Northern Voices Aug13

Mental Illness Fellowship NQ Inc -

Getting it right on rural mental health

Issue: AUGUST 2013

By Alison Fairleigh -Wed Jul 17, 2013 - ABC’s The DRUM

You can't simply plonk mental health services into rural areas and hope that people will come. The best chance of making a difference is working from the ground up, writes Alison Fairleigh.

This is one of a series of articles looking at issues relating to care in our communities in the lead up to the 2013 federal election. More coverage can be found at the ABC's election website Australia Votes.

Recently, I popped down the street of my small rural town in north Queensland to pick up a couple of things at the shops. As I was jumping back in my car, I heard a loud "Oi" from across the street.

I looked up to see the welcome and familiar Photo GPs are still the preferred health information face of a local male farm worker running across the road to say g'day. Max* is in his fifties, married with grown up kids, and has worked on farms his entire life.

We took up the characteristic conversation pose for rural people of leaning on the bonnet of my car (I don't have a ute, otherwise it would have been on the tray-back) where we stayed talking for more than an hour.

Max is a former colleague and we share a very special bond. You see, almost five years ago one of our male co-workers, John*, took his own life onsite and Max was one of two people to find him.

Typical of rural areas, Max and John had gone to school together, grown up together, worked together and had more than their fair share of drinks together. It was a devastating blow to Max, and he explained to me over the bonnet of my car how, to this day, he is still deeply affected with flashbacks and the futility of John's decision.

It is a scenario that plays out over and over again throughout our farming communities. Evidence indicates that the suicide rate among Queensland's agricultural workers - including farmers, farm managers, farm hands and shearers - is over twice the rate of those in other occupations.

While suicide is devastating wherever it occurs, the impact is particularly harsh on rural communities where everyone knows someone who has been there.

continues next page

159 Kings Road Pimlico QLD 4812

PO Box 979 Hyde Park QLD 4812

Tel: (07) 4725 3664 Fax: (07) 4725 3819 Email: townsville@mifnq.org.au

www.mifnq.org.au

Editor: Deborah Wilson, Corporate Development Manager Tel: (07) 4725 3664 Fax: (07) 4725 3819 Email: cdm@mifnq.org.au Compiled by: Margaret Sleeman, Receptionist

Š Mental Illness Fellowship of Nth Queensland Inc. PO Box 979 Hyde Park QLD 4812 All rights reserved.

Printing & Design: Mental Illness Fellowship NQ Inc.

MIFNQ reserves the right to edit articles for publication.

The views expressed in this newsletter are not necessarily those of MIFNQ.

continued from previous page Much has been written about the complex factors influencing the high rate of suicide within rural communities, including, but not limited to, climate, declining profitability, bureaucracy and government regulations, isolation, stigma, lack of mental health education and services, and masculinity.

But we also have a considerable body of evidence telling us which programs and approaches do work in rural communities, and it is from this evidence that our policy makers under the new government must take heed.

Even where formal mental health services do exist in rural and remote communities, farmers and fishers in particular are not likely to utilise these services.

First and foremost, 'top-down' approaches do not work in rural communities. 'Ground-up' is the most successful model of building capacity in rural and remote communities to manage their health and mental health. This can be achieved by empowering individuals and groups within local communities to work with existing models to strengthen collaboration and leadership.

Even where formal mental health services do exist in rural and remote communities, farmers and fishers in particular are not likely to utilise these services. Nor do they tend to make use of telephone help lines, telehealth or online services.

GPs are still the preferred health information source for farmers and fishers, who will travel considerable distances to ensure continuity of care through a trusted rural GP. It is therefore essential that considerable investment is maintained in the delivery and support of doctors to rural and remote Australia who have sufficient mental health training.

However, farmers also respond well to receiving health and mental health information through trusted sources such as recognised community groups (e.g. service clubs) or industry groups (e.g. state farming organisations), and in group settings (e.g. industry forums).

Therefore, the delivery of services to rural and remote communities can be better achieved through a "community health development approach", in which industry, government, health services and community work together.

Such an approach will utilise "soft entry points" - i.e. industry field days and community events - to promote the effective use of available services, and will identify within communities credible individuals who can act as "boundary crossers", having the trust of farmers, industry and health services alike.

Agricultural production and services to farming form the socioeconomic base for most rural communities. With the health and mental health of our farmers being one of the greatest challenges facing the future of Australia's primary industries and rural communities, there is no room for delay.

Get it right now, and we get it right for the future - ensuring healthy, sustainable and thriving rural communities. And with that, I hope, there will be fewer people like Max, left struggling to cope with the loss of a mate. *Names have been changed to protect privacy

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Where to Go for Help Kids Helpline Chat Online

Free, private and confidential telephone and online counselling service specifically for young people aged between 5 and 25.

Telephone Available 24/7 - 1800 55 1800 Eheadspace Chat Online

Provides online and telephone support and counselling to young people aged between 12-25.

Available 9AM-1AM AEST - 1800 650 890 Lifeline Chat Online

24 hour crisis support 13 11 14 Online counselling available 8AMmidnight

Contact Us

Email: livingproof@mifnq.org.au Facebook: Living Proof – Positive Stories of Mental Illness Twitter: LivingProofQLD Phone: 1800 455 455

Townsville

Philippa Harris, Queensland Education & Training Manager

P: 07 4725 3664 Street Address: 159 Kings Road, PIMLICO Q 4812 Postal Address: PO Box 979, HYDE PARK Q 4812

Regional Queensland

Alison Fairleigh, Rural Coordinator P: 07 4725 3664 E: AFairleigh@mifnq.org.au

Sunshine Coast

Judy Kiellerup, Regional Coordinator (SQ)

P: 07 5442 1651 Postal Address: PO Box 5080 SUNSHINE COAST MC Q 4560

Bushfire fallout tests kids' mental health

The Australian AAP July 30, 2013

EXPERTS have found around 10 per cent of children who experienced Tasmania's devastating bushfires are showing signs of mental health problems.

A team co-ordinated by mental health organisation Beyond Blue has screened 212 children, finding 26 would benefit from more treatment.

Post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety and depression have been identified among the children, some who had to flee for their lives with their families or who saw animals being burned alive.

Professor Brett McDermott, a co-founder of the program also used successfully after the Brisbane floods, said the smell of barbecue smoke or the sound of a siren could still be terrifying years later for a child.

“They might have nightmares and flashbacks and feel like it's happening all over again,” Professor Brett McDermott told AAP. “Or a reminder which might be real, like barbecue smoke, or symbolic, like an ambulance, can bring it all back to them.”

As well as PTSD symptoms, parents, teachers and mental health workers are on the lookout for children who appear to show an emotional numbness or have developed phobias to things like fire or wind.

Professor McDermott said the younger the children, the less able they were to process the circumstances of the disaster.

“Some of these kids have had extremely frightening situations where they’ve been evacuated through very dense smoke and through fire,” he said.

“Some kids saw animals that were burning. These are really frightening kinds of things.”

Children in every school affected by the fires have been through a twostage screening process, while parents and teachers have received training as part of a $650,000 project also involving the Tasmanian government and the Red Cross.

Children needing treatment will receive a form of cognitive behavioural therapy, where they confront and train their thoughts about their experience.

An important part of that was children being able to tell their story, professor McDermott said.

“It was so frightening that they won’t tell anyone about it or it comes out in nightmares and dreams which isn’t helpful,” he said.

“We get them to tell their story several times until it doesn’t have any power over them any more.

“The whole emotional burden of their story is diminished.”

Professor McDermott said the figure of around 10 per cent was consistent with research from other bushfires.

The flipside of the finding was that most parents were being reassured their children were coping well, he said.

