Read the latest editorial, thought leadership and opinion pieces on mental health, addiction and health justice partnerships from First Step CEO, Patrick Lawrence.
As the election looms, we all know that cost-of-living polls as the number one issue. The stress is real, and it effects the majority of us, but I am less concerned about...
It is important to know your limitations. At First Step, we do very little work with young people, so children and young people are not our area of expertise (as a rule...
Dignity is a word you hear a lot. It is a given that dignity is a good thing; it’s a universal good. It’s impossible to have too much dignity (unless it’s feigned...
Sometimes I sit in a conference or meeting about Alcohol and Other Drugs (AOD) and wonder to myself how long it will be before someone mentions poverty. Usually the answer is ‘never’....
Today is World Mental Health Day.That’s a big thing. WORLD Mental Health Day. I’m going to think about the world, yes, but also the world of the person.What can we say that...
Another year older and deeper in debt. Well, that’s what the Victorian government is trying to avoid with a number of important spending commitments being postponed, and hopefully not cancelled. The roll...
It is a very sad day today for the movement of individuals, families, and services advocating for a progressive approach to drug law reform in Australia. The Allan government has announced that...
7 April 2024 This year's World Health Day theme is ‘My health, my right.’ I like it. The core message, at least the way I read it, is that we all have...
20 March 2024 Addict. There’s not much hope in that word. No context, no nuance, no past or future. It’s better than ‘junkie,’ but not a lot. ‘Person living with addiction’. Well,...
20 February 2024 Today is World Social Justice Day. What does social justice mean in the context of mental distress and substance use? Actually, it means quite a lot, and awareness is...
2 January 2024 In an extensive process through multiple staff meetings, groupwork, and a Board and Leadership Team workshop, First Step now has its official values. It was a fascinating process to...
13 December 2023 It’s been all over the news for the last several months that there is an Australia-wide GP shortage. It’s particularly acute in rural and regional areas, and the major...
1 November 2023 Most of us are occasionally asked the question “So, what do you do?” I usually jump at the opportunity to radically reframe illicit drug use. Why not? Sometimes I...
10 October 2023 It is World Mental Health Day on October 10th. In the past we might have called this an ‘awareness raising’ day. However, we could hardly call it that now....
27 September 2023 It is a beautiful autumn day in Melbourne, our best season, right? You just popped into your favourite café, and your favourite barista made your coffee just right. You’re...
18 October 2022 The death of Jack Charles, Uncle Jack, evokes many, many thoughts and feelings. I never met him, though I know people who did. I saw him around St Kilda...
21 September 2022 The trickle of media stories about Australia’s General Practitioner (GP) shortage has turned into a flood. In fact, I think it is the first time an issue so critical...
July 2022 “Everything you think you know about addiction is wrong” – Johann Hari So, it’s happened again. A really important public health issue in the realm of addiction is a bit...
26 May 2022 Addiction is the most complex area of medicine. Why? Because it involves every part of a person: their history, relationships, socio-economic life, physical health, mental health, brain physiology etc....
11 March 2022 During debate on Fiona Patten's proposed drug law reform bill, Bernie Finn MP proposed the death penalty for drug dealers ("drug lords"):"I would be very happy to administer [the...
22 February 2022 On Wednesday I had the great privilege of speaking at Fiona Patten's press conference at Victorian Parliament House in favour of her bill to decriminalise the possession of illicit...
8 September 2021 Hypothetical Case Study of a client with co-occurring needs (including mental health, alcohol and other drugs and other support needs) attending a future Local Mental Health and Wellbeing Service...
4 August 2021 You might not think about them every day except for when you are brushing them, but your teeth are really, really important. Those of us who have suffered through...
28 June 2021 Mental ill-health and addiction can happen to anyone. This is an important and immutable truth. Yet chronic mental illness combined with long-term substance use is very much concentrated among...
6 May 2021 Niels Bohr said the thing about great truths is that the opposite is also true. Isn't that the very definition of counter-intuitive and fantastically thought provoking because of that?...
A couple of months ago a small group of community CEOs in Melbourne’s inner south east sat down around what would be their last communal coffee for a long time. COVID was...
24 April 2020 I have a fabulous opportunity next Wednesday at 5.30pm to speak to hundreds of people about the live-saving work of First Step. I will be speaking (with 3 other...
