Australia-wide directory
Drug & Alcohol Rehab Across Australia
A plain-language directory of addiction treatment services in every state, territory, and major city — public, private, and free options. Choose your state below, or get a free callback from a recovery specialist.
Finding rehab in Australia
Roughly a quarter of a million Australians receive drug and alcohol treatment each year through the public system, with another sizeable cohort going through NGO and private providers. The system as a whole is one of the more substantive in the OECD — comprehensive, mostly clinically rigorous, and largely free at the point of access for the public component. The challenge is that it is not always easy to navigate from the outside.
This directory is structured to make that easier. State pages cover the broad treatment landscape and helpline numbers for each jurisdiction. City pages drill into local public hospital units, NGO providers, and private clinics. City and substance pages add tailored guidance for the specific substance involved. Every page is reviewed by registered Australian medical professionals against current RACGP and AIHW guidance.
If you are not sure where to start, the most useful first call is your state's free 24/7 alcohol and drug line — listed on every state page below. They know all three sectors personally, can match you to wait times and program features, and have no commercial stake in which option you choose. From there, calling two or three specific providers to compare program length, clinical staffing, aftercare, and cost is the next step.
Browse by state or territory
Each state runs its own public AOD network with its own free 24/7 helpline. Click through for local services, public detox wait times, and the most useful first calls in your area.
New South Wales
4 cities covered
NSW ADIS (Alcohol & Drug Info Service)
1800 250 015 →
Victoria
2 cities covered
DirectLine Victoria
1800 888 236 →
Queensland
5 cities covered
ADIS Queensland
1800 177 833 →
Western Australia
1 city covered
Alcohol and Drug Support Line WA
1800 198 024 →
South Australia
1 city covered
ADIS South Australia
1300 131 340 →
Tasmania
1 city covered
Alcohol & Drug Information Service Tasmania
1800 811 994 →
Australian Capital Territory
1 city covered
ACT ADASSU
(02) 6207 9977 →
Northern Territory
1 city covered
Amity Community Services NT
1800 131 350 →
Australia's addiction treatment landscape in 2026
Australia's drug and alcohol treatment system is one of the more substantive in the OECD, but the way it's organised can be confusing if you're navigating it for the first time. Roughly 250,000 people receive AOD treatment in Australia each year through publicly-funded services, with another sizeable cohort going through NGO and private providers that don't always feature in the public statistics. Alcohol remains the most common principal drug of concern at treatment services, accounting for roughly 39 percent of episodes; amphetamines (predominantly methamphetamine) account for about 27 percent; cannabis around 15 percent; opioids about 7 percent.
Funding is layered. The Commonwealth funds Medicare (which covers GP, psychology, and addiction medicine consultations), states fund their public hospital and community AOD networks, the Commonwealth and states co-fund the larger NGO providers, and the private sector runs on a mix of out-of-pocket fees and private health insurance. The result, for someone trying to find help, is that the same person could end up in any of three or four different parts of the system depending on which door they walk through first. That's why the most useful starting point is usually your state's free 24/7 alcohol and drug line: they know which doors are open, which have wait lists, and which fit your circumstances best.
The biggest changes in the last few years have been the wider availability of long-acting injectable buprenorphine for opioid use disorder, the steady normalisation of telehealth-delivered addiction medicine in regional areas, and the broader recognition that aftercare — the 12 months after a treatment episode — matters more than the treatment episode itself for long-term outcomes.
Public, NGO, and private rehab — what the differences actually are
Almost every conversation about Australian rehab comes down to a three-way choice between public, NGO (non-government organisation), and private treatment. The differences are real, but they aren't the marketing differences you usually read about. Here's how each sector actually works.
Public services
Public addiction medicine — delivered by state health systems and large public hospitals — is free at the point of access for Medicare-eligible Australians. It is genuinely high quality: addiction medicine is a recognised specialty, public detox units are staffed by specialist clinicians, and the underlying treatment models (CBT, motivational interviewing, medication-assisted treatment for opioids and alcohol) are evidence-based and current. The trade-off is access. Wait times for non-urgent residential admissions typically run from one to several weeks, with prioritisation for crisis presentations: pregnancy, post-overdose, severe co-occurring mental health crises, homelessness, child-protection involvement. If your situation fits one of those priorities, public can be remarkably fast.
NGO (non-government) providers
NGO services — Salvation Army Bridge, Odyssey House, Lives Lived Well, Cyrenian House, We Help Ourselves, Holyoake, Karralika, and many others — sit between public and private on cost and access. Many run on partial government funding plus client contributions, with sliding-scale fees. Some are free. NGO providers run a disproportionate share of Australia's longest-established residential rehabs and many of the country's most successful 60- and 90-day therapeutic communities. They also run most of the specialist programs you can't easily access elsewhere: women-only programs, parents-with-children programs, Aboriginal-specific services, and youth programs. Wait times are typically shorter than public, longer than private — usually one to three weeks for non-urgent admissions.
Private rehab
Private inpatient rehab admits within days, offers single-room accommodation, higher staff-to-client ratios, and typically charges $25,000–$45,000 for a 28-day program — sometimes meaningfully more for premium facilities. Private health insurance with hospital cover and psychiatric inclusion can offset between $400 and $700 per day, leaving an out-of-pocket cost in the $10,000–$25,000 range on a 28-day program. Private isn't automatically better than public or NGO; outcome studies consistently find that the two strongest predictors of long-term recovery are program length and aftercare engagement, not price band. What private buys is access, comfort, and a higher staff-to-client ratio — none of which is unimportant, but none of which is treatment quality on its own.
