whw news
MENTAL
&
wellbeing SOCIAL connectedness EDITION
EDITION 2 • 2010
equal pay RALLY p.9
WHW workers gather at the rally for equal pay on 10 June 2010
A word from the ceo
W
elcome to the second edition of WHW News for 2010. This edition focuses on our priority area of mental wellbeing and social connectedness. While it is quite a mouthful, we wanted a title that reflected the importance of wellbeing and social connections to women’s ongoing mental health. You will find a number of articles in this edition that are specifically marked to underline our work in this area. As our Health Promotion Manager, Lynda Memery’s, article on page 4 relates, eight staff and board directors from WHW attended the Australian Women’s Health Conference in Tasmania in May. This inspiring and superbly organised conference reinforced the importance of women’s health services’ strong focus on the social determinants of health to reorient health services to the factors that cause and maintain women’s ill health. This is all the more important in the face of federal health reforms that focus on increasing access to general practitioners and hospital beds. As one conference paper outlined, women end up in hospital, or at the doctor, because of social conditions that include poverty, isolation, family violence, appalling Indigenous health, and so on. What is the point of having state of the art health services that simply patch women up and send them back to the conditions that caused their illness or injury in the first place? Our prevention efforts must go beyond obesity, cigarette smoking and heart disease, to tackle the ‘causes of the causes’ of ill health, as health promotion expert Sir Michael Marmot says. For example, cigarette smoking causes cancer – but what causes
inside:
Dr Robyn Gregory
smoking? Why is it that it is mostly poor and PHOTO Vicky disenfranchised people that continue to smoke despite our knowledge of its dangers? WHW, along with many other services, are continuing to advocate for a strong women’s health platform in the lead up to the state election – and are equally focused on advocating for primary prevention, gender and health equity in the federal health reform process. One of our health promotion workers, Erin Richardson, outlines the work being undertaken in the western region to prevent violence against women, on page 8. Julie Kun from the ASU explains the pay equity campaign on page 9 and outlines actions you can take to support the 2010 equal pay case to challenge the long-standing devaluing of ‘women’s work’ in the health and community services sector. You can also see photos of our staff at the recent rally – including health promotion worker Lucy Forwood in a fabulous red wig! On pages 10-11 health promotion worker, Sally Camilleri, challenges us to examine our own attitudes and behaviours that may contribute to racism, which in turn can cause a range of health problems including stress and depression, leading to heart problems, smoking or obesity. Jeanette Large, CEO of the Victorian Women’s Housing Association, points out the equal importance of long term, safe and affordable housing to women’s sense of health and wellbeing, confidence, and connections with family, friends and community. She advocates on page 6 for increased investment in social housing for women and their children. The importance of social connections to recovery from trauma is highlighted in a page 7 article by one of our children’s counsellors,
Continued p.2
women’s health west – equity and justice for women in the west
Young women, leadership and friendship p.12 The April 2010 program inspired seven young women to become leaders in their communities
Unmasking children’s feelings p.7 Children who have experienced family violence explore feelings and identity in our art therapy group
Healthy African Women p.14 Order your new brochure for African women available in Arabic, Amharic, Somali and Tigrigna