In This Edition

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Getting it right on rural mental health ...................................................... 1 Bushfire fallout tests kids' mental health ...................................................... 3 CEO’s Update........................................ 4 Committee Chatter ............................ 5 MIFNQ 2013 AGM .............................. 7 Imogen Rogers at Barefoot ............ 9 Police to tackle mental health.....10 Designing for mental health ........11 Young men in crisis: mental health study......................................................12 Beyond madness: a modern approach to hearing voices ..........13 NRL enlists former Cowboys coach Murray Hurst as mental health manager of Queensland league ..15 Game on ...............................................16 Program Feedback...........................18 That One Time I Went Nuts: Why Mental Health Care Matters ...........19 New mental health service for Tamworth............................................22

Life expectancy for people with mental illness the same as 30 years ago: report...........................................23 Training & Professional Development......................................25

CEO’s Update

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I was at a meeting of carers recently in Cairns and their stories remind me once again of the need for much more work to be done in the coordination of services, referral pathways, access, communication and relationships between clinical mental health services and the people who need them. There are many service gaps and people who should be receiving services don't always get what they need in a timely way. This results in stress and angst for Jeremy Audas, CEO carers as they try to navigate their way through the maze of services both private and government funded, that is, where they exist at all! For people who are confronting mental illness for the first time this is a real challenge, who do you go to for advice and assistance? Who can you trust? Many start with their GP but not all GPs have a sound knowledge of what is available for people in their local community, neither do some of the formal clinical services. What is needed is one point of contact where people can be assured that they will be listened to with empathy, offered information, advice and a warm assisted referral. The Mental Illness Fellowship of Australia (MIFA) has established such a point of contact where ever you are. It is Mi Networks, a phone number that puts the caller through to their nearest member of the Mental Illness Fellowship of Australia 1800 985 944.

Of recent note is the publication of the report Obsessive Hope Disorder co-authored by John Mendoza. The report provides clear evidence that not much has improved for people with a mental illness over the last 30 years despite successive state and federal governments' rhetoric and plans. With all good intentions state and federal plans have resulted in little real change on the ground. Services are still lacking coordination, there is little involvement of people with a lived experience and carers in planning and implementation and there is certainly a shortfall in funding particularly in early intervention and prevention strategies. The report is available online and in hard copy from http://connetica.com.au/ohd-landing-page.

This newsletter is the last prior to the Federal election and I would like to point out a number of key issues that our politicians need to be aware of in order to keep mental illness on the national political agenda.

Numbers of people with severe mental disorders Approximately 3 per cent of adult Australians suffer from severe mental disorders’. That is nearly 700,000 people, each with their network of families, friends and colleagues. It has been estimated only 35 per cent of Australians with severe mental disorders access services for mental health. (ABS 2008: National Survey of Mental Health and Wellbeing 2007) Suicide and severe mental illness The information available about the rates of suicide of people with severe mental illness is alarming. The landmark report ‘People Living with Psychosis, 2010’ found that 49.5% of participants had attempted suicide at some point in their lifetime compared to 3.7% of the general population. The World Health Organisation has suggested that ‘between 6 and 13% of all people with a diagnosis of schizophrenia will die by suicide’. This is a direct result of the extremely poor quality of life of people with severe mental illness, particularly psychotic disorders. This group of people must be a priority in any suicide prevention strategy.

Employment There has been little advance on the 22% of people with severe mental illness reported in work or study in 1997. Both in Australia and internationally there is ample evidence that employment rates could be dramatically higher with the right strategies and supports—up to 65% of people with the most severe and persistent mental illnesses can access either paid work or study with the right supports.

Physical Health People with severe and persistent mental illness have a life expectancy up to 25 years less than that of the general population, and the gap is widening. For example, at least 25% or more of people with schizophrenia have diabetes—five times the community rate. While smoking rates in the general community have reduced to one of the lowest in the world, 42% of all cigarettes are now consumed by people with mental illness. Our member organisations conduct a successful tobacco free program around Australia because online and other quit methods for the general population have proved to have little impact on people with severe and persistent mental illness.

Housing and homelessness One third of people who were homeless in inner city areas have a severe mental illness. While there is limited provision of shared and ‘congregate’ housing models, surveys of people with mental illness consistently show a preference for similar housing options to the general population, especially living alone or with one other person such as a partner. Carers have frequently listed housing security as one of their key concerns for people living with severe and persistent mental illness in the long term. continues next page

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conclusion Carer support and severe mental illness People with severe and persistent mental illness are frequently supported by carers – family members, friends and neighbours who choose to offer support to people with mental illness. Many do not identify as carers to avoid social stigma and discrimination. Mental health carers report that there continues to be a lack of respect for their caring role from clinicians, mental health workers and others who still regularly exclude carers from treatment planning.

Jeremy Audas

Chief Executive Officer

Mental Illness Fellowship NQ Inc.

MIFNQ Office Locations CAIRNS

MACKAY

Suite 7,129a Lake St, Cairns Q 4870 PO Box 816N Cairns Q 4870 P: (07) 4041 2543 F: (07) 4041 2872 E: cairns@mifnq.org.au

14-16 Wood St, Mackay Q 4740 PO Box 729 Mackay Q 4740 P: (07) 4951 2955 F: (07) 4953 0509 E: mackay@mifnq.org.au

TOWNSVILLE (Head Office) 159 Kings Rd, Pimlico Q 4812 PO Box 979 Hyde Park Q 4812 P: (07) 4725 3664 F: (07) 4725 3819 E: townsville@mifnq.org.au FREE CALL: 1800 455 455

SUNSHINE COAST - Living Proof PO Box 5080 Nambour Q 4560 P: (07) 5442 1651 F: (07) 5442 1651 E: coolum@mifnq.org.au

MIFNQ Management Committee President Vice-President Secretary Treasurer Committee Members

Bob James (vacant) Jenny Chapman Sandra Hubert Alf Musumeci Tanya Park Donella Pickles Sandi Winner

Promoting Recovery Through Services in the Community

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Committee Chatter

These are tumultuous times for organisations dependent on government funding to do their jobs. The ‘sea’ seems very rough indeed for ‘the good ship MIFNQ’. With a still newish State Government still finding its feet as it promotes its policies of austerity and efficiency and with a Federal election in just a few weeks [all in an era of promised increased of Mental Health funding] we are in uncertain times.

What can we do? Well, we can hope – hope that governments [old and new] will stick to their commitments and that they will understand that the reason they give us money to provide the services we do is because there is no better way of getting the necessary services delivered. Nobody does it better, because we are closest to those needing these services. They seem to need continual reminding of that.

Bob James, President

Though we cannot just hope. And we haven’t been merely hoping. We have worked very hard at a local, state and national level to make politicians of all parties understand the vital nature of the work we do and the responsible, efficient and cost-effective way in which we do it.

Jeremy, Adrianne, Allison and others [including me occasionally] have met with politicians and bureaucrats.

Much effort has been aimed at focusing on just what more we might do to protect our people from any potential loss of our services and to protect your Fellowship from being pushed aside by large corporations in the quest by governments to reduce their bottom lines. We have gained some recognition of our importance to the delivery of government-financed services, but we must continue to work to convince politicians of the truth of our claims – both that these services are vital and that the best way of delivering them is through small locallyfocused organisations with close community connections like your Fellowship.

In the meantime, the best evidence of how vital we are is in the work that we do. We prove it every day, every time we provide a service as nobody else can. While we do the very best that we can [and we know our best is THE best that anyone can do] then we should feel secure. But we have to make sure that we continue to improve AND that we make politicians and bureaucrats aware of this. We are so fortunate to have such dedicated and skilled staff who just keep achieving more.

An important part of my role at your Fellowship has been to try to build up our humble little organisation in this environment where only the strong survive and where compliance and accountability get more demanding over the years. Having a strong Management Committee able to provide skills, knowledge and compassionate leadership is vital to us in this environment. Our Annual General Meeting is where we, as your board, are accountable to you, and the place where new people are elected to your board to strengthen it. We look forward to the opportunity to talk directly with you all then and to further build the strength of our board. We look forward to people putting themselves forward to serve the Fellowship, perhaps by volunteering to join your Management Committee.

Our Annual General Meeting is on Thursday 26 September at 5:00pm at 159 Kings Road, Pimlico.

As time passes, people come and go. We grow old and we leave. We leave our jobs to retire or for any of a myriad of reasons. And we leave our voluntary positions. So it is with Tanya Park, who has served as acting President and Vice President and as an ordinary board member of your Management Committee for about 8 years. Tanya leaves for Canada to take up a new position, leaving both JCU and the Fellowship after providing significant leadership and advice. We will miss Tanya and we wish her well in her new role – her new life on the other side of the world.

Bob James

President

Mental Illness Fellowship NQ Inc.

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MIFNQ 2013 AGM

Invites members and guests to attend the 2013 Annual General Meeting

RSVP:

When:

Thursday 26th September 2013

Time:

Commencing at 5:00pm

Place:

MIFNQ Townsville Office Ground Floor, 159 Kings Road PIMLICO Q 4812

RSVP:

Friday 20th September 2013

Corporate Development Manager P: (07) 4725 3664 E: townsville@mifnq.org.au

2013 ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING AGENDA 1.

