Auckland mental health and addiction services

Use 'Addiction Services' on your electronic practice management system. Your referral will be triaged by a senior medical officer who can also give written advice if requested.

Auckland opioid treatment service (AOTS)

Monday to Friday between 9am and 5pm — phone 09 815 5841 to be directed to the appropriate clinician if seeking advice on clients receiving opioid treatment.
After hours and weekends — phone Medically managed withdrawal services on 09 815 5830 extension 43713.

For information about a client in GP shared care (a GP authorised client) contact the GP in the first instance. Contact AOTS as above if the GP is not available.

Counselling service

Phone 09 845 1818 between 9am and 4:30pm Monday to Friday.

Pharmacy team

Phone 09 845 7586 between 8:30am and 5pm (pharmacy hours are 10am to 1pm) weekdays, and 9am and 12pm on weekends and public holidays.

After hours contact Medical detox services on either:

09 815 5839
09 815 5830 extension 45100

Website referral form

CADS referral form

General resources

Information about the Substance Addiction (Compulsory Assessment and Treatment Act) 2017 [PDF, 194 KB]

When you are ready brochure [PDF, 638 KB]

Information for whānau [PDF, 701 KB]

Student placements

CADS offer placements to students who are studying in alcohol and other drug (AOD) graduate and post graduate courses. Consider the following checklist when looking to apply.

I am enrolled in a bachelor's level or post graduate course.
There are AOD papers as part of this course I have completed.
A portion of my placement hours can be completed in a group therapy setting.
I am available for a least 2 days a week on placement if I require 100 or more clinical contact hours.
On finishing my course I will have completed the academic qualifications for a professional registration, for example DAPAANZ or social work.

Contact your tertiary placement coordinator who will then liaise directly with CADS student coordinator.

Employment opportunities

CADS employs clinical staff from a range of professional backgrounds. Most of our staff are alcohol and drug practitioners or nurses and we employ people with backgrounds in social work, counselling, and psychology. We also value lived experience and have a consumer team and peer support specialists.

For our clinical roles we prefer applicants to have:

a relevant bachelor level qualification in health or social science
an alcohol and drug specific qualification
a relevant professional registration or membership.

All positions available at CADS are advertised through our careers site.

Health New Zealand | Te Whatu Ora careers (external link)

Alcohol and drug specific qualifications

The education institutions that provide alcohol and drug specific qualifications in Auckland are:

Auckland University of Technology (AUT)
Wellington Institute of Technology (WelTec)
University of Auckland.

The National Addiction Centre (Christchurch) and Massey University (Palmerston North) also provide qualifications that can be completed through distance learning.

Professional registrations or memberships

We encourage and support staff to be aligned with the professional body that aligns to their training and career path. For example, nurses will be registered with the Nursing Council of New Zealand, counsellors will be members of the New Zealand Association of Counsellors.

Many of our staff are registered with the Addiction Practitioner Association of Aotearoa New Zealand (DAPAANZ). Check out the DAPAANZ website for information about how to join and for info about alcohol and drug specific training programmes.

dapaanz (external link)