The IAR-DST is a national initiative developed by the Department of Health, Disability and Ageing, designed to establish effective systems for assessing and referring individuals presenting with mental health concerns in primary health care settings.
Guided by clinicians’ own assessment and clinical judgement, the IAR-DST provides a consistent framework to deliberate decisions when matching a person’s mental health needs with the right level of service intensity, at the right time. National widespread use of the IAR-DST aims to build a common language across the mental health sector about treatment needs based on the person-centred stepped care approach.
The IAR-DST assessment is undertaken using eight initial assessment domains that are used to match clients to one of five appropriate levels of care. The eight domains help to distil essential assessment information and identify key signals (i.e. red flags) that are critical for decision making.
The IAR-DST helps clinicians:
WNSW PHN offers online training to help GPs and clinicians effectively implement the IAR-DST in your practice.
Find upcoming training below.
Alternatively, if you have 5 or more clinicians and would like to schedule a session, please contact our team.
This training is accredited with RACGP and ACRRM.
Find below some other useful resources on the Initial Assessment and Referral Decision Support Tool below.
For more information or support related to IAR-DST, please reach out to our team at iar.dst@wnswphn.org.au.