Minutes of previous AGM held on 2 October 2012

3.

Presentation of Annual Report

2.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

11.

12.

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Business Arising from previous AGM President’s Report

Treasurer’s Report Auditor’s Report

Present Management Committee members to vacate office Election of Incoming Management Committee members Appointment of Auditor

Appointment of Legal Representative President’s Acknowledgements Meeting Close

Nominations are now open for all Management Committee positions. Forms are available through the Townsville office or you can download them on our website at www.mifnq.org.au.

The Secretary should receive your Nomination by no later than 5:00pm on Thursday 12th September 2013. A full list of Nominees will be displayed seven days prior to the AGM. Late nominations can be accepted from the floor during the election process.

The Secretary Mental Illness Fellowship NQ Inc. P: 07 4725 3664 F: 07 4725 3819 E: Townsville@mifnq.org.au 159 Kings Road Pimlico Q 4812 PO Box 979 Hyde Park Q 4812

Imogen Rogers at Barefoot

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Adapted from a Review by George Hirst It’s good to see a bit of unashamedly abstract painting for a change amid the oft-witnessed pleasing landscapes, seascapes and generally literal renderings found so regularly in North Queensland art exhibitions.

Magnetic Island-based artist, Imogen Rogers, exhibited, To the Is-land, 36 paintings recently at the Barefoot Gallery in Horseshoe Bay. To the Is-land reflects an interior world of predominantly female symbolism with more than a little Earth Mother worship detectable. And while these themes are clearly significant to the artist the works get more interesting for this reviewer when the fem-familiar prop is put aside and a little discovery of what colour, shape, line and form can achieve without having to depict any particular thing. One work, Mountain (right), confidently plays off the confined structures of topography with a candy-coloured sky that wants to lift itself out of the picture and suggests many further adventures in paint and pattern.

Another piece, Janet Frame (left) is a loose and wild vermillion arrangement that smears close to the freedom and decisiveness found in the best of young children’s art. With the suggestions of a face amid chaotic finger painting the play-off between straight lines and looped face shape suddenly gets serious and tormented with gashes of yellow teeth lines. Its brilliant red-headed namesake would no doubt have been intrigued.

Another piece, Adams Apple (right), again plays off forces of containment and release and while the eye has much to do travelling through this truncated arrangement there is no retreat by the artist into patterned decoration and the work is the stronger for it.

While Rogers has attempted larger works such as Purple (right), the colour is confidently and cleanly applied but over forms which are less convincing and resolved within the canvas. As is so often the case, it is the smaller, less-stressed over works which hold the most possibilities.

For this reviewer’s two bob’s worth, Imogen Rogers has excitement to share in her smaller visual spaces when free of the universal symbols and the cultural baggage they inevitably evoke.

To the Is-land was well worth a visit for a change from the usual suspect subject matter and the chance to see some engaging painting that isn’t trying to be a picture of something.

The Artist: Imogen Rogers

My art work is all about inner expression. That you can take your thoughts that trigger feelings and give them a voice.

The process is a lived experience; also allowing the stillness which speaks once you have put a space around constant thoughts.

If I can produce a painting when I am feeling down it gives me solace; if I can produce a piece when I am feeling good then I want to share that with other people.

Contact Details:

Email: enquiries@imogenrogersartspace.com Website: www.imogenrogersartspace.com Facebook: www.facebook.com/ImogenRogersPeaceArt

Police to tackle mental health

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The Sydney Morning Herald – 1 August 2013

By Emma Partridge, Crime Reporter

Every front-line police officer across NSW will receive specialised mental health training, in a course to be introduced as early as next month, police say. The one-day course for all beat police comes after several high-profile cases in recent years involving the fatal shooting of mentally ill people.

One such case involved Sydney man Adam Salter, who died after he was shot in the back by police in his Lakemba family home in 2009.

The mental health intervention course, to be run by NSW Police and NSW Health, will be the first of its kind Killed in family home: Adam Salter , who was shot by in Australasia. police in 2009, and his sister Zarin A team of eight officers and nurses will travel to every police local area command in the state to deliver the training, which has been three years in the making.

NSW Police spokesman for mental health Superintendent David Donohue said about 90 per cent of police had never had access to formal mental health education, despite interacting last year with 38,534 people who suffered from mental illnesses. "Unfortunately there are incidents of police contact with mentally ill people with fatal outcomes," Superintendent Donohue said.

Police deal with about 100 mentally ill people every day, according to the NSW Police Association. The interaction with those suffering from an illness has grown exponentially from 18,000 incidents in 2004 to 36,500 in 2011. "[The training] is making sure police have a degree of empathy for the person they are dealing with,'' he said. ''Someone who is hostile to police is not necessarily a danger to police but it's about making sure they are safe. "The ethos of myself and the mental health team has always been about empathy and understanding because it's very difficult for police to make assessments on people's mental health in a very short period of time."

The police mental health intervention team, headed by Inspector Josh Murchie, designed the course with the help of NSW Health. ''Police are required to respond to a whole gamut of mental healthrelated incidents ranging from someone having a bad day and arguing with their neighbour, right through to someone who is acutely psychotic and threatening to harm themselves or someone else up to the siegetype incidents,'' Inspector Murchie said.

Superintendent Donohue said the course will teach officers about common mental illnesses and ways to identify certain conditions.

"Because sometimes we don't know if [a person] is drug-affected - or in some instances the person might be suffering from a brain injury," he said. continues next page

News in Brief

Report shows restraints used on mental health patients decline ABC News, Friday 19 July 2013

There has been a decline in the use of force in Tasmania's mental health wards.

The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare report examined the use of physical or chemical restraints.

It has dropped from 15.6 incidents for every 1,000 bed days in 2008-09 to about 13 last financial year.

The level is in line with rates in Victoria and Queensland.

The most significant decreases were recorded in the ACT. Darren Carr of the Mental Health Council says the Tasmanian rate is still too high.

Mr Carr says many of the recommendations made by the National Seclusion and Restraint Project have not been implemented by the state government.

"There's been a reduction in the use of seclusion and restraint in acute mental health settings in public hospitals throughout Australia and we've seen a reduction in Tasmania, but half the rate of reduction that we've seen in other states," he said.

"We are disappointed that the results are not better...because we know that we can actually cut seclusion and restraint about 10-fold further based on results being achieved in the ACT."

Darren Carr, Mental Health Council of Tasmania

continued from previous page Coronial findings from cases where police have killed mentally ill patients would be discussed and officers would have the chance to participate in mock scenarios. The "quick tool-kit" course would also include a refresher on mental health legislation and remind police of how to detain people who suffer from an illness.

"I have gone to jobs where the person has wired up their entire house because they think someone was going to break in and that was a very real thing to them,'' Superintendent Donohue said. "The reality is, it is a real situation for that individual and we should be there to protect them and look after them.''

More than 1250 front-line police have undergone a four-day course in mental health intervention since 2007, and there are now 80 police inspectors across the state who are trained as a mental health contact officer.

The NSW Police mental health intervention team became a permanent unit within the force in 2009.

Designing for mental health

ABC Radio – RN Life Matters – 30 July 2013

What’s your image of a psychiatric hospital? History has told us mental health institutions are places of isolation, often places to be feared— sterile, barren wards or locked rooms. We know environment can have marked effects on the psychological health of a person and it is environment, and particularly the garden, that has influenced the design of the mental health unit at the new Gold Coast University Hospital. The design was recently awarded a high commendation at the 9th annual Design and Health International Academy Awards, which were held in Brisbane this month. Megan Reading is a former nurse and Principal Architect with Hassell, one of the architectural firms behind the design.

Image: Gold Coast University Hospital Mental Health Unit (photo by Christopher Frederick Jones)

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News in Brief

Mental health course underway in Cairns

ABC Radio Australia – 25 July 2013

Nurses and community workers from six Pacific Island nations are completing a much-needed mental health course at James Cook University in Cairns.

The course, which runs for four weeks, is supported by the Australia Awards Fellowship and answers a plea from Papua New Guinea nurses for further training in the mental health sector. The course will provide a boost to the shortage of qualified mental health workers and the shortage of ongoing training opportunities in the Pacific.

This Online website is easy to use and may be useful for some of our readers.

It has an anxiety and depression quiz and based on answers/results, you are referred to appropriate services and supports.

MindSpot is Government funded and partnered by Macquarie Uni and Beyond Blue.

