Youth aged 16–24 years have the highest prevalence of mental illness in Australia, accounting for 26% of all mental illness. Youth mental health peer support work is a promising avenue of support for this population. However, limited research has examined impacts on those who provide youth mental health peer support work. We aimed to identify the benefits and challenges of working in a youth mental health peer support role. Semi-structured qualitative interviews with seven purposefully sampled peer workers from a national youth mental health organisation in Australia were conducted. The interviews were thematically analysed. Six key themes were identified: (1) personal growth, (2) interpersonal factors, (3) organisational factors, (4) boundaries, (5) role acknowledgement, and (6) challenging situations. Key supportive factors included financial reimbursement, training, support, and role-related flexibility. Identified challenges included lack of role acknowledgement, role-related stress, and boundaries. Operating within a youth mental health peer support role is perceived to have positive impacts on personal growth and interpersonal factors, enhanced through financial reimbursement, supervision, and role-related flexibility. Perspectives on the most effective form of role boundaries were diverse however their importance in addressing challenges was emphasised.

Background A substantial increase in substance treatment episodes for methamphetamine problems suggests characteristics of the treatment population could have changed and that targeted treatment programs are required. To determine who methamphetamine treatment should be designed for this study has two aims. First, to empirically describe changes in amphetamine treatment presentations to a rural NSW drug and alcohol treatment agency over time. Second, to examine how these characteristics may affect the likelihood of being treated for amphetamines compared to other drugs. Method The Australian Alcohol and Other Drug Treatment Services National Minimum Data Set (AODTS-NMDS) containing closed treatment episodes from a single agency from three time periods was used. Characteristics of people receiving amphetamine treatments in these three periods were compared and the effects of these characteristics on the odds of being treated for amphetamine were estimated using a logistic regression model. The characteristics utilised in the analysis include age, sex, Indigenous status, usual accommodation, living arrangement, source of referral and source of income. Results The proportion of amphetamine treatment episodes doubled from 2006/2007 to 2015/2016 and overtook alcohol as the most commonly treated principal drug of concern. The estimated proportion of amphetamine treatments showed an increment across all ages and for men and women. It was found that younger people, women, people in temporary accommodation or homeless, people who were self-referred and people whose main source of income was not through employment are more likely to be treated for amphetamine use. Conclusion Significant changes over time in the age, sex and Indigenous status of people receiving treatment for amphetamine as the principal drug of concern requires service delivery to match demand from younger people, particularly women; and Indigenous people. The needs and preferences for treatment of younger women who use amphetamine will be important factors in treatment planning service providers who are more used to providing treatment for young men who use cannabis and older men who use alcohol. Further research on women’s experiences in treatment and outcomes would be useful for informing treatment practices. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1186/s13722-019-0144-6) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

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