IAR-DST

The IAR-DST brings together information from a variety of sources including Australian and international evidence and advice from a range of leading experts. It is a decision support tool to guide referral decisions, promote shared decision-making and consumer choice.

The IAR-DST is designed to be used alongside a comprehensive mental health assessment and aims to:

• simplify how clinicians determine the care needs of a patient with mental health concerns
• prevent patients being overburdened with services they may not need or can cope with, or under-serviced with recommendations that may not meet their needs improve transparency on decisions made relating to referrals
• create consistency and a common language amongst health professionals, enabling them to articulate treatment needs that will be understood across the sector.

The tool collects data across four primary domains and four contextual domains (8 domains total), and will provide a recommend Level of Care (LoC) after all domains have been rated.

Further detail on the eight domains and five levels of care can be found in the IAR documentation under “IAR Resources”.

The IAR-DST is NOT:

• an assessment tool
• diagnostic
• prognostic
• a replacement for clinical judgement

GPs, GP registrars, practice nurses, mental health nurses, allied health professionals and anyone else working in the mental health space can attend IAR-DST training.

IAR-DST training is delivered in a single, online 2 hour session.

• Workshops are delivered on a variety of days and times via zoom (see below for upcoming sessions).
• Prior to the training you will be asked to read through a few case studies that may be used for the practical example in the workshop. These scenarios can be found  below under “IAR Resources”.
• You will also be asked to complete 2 evaluations; one at the conclusion of the training and one follow up survey that will be emailed to you 3 months following the training.

Certificates of attendance provided to all attendees to claim relevant CPD hours.

Training sessions are Online – 1 part (2 hours) unless otherwise specified.

Upcoming workshop dates are below, click the date of your choice to be taken to the registration page.

The 2026 training schedule will be available by the end of January.

If there is not currently a date or time that suits you, please contact the IAR-DST team.

• Department of Health IAR Decision Support Tool
• IAR National Guidance v2.0
• IAR Summary Levels of Care v2.0
• IAR Quick Reference Guide
• IAR Adult Domains
• IAR Adult Training Scenario – William
• IAR Adult Training Scenario – Jessica
• IAR Older Adult Domains
• IAR Older Adult Training Scenario – Ray
• IAR Adolescent Domains
• IAR Adolescent Training Scenario – Brandon
• IAR Adolescent Training Scenario – Lucy
• IAR Child Domains
• IAR Child Training Scenario – Crystal
• IAR Child Training Scenario – Charlie
• IAR Training Zoom Instructions