MindSpot Clinic is a FREE telephone and online service for Australians with stress, worry, anxiety, low mood or depression. It provides free mental health screening assessments, therapist-guided treatment courses and referrals to help people recover and stay well. Go to MindSpot http://www.mindspot.org.au/

Young men in crisis: mental health study

By Clifford Fram, AAP National Medical Writer July 22, 2013

YOUNG Australian men are in crisis, with half feeling stressed and nearly one in 10 having thoughts about suicide, according to new research.

Mental health experts are alarmed by the extent of the unhappiness, but they are optimistic about finding an appropriate internet-based method of helping the tech-savvy generation.

According to new research, nearly one in 10 young Australian men have had thoughts about suicide. Source: AAP

The research, which explores the impact of technology on mental health and wellbeing, shows distressed 16-to-25-year-old men are likely to find health information on the internet as many listen to music and play games online.

The results suggest the current mental health system is failing young men, say the organisers. They believe improved mental health will reduce the number of suicides, vehicle accidents and fights, which are the biggest killers of young men in Australia.

"For the last 20 years we have known our young men are not faring well," says Young and Well Cooperative Research Centre CEO Associate Professor Jane Burns, whose organisation partnered with Movember and beyondblue for the study.

"Technology presents our best prospect yet," she says. "We must partner with young men to create services that are more relevant to them." The research shows distressed young men are likely to use the internet late at night. "We must make sure we provide the right type of service at the right time, and that includes being available after 11 o'clock at night."

There is a real sense of young men having to go through a rite of passage and they will eventually grow out of it. "But there is a group who end up being the drug, accident and suicide statistics that we are nervous and concerned about.

"There are also those whose issues are never addressed, who end up having issues with drugs and alcohol in their 40s, and who end up being suicide stats in our older generation. "Let's work out what we need to do to ensure that when young men are in distress they know how to get support.

"That might not be going to speak to a professional. That may be getting support in an online space they are comfortable with." Beyondblue CEO Kate Carnell says the research provides invaluable insight into the online habits of young men, particularly those who need support. "This will pave the way for better engagement with at-risk young men." * Readers seeking support and information about suicide prevention can contact Lifeline on 13 11 14.

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News in Brief

Mental health services staff cut in central Queensland

Fraser Coast Chronicle – 17 July 2013

SHOCK waves are running through central Queensland's health sector as the impact of staff cuts to mental health and drug and alcohol services take effect.

Queensland Nurses Union spokesman Dave Abraham said 26 positions would be cut across the region including five mental health community support workers in Rockhampton, and Gladstone's alcohol, tobacco and other drugs nurse unit manager.

"Mental health is crying out for more services, not less," Mr Abraham said.

"Mental health is grossly underfunded, especially in young people where early diagnosis is a major area of concern‌we need to put more in, not take it out."

Mr Abraham said the union held grave concerns as responsibility for primary care was being put back on GPs and the nongovernment sector.

But he said the government was also taking away support for the GPs and the non-government organisations.

"It doesn't make sense‌and we're not sure this is the last of the cuts," he said.

The cuts are the result of the integration of mental health and alcohol, tobacco and other drugs services.

Mr Abraham said Gladstone had a lot of alcohol-related issues with cashed-up workers.

"Having people in place to deal with these sorts of issues is important," he said.

A spokesman for Minister Lawrence Springborg on Tuesday said the CQ health board had canvassed voluntary redundancies and was restructuring mental health and drug and alcohol support services.

Beyond madness: a modern approach to hearing voices

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About the Authors

Authors: Adele de Jager and Paul Rhodes: – 10 July 2013

Four years ago, a woman came to speak to my third year psychology class at the University of Auckland. Her story completely changed the way I thought about voice-hearing. Like most people, I associated “hearing things” with being very unwell psychologically; with madness.

Yet here was an articulate, hilarious and confident woman – a mental health educator – who was very much in touch with reality.

The first voice she heard was a supportive, maternal voice which didn’t cause her any distress. Later, she heard a group of demonic-like voices who threatened to harm her or those she cared about. She was diagnosed with schizophrenia and institutionalised for many years.

Her turning point came when she asked her voices to show her some of their power by doing the dishes.

When they didn’t, their hold over her started to loosen. Slowly, she learnt how to deal with her voices, built relationships with others and finally gained employment helping other voice-hearers. Hers is one of the stories of recovery recorded in Living with voices: 50 stories of recovery.

What struck me most about her story was how easy it was to draw an analogy between her voices and internal “self-talk”. Immediately, the experience of voice-hearing seemed less foreign and incomprehensible and more akin to what most people experience. This “inner-speech” theory is in fact the most well-known neuropsychological theory about what causes voices.

Apart from making voice-hearing seem less foreign, her story challenged several assumptions I held. First, it seemed that she was able to live a functional, productive and meaningful life while still hearing voices.

Second, a diagnosis of schizophrenia is thought to carry with it a very poor prognosis, with little hope of recovery.

So, is her experience unique? It seems not. There is evidence of longterm recovery for around half of people distressed by their voices, enabling them to live meaningful lives and function to a degree considered normal by most people.

Indeed, it appears that hearing voices is not an abnormal human experience. General population studies show that 10% to 40% of the non-psychiatric population hear voices at some point in their lives. It is also not unusual for those who have lost a loved one to hear the voice of the deceased during the months following their death (although many initially deny this due to stigma surrounding voice-hearing). So it seems possible to be a “healthy” voice-hearer.

The other thing that really stood out from what she said was the profound mismatch between her needs and the help she got. She needed to talk about her experiences and figure out how to deal with her voices.

At that time, however, talking to voice-hearers about their voices was discouraged as it was believed that this would worsen their symptoms.

Instead, she was treated mainly with medication (in those days, large doses of it). So, what treatments are available today? Medication remains the first-line treatment for distressed voice-hearers. Many find antipsychotic medications helpful, as they “dampen down” physical, mental and emotional responses. continues next page

Adèle de Jager

Registered Provisional Psychologist; Doctorate of Clinical Psychology / Master of Science (Candidate) at University of Sydney

Paul Rhodes

Senior Lecturer in Clinical Psychology at the Clinical Psychology Unit, University of Sydney. His research interests include family therapy for anorexia nervosa, systemic approaches to challenging behaviour and developmental disabilities, reflective practice in clinical psychology, and qualitative methodologies. Paul is also Honorary Senior Clinical Psychologist at The Children’s Hospital, Westmead, where for the past five years he has run the Family Therapy Training and Research Clinic in the Department of Psychological Medicine. From 2008 to 2010 he served as Contributing Editor of the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Family Therapy.

continued from previous page But they can have serious side-effects. These include changes in metabolism that lead to weight gain and increased risk for stroke, heart disease and diabetes. They may also make some people feel “foggy” or “zombie-like”.

Medication is ineffective in eliminating voices in at least onequarter of cases. This has lead to talking therapies gaining acceptance as a treatment for distressing voices. Instead of trying to get rid of voices, talking therapies aim to diminish the distress they can cause.

One-quarter of people who hear One way of doing this is through disturbing voices considering the evidence for and against beliefs about voices that make the hearer feel more upset. If your voice says threatening things and you believe it is powerful and intends to harm you, it makes sense to feel frightened. Testing out whether the voice has the power to do things (like doing the dishes) in a carefully planned way (for example, it wouldn’t be helpful to ask for a message through something ambiguous like a television program) can help the hearer feel more in control and less frightened.

Other strategies that can help in day-to-day management of voicehearing include decreasing overall stress, listening to certain music, reading and focusing one’s attention on other sounds. Unfortunately, no one formula works for everyone: a lot of trial and error is usually required to find out what works.

The Maastricht approach – which is closely connected to the consumer movement, including the Hearing Voices Network – takes a more radical perspective. It defines voices as representing an emotional problem, either literally or metaphorically. This opens up interpretive possibilities, so even critical or threatening voices can be viewed as helpful.

One voice-hearer, for example, came to interpret a voice saying “I’ll kill you” as a warning not to make a particular decision in her life. Another person who identifies that a critical voice appears or becomes louder when they are over-stressed or overtired may come to respond by resting or giving excess work to a colleague.

So the critical voice becomes protective. Putting voices into the context of the hearer’s life history helps the hearer to make sense of Some voice-hearers read a flare up of them and identify what positive role voices as a signal they’re stressed or they could have. tired.

