Objective
In 2007, 82.9% of Australians had drunk at least one glass of alcohol in the last 12 months, 8.1% of Australians drank alcohol on a daily basis, 41.3% on a weekly basis and 33.5% on a less-than-weekly basis.
This objective of this paper is to describe the characteristics of individuals who sought treatment for their use of alcohol in Australia during 2006-2007.

Methods
Data from the Alcohol and Other Drug Treatment Services National Minimum Data Set (AODTS–NMDS) 2006/2007 will be used to firstly, describe the characteristics of clients with alcohol as their drug of concern, eg. age, sex and other drugs that are of concern to them. Secondly, the AODTS–NMDS will be used to describe the nature of the treatment that has been provided, eg. main treatment type, the median length of treatment episodes and the reason treatment ceased.

Results
Alcohol has been the most common principal drug of concern in all treatment episodes reported for all years of since 2001/02. In 2005/06 it accounted for 39% of all closed treatment episodes. The median age of persons receiving treatment was 36 years. The majority (69%) of episodes were for male clients. Clients aged 30–39 years accounted for the greatest proportion of episodes (29%). 12% of episodes involved clients who identified as being of ATSI origin. 43% of the treatment episodes for alcohol included other drugs (38% was cannabis). Counselling was the most common main treatment type received (42% of episodes). Treatment episodes ended primarily because the treatment had been completed (61% of episodes) and lasted for 16 days on average.

Conclusions
Understanding the profile of those with alcohol problems who do seek treatment and the form of treatment that they utilise is important for the future development and provision of treatment services.