Public Forums Positive Mental Health, Positive Ageing An engaged online audience of over 300 community seniors joined the Eastern Suburbs Older Persons Mental Health Service’s annual healthy ageing forum, held for the first time by webinar due to the COVID-19 global pandemic. Mr Mike Gatsi, Service Director for Eastern Suburbs Mental Health Service, officially opened the 2020 Positive Mental Health, Positive Ageing forum and acknowledged that it was a milestone year for the forum. “Thirty years ago, Professor Henry Brodaty founded the Older Persons Mental Health Service and has since maintained proactive promotion of good mental health as we age,” said Mr Gatsi. He said that Professor Brodaty and his team had set a gold standard in mental health care while simultaneously working to ensure research findings were made available to all older people in the community. The event, supported by CHeBA, sought to promote positive ageing with a highlight being a heart-warming feature interview with 88 year old award-winning performer and Australian icon Toni Lamond, who spoke candidly with Professor Brodaty on Positive Ageing: My Story. The Hon Dr Kay Patterson AO, Age Discrimination Commissioner for the Australian Human Rights Commission, gave the keynote address from Melbourne and paid tribute to former Age Discrimination Commissioner, Susan Ryan AO. She outlined the vulnerabilities that exist for the senior community, including the risks for elder abuse.
Professor Henry Brodaty & Toni Lamond
Other speakers at the online forum were leading researchers in the area of purposeful and healthy ageing including Professor Maria Fiatarone Singh, University of Sydney Geriatrician, who explained that exercise supports prevention of age-related changes and said that many studies over decades have shown that exercise can make you age more slowly. Old Age Psychiatrist, Professor Carmelle Peisah spoke passionately about Positive Ageing: Being Positive About Your Rights, challenging ageism and promoting human rights for seniors. Positive Ageing: Mental Health of Older People was presented by Professor Brodaty who noted the significant number of mental health issues in society, with a major study indicating that one in every two people had experienced a mental health concern over their lifetime. He outlined that good emotional and psychological wellbeing were essential for positive mental health - and that reduction in all forms of stigma was necessary to ensure older people were confidently able to seek support for their own mental wellbeing. Professor Brodaty said that he and his colleagues will continue to strive to overcome ageism and to improve medical care and access to care, with an ultimate goal of positive mental health for all seniors.
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