Interestingly, voice-hearers’ style of relating to their voice is similar to how they relate to other people. Those who feel socially inferior to others, for instance, report feeling inferior to their voices. They are also more likely to comply with instructions to harm themselves, while the opposite is true of those who feel superior in both spheres. concludes next page

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Mental Health First Aid Training

The Mental Health First Aid Program is run by Mental Health First AidTM (MHFA) Australia, a national nonprofit health promotion charity focused on training and research. More information about MHFA Australia here: www.mhfa.com.au Standard Mental Health First Aid covers the most common disorders such as depression, anxiety, psychotic disorders and alcohol and drug problems.

2013 Dates: 8th & 9th Oct 2013 3rd & 4th Dec 2013 Youth Mental Health First Aid is for adults who live or work with young people. This course also addresses self-harm and eating disorders. 2013 dates: 5th & 6th Nov 2013 Both courses cover the development of a 5-step action plan for mental health first aid, managing suicide, panic attacks, psychotic behaviour and general communication skills.

Training Location: Arcadian Surf Lifesaving Club, The Strand Rockpool, North Ward Q 4810 Duration: 2 days

Cost: $100 per person

Registration Forms available online at: http://www.mifa.org.au/mental -health-first-aid

To find out more contact our Qld Manager Education and Training, Philippa Harris on 4725 3664, or email training@mifnq.org.au.

conclusion We know that some people who are distressed by their voices learn ways to cope with their voices effectively and eventually recover. But how do they do it? That is the question we will be asking voice-hearers taking part in our research.

It’s hoped that giving voice to their experience, expertise and insider knowledge will help others struggling with their voices and help shape treatment approaches.

Disclosure Statement Adèle de Jager is a post-graduate student at the University of Sydney supervised by Dr Paul Rhodes and Dr Mark Hayward. Their research was developed with and supported by Douglas Holmes and others at the Hearing Voices Network NSW. Paul Rhodes receives funding from the NHMRC.

NRL enlists former Cowboys coach Murray Hurst as mental health manager of Queensland league

by: Valkerie Baynes Sports Affairs: The Courier-Mail – July 09, 2013

THE NRL has appointed a welfare and education manager to look after the mental health of players around the state for the Queensland Rugby League. Former Cowboys coach Murray Hurst will help players at Queensland's 12 Intrust Super Cup clubs and the junior teams linked to them recognise and deal with mental health problems.

He also offers study and careers guidance so they have something to fall back on if they are injured, retire or fail to make the big time.

"People are given training while they are playing," Hurst said.

"Getting that to happen is tough because of their commitment to their full-time rugby league. "We hope in rugby league that people are able to do both so that when their careers are finished and their bodies have had enough, they know where they're headed."

A boost in ARL Commission funding at the start of this year has Queensland Rugby League's new welfare allowed each NRL club to double and education manager Murray their player welfare staff from one Hurst.Source: News Limited to two.

Having only three NRL clubs, however, posed a unique challenge in a state as vast as Queensland, so the funding was also used to create Hurst's position with plans to boost his ranks in the next year.

He has already begun visiting clubs to give presentations on issues such as alcohol, drugs, sexual harassment, education and mental health support.

"When I was coaching I knew then that this was an area that wasn't addressed and most particularly when I played," Hurst said. "If a person came to training or a game and you could see that something was bothering him, his peers would say: 'What's wrong with you? Toughen up.' continues next page

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Inspiring Quotes

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Leisure Accessible

continued from previous page Now you understand that what the player might be worried about could be something that's very major. It could be mentally affecting him so much that he could be thinking the worst scenario to alleviate that pain."

Player welfare hit the spotlight this year with the tragic death of Cowboys squad member Alex Elisala and another 20-year-old, Wests Tigers prop Mosese Fotuaika, while the Bulldogs' 2012 Dally M winner, Ben Barba, took time out from the game to deal with personal issues.

The Bulldogs and the Knights played for the beyondblue Cup on Sunday in Mackay to boost awareness of mental health.

NRL welfare and education manager Paul Heptonstall, who met with Hurst on the Gold Coast last week to talk strategy, said it was vital to give players education opportunities outside of football.

"We're trying to prepare them for something other than rugby league because the bottleneck is so thin with the people that play rugby league that the majority of them aren't going to (make it)," Heptonstall said.

"If someone's at university or they're doing a trade, there's something else within that person's life that is important.

"So when they do suffer an injury, or they might be dropped, or go through a form slump, or they might even be released, or they don't get the call-up to progress to the next grade, it's not like the whole world is tumbling in."

Another key is encouraging players to speak up if they have a problem.

"It's not only destigmatising it from the players, it's destigmatising it from a coach's perspective as well because often players won't talk about it because they're worried about being considered a liability," Heptonstall said.

IMPORTANT DATES 10 September

World Suicide Prevention Day

12 September

R U OK? Day

26 September

MIFNQ Annual General Meeting

6-13 October

Mental Health Week

10 October

World Mental Health Day

For those that don't know us, Leisure Accessible provides recreational opportunities for people with a disability and senior citizens.

The club operates "ROSIE", a purpose built 7.9m vessel with a flat deck and including an accessible toilet. The side and front ramps provide access for wheelchairs and passengers.

“ROSIE” is a smooth riding, stable boat that travels in a flat attitude, excellent for carriage of people with a disability and the physically impaired on fishing trips and river cruising.

If you are interested in finding out more, please get in touch via email – leisureaccessible@hotmail.com - or call Ken on 0407 674 652.

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Game on

A Life without Stigma

Exploring the impact of technologies on young men's mental health and wellbeing

Barbara Hocking |www.SANE.org 25 July, 2013

Australian Policy Online: 22 July, 2013 Jane M. Burns, and others | Young and Well Cooperative Research Centre (YAWCRC)

New research finds that the Australian mental health system is failing young men and suggests modern technology offers the potential to improve mental health and wellbeing.

Summary: The first Young and Well National Survey, a scientific study of young men from across Australia, uncovered alarming statistics that suggest our current mental health system is failing young men: Nearly one in five felt that life is hardly worth living.

Nearly one in 10 thought about taking their own life.

42 percent experience psychological distress.

Unemployment and moderate to very high levels of psychological distress trigger suicidal thoughts and behaviour.

The research also identifies new methods of engagement with young men via technology that matches their current usage and behaviour online, offering new hope for improving their mental health and wellbeing.

Young men with moderate to very high levels of psychological distress were more likely to: Talk about problems on the internet, with 66 percent finding it helpful.

Use the internet to find information for a mental health, alcohol or other substance abuse problem (48 percent).

Be somewhat to very satisfied with the information they received online (95 percent).

Young men who reported higher levels of psychological distress were more likely to access health information, listen to (or download / upload) music and play games with others on the internet.

Young and Well Cooperative Research Centre Phone: Fax: Email: Web:

03 9937 1333 03 9416 4416 info@yawcrc.org.au www.youngandwellcrc.org.au

Mailing and Street Address: Unit 17, 71 Victoria Crescent ABBOTSFORD VIC 3067

Stigma stops people asking for help and getting the treatment and support they need. It makes it more difficult to find somewhere decent to live, a job, a mortgage, or insurance. It can make it more difficult to get help to look after children, make friends, feel good about yourself, or even to feel that life is worth living. Stigma is a major barrier to recovery. If people with mental illness are to be included as equal members of our society, then stigma and its associated discrimination must be eliminated.

This report examines the impact stigma has on the lives of people affected by mental illness, including an overview of associated issues from the growing body of research in this area. It describes some of the major stigma-reduction initiatives carried out in Australia and overseas, looks at the evidence base to identify what works, and makes recommendations for future action in Australia to create a life without stigma.

To read the report, go to www.sane.org.

Program Feedback From participants of the National Tobacco Mental Illness Program Quotes from participants at the end of the July program:

What changes did you notice whilst participating in the program?

“Finance and emotional wellbeing. Feel like the happiest man in the world” I don’t cough as badly Lost 3kgs and my health feels better for it Have become more motivated since I quit I have enough money to buy new clothes I have more breathe, the cravings are now gone and I can feel my appetite coming back Feeling happy to be able to breathe when completing mountain climbs... was never able to do that before!

Was feeling excellent as a non-smoker.. a lot of energy!

My clothes smell a little better

What was the most important/beneficial part of the course:

 Talking to a group facilitator who has been through the same quitting process as us in the group. I also found her (terrible) drawing and no nonsense deliver of what was actually in a cigarette very important  Talking thorough all the triggers and making plans. It was nice to have a facilitator that understood where we were coming from and who had walked in our shoes  Talking through the problems  Seeing some people's success  Positive outlook on myself and future as non smoker  Carbon monoxide readings, shock factor  Being applauded every week when I had made it through without a cigarette and having Nicole check in on me weekly.

