CSW Weekly Update
Carer Events, Newsletters, Reports & Articles
Happy Mental Health Month Everyone!!!
EVENTS
MHC ARAFMI NSW Inc
Sunday 16th November
Wellness Walk for Mental Health - Sponsor/ Donate or join the ARAFMI Team!
On Sunday the 16th November MHC ARAFMI NSW Inc. will be taking part in the Wellness Walk across the harbour
bridge to bring about awareness for Mental Illness & Stigma.
Many in our society do not understand mental illness and the associated stigma can prevent open discussion and
sharing of information. The more people learn about and understand mental illness, the more compassionate our
society will become and the better the lives will be of the people and their families affected by mental illness. Joining the
Wellness Walk will add your voice to the community discussion and community understanding. If you would like to
walk with the MHC ARAFMI team, please click here or if you would like to sponsor the team, please click here.
Time: Registration and Entertainment from 8am. Walk starts 10am
Location: Start/End - First Fleet Park, Circular Quay, Sydney
Route: The route is an easy 5km walk across the Sydney Harbour Bridge
Change.Org
Sign the petition "The Hon, (Mike) Michael Bruce Baird, MP: Release NSW Mental Health Strategic Plan" and
wanted to see if you could help by adding your name.
Our goal is to reach 100 signatures and we need more support. You can read more and sign the petition here.
Raising Our Voices
7th November 2014
RAISING OUR VOICES - Bridging the Divide to Culturally Appropriate Mental Health Care ACT Multicultural
Mental Health and Well-being Conference 2014
Spots are filling up fast for the Raising Our Voices – Bridging the Divide to Culturally Appropriate Mental Health Care
Conference is being held in Canberra on Friday 7th November. The Conference themes include advocacy, migration,
language needs, disability and mental health, youth and refugees, aged, gender-specific issues, domestic and family
violence, the arts and well-being, suicide prevention, recovery perspectives and the ‘lived experience’ and participation
for CaLD consumers and carers. The ACT Multicultural Mental Health Network (ACTMMHN), MI Fellowship ACT and
the Raising Our Voices (ROV) Conference Planning Group would like to extend a warm invitation to any person with an
interest in multicultural, migrant and refugee health and mental health to attend the conference. This is the inaugural
conference for the ACTMMHN and the first ever multicultural mental health and well-being conference to be held in the
ACT.
For more information, please click here.
REPORTS & ARTICLES
Mental Health Carers Arafmi (WA) & Mind Australia
MEDIA RELEASE -New Guide to Working With Mental health Carers
People who regularly and voluntarily care for someone with a mental illness spend an average of 104 hours per week in
their caring role, often with very little support.
To address this, a consortium of mental health organisations is developing a practical guide for working with carers of
people with a mental illness. The underlying principle will be that carers are equal partners in care.
Consortium members include:
·
Mental Health Carers Arafmi (WA) Inc
·
Mind Australia
·
Private Mental Health Consumer Carer Network Australia
·
Mental Health Australia
·
Mental Health Carers ARAFMI Australia
Please see attachment 1 for the complete media release.
NSW Health
The Wellbeing in Later Life resource is now publicly available on the NSW Health website, (click here).
This resource was launched successfully at the Four Ds Forum on October 10 and generated much interest.
Organisations are welcome to add the link to their websites. The Guide provides a snapshot of current and emerging
programs and activities that are available to older people in NSW. The ESPN wrote the guide primarily for mental
health clinicians; however it may be useful resource for older people themselves, their carers, families and services
such as community, hospital and residential aged care services, General Practitioners and Primary Health Networks.
The guide will be updated over time. If you know of programs to add to the guide, please let us know. The criteria for
inclusion are that the programs are specifically concerned with older people’s mental health and wellbeing and generally
available on a statewide basis.
Mental Health Commission of NSW
Support In Tough Times
A new report released today shows schools can improve the lives of students by recognising the important role of
friends in seeking adult help for young people with mental health problems.
Support in tough times: Encouraging young people to seek help for their friends was developed by the NSW
Commission for Children and Young People and the NSW Mental Health Commission.
To read the report, please follow the link Support in tough times report. We hope you find the report useful and
encourage you to share it with your colleagues and professional networks.
ABC - Mental As
Changing Minds - The Inside Story Series 1
We catching up with the patients we've met so far. Some have been released and have returned to normal life. Others
are still finding life challenging and may need to be re-admitted. To view this program, please click here.
Carers NSW
Main Report of the Carers NSW 2014 Carer Survey
The Main Report of the Carers NSW 2014 Carer Survey-It is a core part of our work at Carers NSW that we listen to
carers to continually enhance and grow our understanding of who carers are, and what issues, challenges and triumphs
they face. Carers NSW strives at all times to contribute to the public discourse, to strategically advocate, to support,
understand and ultimately to improve the lives of carers in NSW. This substantial piece of research will underpin our
planning, policy and advocacy work as we move forward in this time of enormous change for carers, and for the sector
as a whole. I would like to extend my thanks to the carers who completed this survey. We appreciate that this was the
longest survey we have undertaken, but through your combined efforts we have an incredibly rich and detailed story
and understanding of carers in NSW. I would like also to personally extend my thanks to the Carer Survey Reference
Committee, who have worked hard to ensure that we have a robust and rigorous survey that can be replicated in years
to come. Lastly I would like to thank the Carers NSW Senior Research Officer, Tim Broady, for his extensive work and
commitment to this project. This report makes a significant contribution to the knowledge base and understanding of
carers in NSW. I strongly encourage you to not only read it, but to use it to advocate for better outcomes for all carers.
Please see arafmi.org for the report.