Initial Assessment and referral - Decision Support tool Workshops 1 & 2
The Initial Assessment and Referral (IAR) is a national initiative from the Department of Health on establishing effective systems for the initial assessment and referral of individuals presenting with mental health conditions in primary health care settings. Each PHN has an IAR Training and Support Officer to provide training to General Practitioners and clinicians in their catchment to learn about, use and embed the IAR Decision Support Tool (IAR-DST) into clinical practice.
Guided by clinicians’ own assessment and clinical judgement, the IAR-DST provides a consistent framework to deliberate decisions when matching a person’s mental health needs with the right level of service intensity, at the right time.
National widespread use of the IAR-DST aims to build a common language across the mental health sector about treatment needs based on the person-centred and evidence-based stepped care approach.