Any other comments:

Very well presented I really liked the group, it really made me make the decision to give up Wonderful, special people, sharing, compassionate, extremely helpful.

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Helping people with mental illness to be Group Support Program NEXT COURSE Date: 15 August 2013 Time: 10am – 12pm weekly Location: Uniting Care Community Training Room, 276-280 Ross River Rd Aitkenvale.

Info and Bookings: Rebecca Wood NTMI Project Officer

M: 0434 742 322 E: tobaccocessation@mifnq.org.au

Or just turn up on the day.

A supportive program for tobacco smokers with a mental Illness (carers also welcome).

Are you or someone you know thinking about quitting or cutting down their tobacco use?

If so, join the Tobacco and Mental Illness teams FREE peer supported 5 week tobacco program and get information about what options there are for people who want to make changes.

That One Time I Went Nuts: Why Mental Health Care Matters

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Josephine Ganner

By Josephine Ganner – 23 July 2013 - www.greatist.com.

Foul Language I don’t like the word “crazy”. It leaves a bitter taste in my mouth, and it's a term I have run from in my life. I don’t want to be crazy. I don’t want to feel helpless and out of control.

But as the song goes, you can’t always get what you want. Over the past several years I’ve had ample experience with “crazy” — personally, professionally, and in my family. I’ve made it through to the other side while others have not, and the experiences have only strengthened my belief in the importance of changing the way this country approaches mental health care. It is my hope that in sharing these experiences, I can help jumpstart a conversation about mental health in this country that is long overdue.

Working to be “Not Crazy” As a teenager, I was desperate to be different than “crazy”. I struggled with anorexia and the pressure to be a perfect distance runner. My anxieties threatened to consume me with the fear that I, too, would end up being saved some day — as my father had saved my mother, pulling her from her depression. I would cry, drink alone in my room, and write angry poetry about the complexities of my mind, about being left to grow up on my own as my mother traveled the globe on a quest for corporate domination. I have grown from my years of teen angst, but my anxieties surrounding “crazy” have not altered.

I’m not the only member of my family to feel these anxieties. Two years ago, my then-nineteen-year-old little brother and I sat parked in our driveway. I can picture it so clearly: He gazes at me, tears falling down his beet red face. “Jo,” He pleads. He grips the steering wheel as his hands shake. “Jo. I am not crazy.” I nod. “I know crazy Jo, and I am not crazy.

Mama is crazy.” I nod in agreement. My brother is upset.

Misunderstood. Growing up. Still processing his angst.

Diagnosis This past year, my brother (pictured left) was diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder upon being admitted to a hospital’s psych ward for 10 days.

The scary, manic, psychosis-experiencing, hearing voices, “let’s practice flying off the roof” kind of bipolar.

The kind that turns a star athlete and lifeof-the-party Golden Boy into a recluse who fears the world and won’t leave his room for months. The kind that forces a twenty-one-year-old kid at the beginning of his life into hospitals and electroconvulsive therapy. continues next page

Josephine Ganner is an actress, mental health activist, and co-founder of 26 Percent Productions, a film production company dedicated to giving a voice to those who suffer from Mental Illness. She is the creator of the blog OkNo and can be found lending her comedic chops to the stages of Los Angeles and New York. The opinions expressed herein are hers. To learn more about Jo, check out her website (www.josephineganner.com) or find her on Twitter or Facebook.

DISCLAIMER

The information in this article is provided for general information only. It is not intended as medical advice, and should not be relied upon as a substitute for consultations with qualified health professionals who can determine your individual medical needs.

We hope this information is of help to you in thinking about further questions that you might want to ask your doctors and qualified health professionals.

Mental Illness Fellowship NQ Inc

continued from previous page My brother’s illness terrifies me. In the months leading up to him getting help in Colorado, I would sit outside his bedroom and listen to him screaming out of desperation at voices inside his head. He would tell them to leave him alone. He would verbally attack himself, telling himself that nobody loved him or liked him. That nobody wanted him there. That he was worthless. That he deserved to die.

My little brother suffered for months with the terrorizing voices in his head, trying to hide his illness. He didn’t want to go back to the hospital with the catatonic masses. He would suppress his reactions in public, but within the privacy of his room he was tortured by instructions to kill himself and hurt his family.

A Deathly Drug I knew that my brother was on a medication that could make his skin fall off. “How terrible,” I remember thinking. “Who would put somebody on such a drug?”

My brother was in Colorado being treated for Bipolar Disorder, about to begin electroconvulsive therapy, and I knew that afterward he would be forever changed. I want to help him and others like him — to see, to understand, and to remember what the illness was like before treatment.

To give the world a glimpse into the lives and struggles of those who suffer from mental illness.

I am an actor, and what I know how to do is tell stories. So I created a film production company, 26 Percent Productions, to tell my brother’s story and the stories of the millions of people who are affected by Mental Illness. Twenty six percent of Americans suffer from a diagnosable mental illness, and it only seems right the work that my company produces gives a voice to those who suffer.

I also knew that come hell or high water I would get my own depression under control. So I enlisted the help of my psychiatrist, who nonchalantly prescribed me a drug called Lamictal.

Ten days later, I was filming a documentary about mental illness with my brother in Colorado, only to find myself, unexpectedly, in a hospital.

This time, I was the patient. A rash had spread all over my body and mucus membranes. My mouth and throat were exploding in painful lumps and a white paste resembling a yeast infection. My lungs were bubbling inside of me. My eyes burned. To go to the bathroom felt like an ancient form of fire torture.

I had developed Stevens Johnsons Syndrome, a rare immune reaction to my prescription of Lamictal — the same drug that my brother had been prescribed with intense caution. The same drug for which he got blood tests and for which the dosage was slowly increased every two weeks.

My prescription did not include such precautions. As a result, in response to the drug my body decided to burn itself from the inside out, making my skin fall off.

Dreams, Screams, and Psychosis I do not remember anything past the first day. I was transferred to the University of Colorado Hospital’s ICU burn unit, where I remained for the month of March in a drug-induced coma, on the brink of death. My body burned. My rash turned into bubbling blisters that sloughed off internally and externally. In order to save my sight and my life, I endured two amniotic membrane surgeries and was put on life support.

While I was sick, I experienced an intense psychosis that was so real and so terrifying I honestly believed I was being sexually abused and that I would never see my family again. continues next page

LAMICTAL

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Lamictal is approved by the FDA for the maintenance treatment of adults with bipolar disorder.

It has been found to help delay bouts of depression, mania, hypomania (a milder form of mania), and mixed episodes in those being treated with standard therapy. It is especially effective in the prevention of bipolar depression. It is the first FDA-approved therapy since lithium for maintenance in bipolar disorder. Lamictal is considered a mood-stabilizing anticonvulsant and is most commonly prescribed to prevent or control seizures in the treatment of epilepsy.

Recent studies have shown it may possess antidepressant effects in bipolar disorder.

Lamictal Side Effects Lamictal comes in several types of tablets, such as chewable or orally disintegrating. It adds to the effects of other central nervous system suppressants such as alcohol -- and to those found in many antihistamines, cold medications, pain medications, and muscle relaxants. Check with your doctor before taking any of these. Three out of every 1,000 people taking Lamictal will develop a rash. Sometimes the rash can prove serious or even fatal. If a rash develops, this drug should be stopped immediately. Common side effects of Lamictal include:  Headache  Dizziness  Diarrhea  Dream abnormalities  Itching  Vision difficulties Medication errors have occurred in filling Lamictal prescriptions because other drugs have similar names, like Lamisil, lamivudine, Ludiomil, labetalol, and Lomotil. To avoid confusion, make sure the drug name is clearly written on your prescription.

continued from previous page This psychosis lasted for days in the ICU. At one point, I tried to run away from the hospital on all fours and found myself, soon after, in a straitjacket with each wrist bound to the bed. Any human under the influence of such high doses of pain medications and sedatives might interpret their physical state and inability to move as torture.

The experience of coming off my pain medication in the hospital and realizing what was real and what was not real was disconcerting. I had daily therapy sessions. I should probably get a PTSD counselor. But my psychosis has ended. I experienced truly “crazy” — and let me tell you: It is a scary, scary, slope to slip down.

The Path to Recovery I lived.

I lost my looks. I lost my body. I lost my muscle mass and energy and a month of my life. But I lived. That is my first accomplishment. I can sit here and be thankful today that I have a voice. That I have my

Photo: 26 Percent Productions sight.

