Healing at Home: Developing a Model for Ambulatory Alcohol "Detox" in an Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Service

Indigenous Peoples who have been colonized typically face a greater burden of injury, disease, and social disruption associated with alcohol use (Kirmayer, Brass, & Tait, 2000). However, they often also encounter many barriers to accessing treatment for alcohol use disorders (Gray, Stearne, Wilson, & Doyle, 2010). Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians (here described as Aboriginal Australians) experience 3-8 times the prevalence of alcohol-related illness, injury, and death than the general population (Calabria, Doran, Vos, Shakeshaft, & Hall, 2010). But their barriers to treatment access for alcohol dependence include transport difficulties, fear of discrimination, and lack of culturally secure services (Brett et al., 2016; Conigrave et al., 2012; Gray, Stearne, et al., 2010; Teasdale et al., 2008).