEO, SHARC) has been returned as Vice-President.

We farewelled Dom Ennis, thanking him for his outstanding service as Treasurer. Kent Burgess (Thorne Harbour Health) joins as our new Treasurer, and Jose Taylor (Meli) has been re-elected.

We are delighted to welcome new Director Simone Heald (North Richmond Community Health), an experienced health leader, who brings an extensive background in work that seeks to address health inequities.

At such a pivotal time with Victoria’s first comprehensive AOD Strategy in decades and VAADA developing a new Strategic Plan, strong leadership is essential, and we are confident that this Board has the right mix of experience, insight and commitment to lead us through the next phases.

Learn more about the VAADA Board here 👉 https://www.vaada.org.au/about/board/

15/12/2025

General Advice notification from the Victorian Pill Testing Service. See below 👇

12/12/2025

SHARC has $5,000 grants available through the Regina Brindle Grant Program. Application close 14 February 2026, see below for more information and how to apply. 👇

10/12/2025

Yesterday, VAADA in partnership with Murray PHN, coordinated the Bendigo Alcohol and Other Drugs Service Provider's Forum, bringing together over 50 people from across the region for a day of connection and learning.

The program featured some fantastic presentations tailored to regional needs. Tim Townsend, Welfare Worker NSP at Bendigo Community Health Services, explored the pressing topic of GHB in his session "What's in Your Juice?" Dr Adam Straub, Addiction Medicine & General Physician, shared his expertise on Rural Opioid Support, drawing from his work with the Grampians and Loddon Mallee Opioid Management Clinic. We also heard from Independent Social Worker – Practitioner, Consultant, Trainer & Supervisor, Megan Beagley, who teamed up with Detective Sergeant Guy Menhennit from Central Victoria SOCIT, Victoria Police, to discuss Sexual Exploitation in the context of AOD. It's always a real privilege to create these spaces where the regional workforce can connect, share knowledge, and learn from leading experts in the field.

10/12/2025

🖤🧡🤍 Change is possible when systems listen, respond and reform. AOD, FV and health services can create safer futures by centring dignity, gender equity and healing, and by responding to substance use without blame or punishment.

Human rights belong to everyone. Systems must evolve to honour them.


Safe and Equal
Respect Victoria

09/12/2025

Check out the link below if you missed Jacinta Allen's apology. 👇

09/12/2025

09/12/2025

🖤🧡🤍 This means embedding shared responsibility, strengthening pathways for people experiencing violence, and ensuring lived and living experience leadership shapes our work, not just our awareness.


Safe and Equal
Respect Victoria

07/12/2025

VicHealth has spent 40 years helping Victorians live healthier lives — from reducing smoking to tackling alcohol harm and health inequity.

Now, following the Silver Review, the Victorian Government has been advised to abolish VicHealth and fold it into the Department of Health. This would mean losing an independent, trusted health promotion organisation that belongs to the Victorian community — not to politics.

At a time when Victoria has just launched its first comprehensive AOD strategy, we need VicHealth’s expertise more than ever.

✅ Join Friends of VicHealth on LinkedIn: https://ow.ly/gVYz50XFplR
✅ Sign the petition to Keep VicHealth Independent and Strong for a Healthier Future: https://ow.ly/PZsl50XFpmk

Let’s make sure prevention stays strong in Victoria.

07/12/2025

For those who use substances, stigma, transmisia and system distrust can deepen vulnerabilities and limit access to safe, affirming support.

Violence against trans and gender-diverse people is not driven by identity, it is driven by power, discrimination and systemic neglect.

AOD, FV and health systems must be affirming, gender-responsive and co-designed with trans communities.


Safe and Equal
Respect Victoria

(source: https://www.latrobe.edu.au/arcshs/research/private-lives/private-lives-3 and https://www.dss.gov.au/publications-articles/reports/the-national-plan-to-end-violence-against-women-and-children-2022-2032 and https://www.anrows.org.au/publication/families-children-and-domestic-violence-lgbtq/)