That I lost only 60 percent of my skin. I can be thankful that slowly but surely my eyelashes will grow back and the red baby skin rash covering my body will fade over the next few years. My wounds will heal. I will move on. I will move back to New York and use my new perspective for good. I will get back on that stage and into those auditions and I will create documentaries that change the world.

I’m all good.

Well, I will be all good.

The Ones Left Behind My brother, meanwhile, is still in Colorado. He is still on Lamictal. He is still undergoing electroconvulsive therapy and every day is a struggle. I do not know what rests in his future. I hope for the best. But as one of my brother’s doctors put it, “Mental health is the bad stepchild of healthcare.” It doesn’t get the support it needs and nobody wants to talk about it.

Instead, we rely on quick fixes. In modern (Western) culture, the swings of highs and lows that we as humans feel are being plastered with false promises in prescription bottles and overpriced therapy. A quick fix for our every emotion. We have found solace in bottles. Pills. Booze. We feel better knowing that our money is being spent on “fixing us,” even if our shrink just prescribes us pills.

But maybe we were never really broken. Some of us have it rougher than others, but I guarantee that if we took a step back we would witness what the literary canon was writing about all those years ago: the human condition. Pain and desperation have been around for a lot longer than we give them credit for. It’s just that our perception of them has shifted.

Maybe all I needed during the dark times in my life — all most of us need — was a friend.

Somebody to hold my hand and tell me that these feelings, dear human, are part of growing up — part of life. Today, I can advocate for myself. I have a voice. But it is those like my brother who do not. The silent sufferers of mental illness, the men and women who sit alone, afraid to leave the house. To be a casualty of the drug companies is one thing; to be a casualty of your mind and a failing system is quite another. concludes next page

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News in Brief

Mental health group urges continued reforms

ABC News - Mon Aug 12, 2013

A Toowoomba mental health group has urged the next federal government to keep crucial reforms to the sector.

Luke Terry, Executive Director

The Toowoomba Clubhouse helps people with mental illness get jobs, homes and integrate back into society.

Executive director Luke Terry says there has been a change in the Federal Government's approach to mental health in recent years with more money and resources provided to help the marginalised.

He says the reforms are not completed and he is worried they are at risk because of budget constraints. "We need to make sure the next government, whoever it is, increases that funding, as well there needs to be a continued commitment to mental health," he said.

Mr Terry says the major parties need to consider ending the practice of institutionalisation and move to community-based care but he says that requires advertising campaigns to break down stigmas about people with mental illness. "It's been proven all over the world, especially in the UK they made the commitment to get rid of institutions," he said. "People living in institutions can live very happily in the community."

Mr Terry wants more federal initiatives to change the wider community's perceptions about people with mental illness.

conclusion How to Help What can be done? We must advocate for them. We can give them a voice by spreading awareness of mental illness and of Stevens Johnsons Syndrome. By ending social stigma and shifting people’s perspective in regards to the “scary crazy people”.

The truth is that my brother is afraid of you, dear reader. Probably more so than you are of him. He is kind and gentle and likes to draw and do physics problems. He is soft-spoken and has a sheepish smile, boyish good looks, and a quick wit.

But he is tortured by a sickness that cannot be fixed with an antibiotic and a bandage. It doesn’t have a clear-cut beginning and end. But that does not mean, under any circumstances, that he should be left by the wayside.

We must allow it to be okay for people struggling with mental illness to ask for help. We must hold our judgment and support the evolution of mental health care toward a system that supports the full road to — a system that doesn’t pick and choose who it will heal based on their monetary value or their insurance.

It is not enough to lock somebody away and throw away the key. We must be brave enough to admit that 26 percent of us struggle with mental health issues. Brave enough to admit that we as individuals may belong to the 26 percent, and that that's okay. It is okay to feel afraid, to question reality, to feel "off", to feel excruciatingly low.

Heck, it’s even okay to run around naked on the roof every so often because a voice told you to. What is important is to know that those who do are not alone and that there are people in this world who care. Who want to help.

Even if you are not part of the 26 percent, you know someone who suffers. It is now the time to be brave. To muster the strength to ask for help or lend a helping hand.

To change the way you think and talk about mental illness and its treatment, which in turn has the power to change the way other people think about these issues. It is time to listen. To embrace the 26 percent and the stories they have to tell.

My wounds will heal. What I cannot tolerate is a system that tells my little brother his cannot.

New mental health service for Tamworth

Catherine Clifford – ABC News – 17 June 2013

A 24-hour, 20-bed facility to help people with mental illness re-integrate into the community is to be established in Tamworth. The Minister for Mental Health, Kevin Humphries, announced the multi-million dollar initiative on Monday.

It's the first of its kind in the state to be operated by a non-government organisation.

continues next page

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There are many ways that you can support us and the work we do at MIFNQ. If you haven’t done so already, why not become a member.

Membership is free and an application form is on the back page or you can join online at our website.

Volunteering is another way you can make a valuable contribution. We always have lots of opportunities for volunteers to make a difference to our services and programs.

You may like to volunteer with administration tasks, assist with our extensive library, are a handyman or assist with our program courses which can range from reading, music, cooking, arts and crafts and a whole lot more. Many of our volunteers find they can receive as much themselves as they generously give.

Partnerships/Sponsors You might also consider becoming a business partner or sponsor of the Fellowship. Our dedicated staff put in many hours of unpaid work to enable us to provide the best service we can in the community.

Business partnerships allow us keep the corporate services department running effectively and efficiently while allowing us to plan for future growth and the ever increasing demand for services. And donating to MIFNQ online is easy.

Online Donations - Secure online donations can be made at http://www.givenow.com.au/m ifnq.

continued from previous page Services Manager in charge of the program, Jim Booth, says the program is specifically designed to support people who've recently left prison or hospital.

"It means that we will have staff on duty 24 hours a day and that means if anyone feels any symptoms, any depression or anxiety, any fear then they can access staff immediately," he said.

"Staff can provide emergency medication 24 hours a day and it means that if there are any disturbances than, obviously, staff can go and intervene."

Jim Booth says beds will be shared between Tamworth and Newcastle, with the majority of the beds set aside in Tamworth.

"This is for people who are moving out of hospitalisation, out of mental health institutions and, in some cases out of Corrective Services, making their way back to the community but still needing 24-hour care," he said.

"They will be referred by one of the health organisations because this is the only one in regional NSW at this stage."

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Entertainment Book

Life expectancy for people with mental illness the same as 30 years ago: report

By Eliza Harvey | The World Today | Aug 7, 2013

A damning report has found the life expectancy for people suffering from a mental illness has not improved in 30 years.

The finding is in stark contrast to the advances made for Australians suffering from illnesses like heart disease and cancer.

Mental health expert Professor John Mendoza co-authored the report, which looks at mental illness in Australia over the past three decades.

He says Australia has made no progress in closing the gap in life expectancy for people who experience significant mental health disorders.

"So we're talking different psychosis, schizophrenia, bipolar and major depression," Photo: Research has found mental illness is now Professor Mendoza said. the biggest contributor to disability in the country.

"If you experience that (stock.xchng/Nihan Aydi) illness, this year in Australia your life expectancy is no better than when David Richmond completed his report on closing down institutional care in 1983.

"Now I can think of no other area of health care where we've got common conditions where that's the case." The research also found mental illness is now the biggest contributor to disability in the country.

People are 'falling through the cracks' Professor Mendoza blames the grim state of mental health care on failures to invest in research and intervention. "What we've really failed to do is what we've done so well in areas like breast cancer, where we invested very sensibly in research and we've built our capacity and our knowledge to intervene much earlier," he said. continues next page

The Entertainment™ Book is a local restaurant and activity guide, which provides hundreds of up to 50% off and 2-for-1 offers from the finest restaurants, cafÊs, attractions, theatres and accommodation.

Entertainment™ Books have been distributed by fundraising organisations throughout Australia and New Zealand for the past 18 years.

MIFNQ will again be selling these books as a way to raise funds to aide in our efforts to assist those living with mental illness while supporting their carers and families.

The 2013|2014 Far North Queensland Book can be ordered from your local MIFNQ office or online at https://www.entertainment book.com.au/orderbooks/2 700u79

continued from previous page "Now if you go into mental health, it's a stark contrast - you do not have that infrastructure. You do not have that investment in research and you do not have the workforce to actually respond to the level of need that's in our community. "Your chances of getting coordinated care, effective care, are dependent on where you live, your capacity to pay and your determination or those of your loved ones - to actually Prof. John Mendoza get that care."

