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The Initial Assessment and Referral Decision Support Tool (IAR-DST) provides a standardised, evidence-based and objective approach to assist GPs and mental health clinicians with mental health care recommendations.
The IAR-DST has been used in the Gold Coast region within the centralised intake since 2020. Availability of the IAR-DST is now expanding into primary care settings. It is anticipated that use of the IAR-DST will become standard practice in many settings nation-wide over the coming years as all Commonwealth funded services progressively begin using the IAR-DST and State and territory mental health services explore the tool.
The IAR-DST complements clinical judgement to assist with determining the most appropriate referral option to provide the best support for patients. Use of the tool supports common language between referrers and services and helps to connect people with the right service initially, helping to save time and frustration managing rejected referrals.
A person seeking mental health assistance has their experience understood in the context of a holistic assessment which covers 8 domains, the domains help to distil essential assessment information and amplifies red flags.
The 8 assessment domains are:
Following assessment in the context of the 8 domains a person’s treatment needs and recovery goals are understood and matched to a service type within the 5 levels of care based on the least intensive and least intrusive evidence-based intervention that will likely lead to the most significant gain.
So we can provide you with the most accurate information,
please tell us a little more about yourself
