IRIS is an Indigenous Risk Impact Screen and Brief Intervention tool that has been academically developed, culturally validated and scientifically evaluated. It is an approach to promote harm reduction and an attempt to address social exclusion and marginalisation in Indigenous Australian.

Culturally appropriate screening and intervention has been recommended by several national and state reports, most notably the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody (1990) and Ways Forward Report - National Aboriginal Mental Health Strategy (1995), the National Drug Strategy - Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders Complementary Action Plan (2003-2006) and the State Fitzgerald Inquiries, to reduce hazardous substance misuse and its impact on individuals and Indigenous communities, including mental health issues. Indigenous Australians have higher rates of incarceration that Non-indigenous people (Wilkes, 2007). A range of factors have been identified as being associated with such rates, including alcohol and drug misuse and serious emotional disorders that are related to intergenerational trauma, history of family and community violence, and extreme poverty (Weathburn, 2007). Recent studies have suggested that high prevalence of self harm amongst Indigenous people in custody is predicted by acculturation stress, which presents challenges for ongoing treatment and management (Jones, Masters, Griffiths & Moulday, 2002).

The IRIS package consists of a culturally appropriate assessment tool for Indigenous Australians to address their drug and alcohol use and mental health, and the use of a brief intervention based on Prochaska and DiClemente's Stages of Change Model. This package is included in the Commonwealth Alcohol Treatment Guidelines for Indigenous Australians. The IRIS package is currently being offered as a two days training workshop to health workers and generalist workers from government and non government sectors across Queensland.

This workshop intended to provide delegates with opportunity to
1. Gain an insight of the implementation of the IRIS Program in an attempt to address social exclusion in Indigenous Australians.
2. Use the IRIS screening instrument and its companion brief intervention