Please join us for Project ECHO: Alcohol and Drug Services Tasmania and Primary Health Tasmania. This program offers a series of interactive, case-based virtual mentoring sessions designed to support health professionals in delivering care for people who misuse alcohol and other drugs in the primary care setting.
Topic for this session: opioid dependence in the primary care setting
Click here for access to the hub: Alcohol and other drugs at the primary care interface – Tasmanian ECHO program
Each session includes:
- A 10-minute didactic presentation
- A deidentified case discussion to support practical learning
Do you have case you need some advice with? To make these sessions impactful we need to hear from you, please click here or email events@primaryhealthtas.com.au to discuss further.
Past sessions
Click here for recording of the previous sessions.
Click here to access the case summary from previous sessions
How Does ECHO Work?
Project ECHO (Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes) is a virtual knowledge-sharing model that connects community providers with specialist teams via multi-point video conferencing. It builds a continuous learning loop where clinicians learn from each other and develop expertise in managing complex conditions such as AOD dependence.
The hub-and-spoke model brings together:
- A central team of AOD experts (the “hub”)
- Health professionals across communities (the “spokes”)
Together, they share knowledge, discuss cases, and build clinical confidence.
Benefits of Joining AOD ECHO
- Build skills and confidence in AOD care
- Access real-time guidance from addiction specialists
- Improve delivery of quality AOD care in local settings
- Strengthen referral and treatment pathways for patients
- Enhance professional satisfaction through learning and peer support
- Reduce professional isolation, especially in rural and regional settings
Subject Matter Expert:
Dr Sam Maloney is a Tasmanian General Practitioner with a Master of Public Health from the University of Tasmania. Working across some of Tasmania’s most complex and underserved health settings – the Alcohol and Drug Service, Correctional Primary Health Service, and the Tasmanian Aboriginal Health Service. He has developed a deep, on-the-ground understanding of opioid dependence and the communities it touches most acutely. With daily exposure to the intersection of addiction, disadvantage, and systemic barriers to care, he brings both clinical expertise and a public health lens to the management of opioid dependence in general practice. His work is driven by a conviction that compassionate, evidence-based care for people living with opioid dependence belongs in every GP’s toolkit and not just in specialist settings.
Our expert panel:
Dr Catherine Horan is a GP with a particular interest in working with patients who don’t fit into the usual model of mainstream primary health care. She previously worked for Directions Health in Canberra, providing outreach whole-person medical care to people with co-morbid substance use disorders, mental health and psychosocial challenges, in addition to providing medical oversight to CanTest, Australia’s first fixed site pill testing service. Since moving to Tasmania, Catherine has worked for the Alcohol and Drug Service in Hobart while completing specialist training in Addiction Medicine. She currently works across the pharmacotherapy unit, inpatient withdrawal unit and the consultation liaison service at RHH.
Monika Petschar is a Social Worker and graduated in 1993 in Germany. She has also obtained a postgrad degree in in Family Therapy. She has been working in the Alcohol and Drug field for over 30 years. In 2006 Monika moved to Australia commenced with the Alcohol and Drug Service North in 2008 in a counselling role. From 2009 to 2024 she was the Team Leader/ Clinical Lead of the Alcohol and Drug Service North in Launceston. In 2024 she commenced in a statewide ADS role as Allied Health Workforce Development Consultant. Monika has a special interest around Trauma and the connection between complex Trauma and substance abuse.
Dr Nicolle Ait Khelifa is a General adult psychiatrist and addiction medicine specialist having obtained FRCPsych with sub specialty addiction psychiatry from the Royal college of psychiatrists UK and since returning home to Australia with her twins FRANZCP and FAChAM. Nicolle has worked in the Drug and alcohol field for over 20 years, in multiple services across the UK and Australia. She worked as the consultant for the North Islington Drug Service and Camden Alcohol Service and is currently employed as the Statewide Specialty Director of the Alcohol and Drug Service (ADS) in Tasmania. Since coming to Tasmania, she has established Addiction psychiatry training sites at ADS and has continued to advocate for improved access to services for clients.