This leads to people "falling through the cracks", Professor Mendoza said. Health and welfare lecturer Ingrid Ozols says she is an example of someone who benefited from a good treatment program.

"I have bipolar disorder, I have tried to take my life on several occasions, but I've been really lucky," she said. "I've had great mental health care and I know I'm in the minority. And [that care is] what's helped me to become someone who can contribute to society."

Doctors say targeting mental illness at work is crucial in reducing the number of people becoming acutely unwell and needing hospital treatment.

"I have a colleague who once said it's OK to be nosy. We're such a good society at being disconnected, we need to be more connected than ever," Ms Ozols said.

"We don't have the extended families like we used to so we need to reach out to our neighbours, reach out to a stranger and say 'look, how are things faring?' "And then we need to learn the skills - how do you have a brave Ingrid Ozols conversation?" A greater focus on self care and programs that teach sufferers how to keep mentally well are the main way to improve the system, Ms Ozols said.

Obsessive Hope Disorder Report

Obsessive Hope Disorder of broken into three reports: Summary, Technical and Perspectives. Each report may be purchased separately or as a full suite of all three reports. Reports are available in Printed format or E-version.

For a detailed description of each report and to place your order, go to: http://connetica.com.au/ohd-landingpage FREE: Synopsis of Report

Apology: Publication Error. The Obsessive Hope Disorder Summary Report includes an error indicating that screen viewing or free download options are available for this report. This is incorrect. Copies of the Summary report, in EVersion or as a printed copy, are available for purchase only. Should you wish to proceed, select from the options provided above. We apologise for any confusion or concern.

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Book Review

Authors: Prof Marius Romme, Dr Sandra Escher, Jacqui Dillon, Dr Dirk Corstens and Prof Mervyn Morris

Synopsis: Marius Romme and Sandra Escher's new analysis of the hearing voices experience outside of the illness model, has resulted in accepting and making sense of voices. This study of 50 stories forms the evidence for this successful new approach to working with voice hearers.

Quote: "This is essential reading for mental health workers of all professions, which challenges conventional thinking, empowers mental health service users and looks forward to a more humane approach to psychiatric care."

Richard Bentall, Professor of Clinical Psychology, Bangor University, Wales

Available From: Richmond Fellowship of Western Australia PO Box 682 Bentley WA 6982 Online Store: $35.00 + postage http://www.rfwa.org.au/shop.html

Angus & Robertson Book Stores Price: $54.99

Training & Professional Development

Glenda Blackwell – MIFNQ - Townsville

Assisting Families Program

In July a group of staff from our 3 centres, Mackay, Cairns and Townsville and 2 women from Mental Illness Fellowship NT (Darwin and Alice Springs)went to Cairns to be trained as facilitators in a new program - Assisting Families.

It is modular program Hard at work in Cairns designed for carers and families looking after someone with a mental illness. It is interactive, informative and flexible and will be a wonderful addition to our suite of programs at MIFNQ. David and Mary from Schizophrenia Fellowship of NSW and Remind Training were wonderful trainers over the 2 days. Launch dates will be announced and for more information call MIFNQ on 47253664.

Counselling Training

Barbara Anderson, Counselling & Support Manager, MIFNQ

Tacked on to these 2 days of training was a day of upskilling for our MIFNQ counsellors.

This is essential to have an effective service that offers the best for our clients.

Thank you Barbara Anderson for an informative day.

Mental Health First Aid In July we were invited to deliver MHFA to a group of JCU students from the Psychology Club. We were able to work with Camilla from JCU in presenting. It was a great 2 days of learning and sharing stories and I feel we all got a lot from the course.

Here at MIFNQ we offer the Standard and Youth MHFA courses. They are designed to aid people to Everybody passed! be like first –aiders, maybe first on the scene when someone is having a panic attack or a colleague doesn’t seem to be doing well at work, till professional help can be provided.

Ideal for reception staff, teachers, really for anyone around people. You can contact MIFNQ on 47253664 for more information. continues next page

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Professional Development

Professional development is important for our staff to grow skills and learn new ones that are able to be utilised in our work with clients.

This is vital in MIFNQ offering a service that is up to date, evidence based and useful.

Glenda (left) and Pip (right), MIFNQ counsellors recently travelled to Sydney for the 11th World Association for Contextual Behavioural Science (“ACBS”) conference held at the University of NSW.

Acceptance and Commitment Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (“ACT”) guru, Kelly Wilson from Mississippi sharing his expertise and wisdom.

Kelly is the author of “Mindfulness for Two” and “The Wisdom to Know the Difference”.

The Importance of Role Playing Russ Harris is the author of “The Happiness Trap”, “The Reality Trap” and many other books .

Joe Ciarocchi is a prolific researcher and author of “Emotional Intelligence for Everyday Life”, “Get Out of Your Mind and Into Your Life for Teens”

The Lesson...

Russ (left) and Joe (right) role playing

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Books by Kelly Wilson

Mi Networks AUSTRALIA

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Mi Networks is our promise that we can help connect you to information and services you need. From the moment you walk in the door or pick up the phone, we will welcome you.

We will listen and discuss your needs. Many of our staff and volunteers have some understanding of what you are experiencing, in part because they’ve experienced mental illness or have cared for someone living with mental illness.

Our Promise A place you are welcome -- We promise to treat you like a person, not a number. We will always have time to listen, question and discuss. We want to know how you are, what you need and how we can help.

Peer Support -- Many of our staff and volunteers have lived experience: either living with mental illness or as the carers of someone with mental illness. We are people with similar experiences and we will have some understanding of what you are going through.

Relevant Information -- We offer tailored and up-to-date information to assist you, your family members, friends and carers. If we don’t have the information you require, we will help you find it.

Community Networks--We are linked into our local networks and have established strong and supportive working relationships with other services. We are connected to a broad range of programs, supports and information.

A National Network --We offer a range of one-on-one and group support programs for you, your family members, friends and carers across Australia. If we can’t assist you on-site at one of our locations, we will connect you with someone who can.

Personalised Referral -- We will refer you to the services and supports that best meet your needs. This may be a program we offer or it may be provided by someone else. We will support you to find the best fit for you.

For further information go to the MiNetworks website http://www.minetworks.org.au/ or call 1800 985 944

Living Proof – Positive Stories of Mental Illness Mental Illness Fellowship NQ Inc MIFNQ-Cairns Mental Health Carers’ Support Hub MIFNQ-Day To Day Living MIFNQInc @CairnsCarersHub @MIFNQ @LivingProof @Roads2Recovery MIFNQInc

www.mifnq.org.au Townsville has an extensive collection of books, DVD’s, CDs, VHS and cassettes for members to borrow. Feel free to come in and browse around.

Library Hours: Monday – Friday 9:00am to 4:00pm

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OFFICIAL USE ONLY

MEMBERSHIP APPLICATION FORM

Received: ___________________

Membership No: ___________ Entered: ____________________ Initials: _____________________

I would like to become a member of Mental Illness Fellowship NQ Inc. Membership is free.

 Individual

 Family

 Organization

Please select the category/categories which relate to you:

 Family Member  Friend  Health Professional  Student

 Someone who experiences mental illness  Other _____________________________

What Program/s are you currently enrolled in (if any):

 Day to Day Living  Early Psychosis  Mental Illness Education

 MH First Aid  Respite  Well Ways

DONATIONS AND REQUESTS I wish to support the work of MIFNQ, I have enclosed a donation of:

 $100  $50  $25  Other ____________________________________  Please contact me about a regular contribution  I wish to donate in other ways…. __________________________________________________  Please contact me with information about helping the Fellowship through my Will YOUR DETAILS Name: .......................................................................................................................................................................

Address: ................................................................................................................................................................... ..................................................................................................................................................................................

Phone Home: .................................................

Work: .....................................................................................

Fax: .................................................................

Mobile: ...................................................................................

Email: .......................................................................................................................................................................

Email Consent (please sign) ........................................................................................................................................

(This consent allows MIFNQ to contact you via electronic media)

Image Consent (please sign) .......................................................................................................................................

(This consent allows MIFNQ to use your image on print and/or electronic media)

On completion return to:

Email: townsville@mifnq.org.au

Fax: (07) 4725 3819

Post: REPLY PAID 979 Membership Administration Mental Illness Fellowship NQ Inc PO Box 979 HYDE PARK QLD 4812