How to actually decide
The most useful first call in any of the three pathways is your state alcohol and drug line — they know all three sectors personally, can match you to wait times and program features, and have no commercial stake in which option you choose. From there, calling two or three specific providers to compare program length, clinical staffing, aftercare, and cost is the next step. The right choice depends on three things: severity of dependence, stability of your home environment, and what you can afford. Severe physical dependence with unsafe withdrawal needs medically supervised detox first. Unstable home environment usually points toward residential. Stable home plus moderate dependence usually suits outpatient. None of those rules are absolute.
How to choose your treatment format
The right format isn't the most expensive one or the most marketed one — it's the one that fits the severity of dependence, the stability of your home environment, and the practical realities of work, family, and finances. There's no single right answer, but the framework below covers most situations.
Start with detox if withdrawal is medically risky
Severe daily alcohol use, daily opioid use (heroin, oxycodone, fentanyl), and long-term high-dose benzodiazepine use all involve withdrawal that can be medically dangerous and shouldn't be attempted without supervision. Severe alcohol withdrawal can cause seizures and delirium tremens. Benzodiazepine withdrawal can cause seizures and prolonged neurological symptoms. Opioid withdrawal isn't usually life-threatening but is intensely uncomfortable and produces high relapse risk if unmedicated. For these substances the safest first step is a 5–10 day medically supervised detox in a hospital, dedicated detox unit, or supervised home-detox program — followed by rehab, not instead of it.
Choose residential rehab when home is unsafe or unstable
Residential (inpatient) rehab — staying onsite at a facility for 28 days to several months — is the right choice when home life is destabilising recovery, when previous outpatient attempts haven't held, when there's significant co-occurring mental health concern, or when the person needs a complete break from current routines to reset. Programs of 60 and 90 days consistently show better long-term outcomes than 28-day programs in the research, particularly for severe dependence. The trade-off is time away from work and family — 28 days minimum, often more — and cost in the private sector.
Choose outpatient when home is stable
Outpatient programs — living at home, attending sessions 2 to 5 times per week — are the most common form of AOD treatment in Australia, not because they're a "lite" version, but because for many people they're the more clinically appropriate format. Outpatient suits people whose home environment is reasonably stable, who can keep working, who want to integrate recovery skills into normal life from day one, or whose dependence is at a level where the structure of residential isn't necessary. The core therapeutic content — CBT, group therapy, relapse-prevention skills — is the same as residential. The wraparound is what differs.
Don't underweight aftercare
The single most consistent finding in addiction outcome research: people who engage with structured aftercare for 12 months or more after their primary treatment episode have dramatically better long-term outcomes than those who treat treatment as a one-off. Strong aftercare is rarely one thing — it's a stack: weekly counselling tapering over months, peer support (SMART Recovery, AA, NA, CA), continued GP and addiction-medicine follow-up, ongoing medication where relevant, and a written relapse-prevention plan. When evaluating any program, the question "what does aftercare look like in the 12 months after I leave?" is the single most predictive question you can ask.
What happens when you call a state alcohol and drug line
The first call is the hardest part of recovery — and once it's made, things move. People are often surprised by how matter-of-fact the conversation is. Nobody asks for your full medical history. Nobody lectures. The clinician on the other end has heard your situation thousands of times, and there is no version of it that will be shocking to them.
A typical call runs 8–15 minutes. You'll be asked what's going on — broadly, in your own words — and a few practical questions: which substance, how long, how severe, your living situation, whether anyone else is involved, whether there's an immediate safety concern. The point isn't to assess you against criteria; it's to match you to the right pathway. After that, the clinician will usually outline two or three options that fit your situation: public hospital detox, an NGO residential program with current places, an outpatient program through your GP, a specialist addiction medicine consultation, or — if there's an urgent safety issue — a different service entirely.
State lines are bound by Australian privacy law. Calls are confidential. They don't appear on Medicare records, employer records, or any database visible to people outside the treatment system. Caller ID isn't forwarded to the next service unless you ask for it to be. You can stay anonymous if you choose. You can hang up at any point. You don't need to commit to anything on the call.
Read next
Plain-language guides on the practical decisions you will face — what rehab actually costs, how to choose between formats, and what to expect from the first phone call onwards.
What does rehab cost in Australia?
2026 breakdown across public, NGO, and private — and what Medicare and private health insurance cover.
Read guide →
Types of treatment
Inpatient, outpatient, detox, at-home detox — what each one involves, who it suits.
Read guide →
Free rehab in Australia
Public detox and rehab is free for Medicare-eligible Australians. How to access it.
Read guide →
How to choose a rehab
A practical, plain-language framework for choosing the right program.
Read guide →
Substance-specific guides
Treatment guides for alcohol, ice, cocaine, opioids, cannabis, prescription meds, and gambling.
Read guide →
Rehab data & research
Ten free infographics on cost, wait times, outcomes, and funding across Australia.
Read guide →
Get free, confidential help today
Tell us a bit about your situation and a recovery specialist will call you back — usually within an hour during business hours. No pressure, no judgement, no cost.
- 100% confidential — covered by Australian privacy law.
- No cost for the consultation. Public and private options available.
- No judgement — you don't need to have it figured out before you call.
Prefer to call directly? Lifeline: 13 11 14 (24/7). Emergency: 000.