Mental Health and Substance Use: Screening for alcohol and substance use in mental health settings, May 2026

Details

On Thursday 28 May 2026, the Mental Health and Substance Use team hosted an online webinar.

This webinar focused on screening for alcohol and substance use in mental health settings.

ASSIST-Lite is a tool, now available on The Right Decision Service Platform, and recommended by the Royal College of Psychiatrists, to screen for alcohol and substance use.

The event looked at the use and impact of the ASSIST Lite tool and covered:

• What it is and how to use it
• How to get started
• Practical examples of how it has been used in mental health settings
• Risk profiles identified and considerations for services

People who took part in the webinar shared some helpful ideas you might want to think about:

• Increase awareness and use of screening tools (e.g. ASSIST-Lite) to help identify substance use in mental health and substance use settings
• Consider incorporating routine screening and applying this model where appropriate in patient interactions
• Use learning from the webinar to review and strengthen local pathways and access into services

Catch up on the webinar

If you missed the webinar, watch the recording below:

Resources