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October 2017

WAAMH eNews Update

In this issue

MESSAGE FROM ROD ASTBURY
Notice of WAAMH Annual General Meeting
 
MENTAL HEALTH PROMOTION
2017 Mental Health Week
 
With special thanks to the 2017 Mental Health Week Sponsors
2018 Wellbeing Calendar now available (and makes a great Xmas present!)
One-stop-shop for digital mental health resources
Funding for mental health prevention in construction industry
WAAMH's support for 'Yes' vote
Online resources to engage carers of people living with mental illness
 
ADVOCACY & REPRESENTATION
Ten-Year Mental Health Plan update
Sustainable Health Review
National Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Plan released
NDS Industry Plan released
Youth-friendly mental health service relaunched
New report: Bringing the NDIS to people living in psychiatric hostels
MHC Annual Report released
 
CONSULTATION OPPORTUNITIES
Consultation opportunities
Integrated Care Project
Community of Peers Project
 
SECTOR DEVELOPMENT & TRAINING
WA Tenancy Conference, 27-29 November
Home Truths: An evening with Michael Leunig
Consumer and carer reviewers of mental health services
SHINE: Mental Health e-learning induction package
Borderline Personality Disorder Conference
Recovery Stories Workshop
WAAMH training - Nov/Dec

MESSAGE FROM ROD ASTBURY

The 50th anniversary of Mental Health Week in WA set new records for community engagement through events held, community groups involved and social media contacts made. Nowhere was this more evident than in regional and rural WA which responded brilliantly to the opportunity to give the week a regional focus. The groundswell of attention to mental wellbeing grows year on year and is a tribute to decades of hard work by the sector.

There was further evidence of this momentum at the 7th National Borderline Personality Disorder Awareness Conference which WAAMH co-hosted with the National BPD Foundation in Perth on 18th October with real signs of progress in changing attitudes to this often misunderstood and stigmatising condition.

After five years as CEO of WAAMH I have decided the time is right for me to move on and for someone else to take the association to the next stage of its development. It’s been a great pleasure leading WAAMH through a period of rapid change and growth and I’m sure the future is very bright. 

On a sadder note I want to express my sadness at the unexpected passing of national Mental Health Comissioner Jackie Crowe. Jackie was a fabulous advocate for mental health and a highlight speaker at The 2017 WA Mental Health Conference just a few months ago. Jackie will be sorely missed.

Notice of WAAMH Annual General Meeting

Date: Friday, 10 November
Time: 1pm-4pm
Venue: WAAMH,  Level 1, 1 Nash Street, Perth
CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFORMATION OR TO RSVP
For enquiries email membership@waamh.org.au.

Guest speaker Dr Amanda Stafford has been an Emergency Medicine Consultant at Royal Perth Hospital (RPH) since 2006. She works with emergency department frequent presenters for whom homelessness is one of the most common reasons for repeated presentations. A desire to improve RPH’s response to homelessness led to the RPH Homeless Team being established in June 2016. Dr Stafford is the Clinical Lead for this team and will discuss how joining up a hospital, a specialist homeless medicine GP practice and community services vastly improves the care of this marginalised and vulnerable cohort.

 

MENTAL HEALTH PROMOTION

2017 Mental Health Week

A sincere thank you to all our member organisations and supporters who helped the 50th anniversary of Mental Health Week to be such a success in raising awareness of mental health issues in the community and reducing stigma around them.

Some of our highlights included:

  • Over 120 events around WA, starting in Kalgoorlie and ending with the Stand Up! For Comedy fundraising event at the State Theatre
  • 33 groups funded to hold their event during the week via community grants, including 21 regional groups, thanks to Lotterywest
  • Social media engagement with over 100,000 people during Mental Health Week via facebook, Instagram and Twitter
  • Great coverage of the week by local and regional media

To see a few highlights, take a moment to visit the Flickr album for 2017 or check out the thousands of posts to #MHW2017 for some of the highlights.

As always, it takes a village to raise a Mental Health Week. Special thanks to all our sponsors and supporters below, as well as the Perth Theatre Trust Arts, the Arts and Mental Health Network, Perth College, parkrun WA, City of Perth and City of Kalgoorlie-Boulder. See you in 2018!

With special thanks to the 2017 Mental Health Week Sponsors

2018 Wellbeing Calendar now available (and makes a great Xmas present!)

CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE NOW
WAAMH is delighted to present the 2018 Wellbeing Calendar, a collection of 15 outstanding entries from the Embrace Nature Photography Exhibition held at the WA Mental Health Conference and Awards 2017 earlier this year. Entries were invited from the public and over 130 stunning entries celebrating the convergence between nature, creativity and wellbeing were received from all over WA.
WAAMH congratulates all the photographers who participated in this exhibition and thanks the exhibition sponsors Richmond Wellbeing and Southern Cross Care (WA) for their support of the project.

One-stop-shop for digital mental health resources

Check out the Federal Government's new digital mental health gateway, released at the start of Mental Health Week, at https://headtohealth.gov.au/ - a one-stop-shop for publicly-funded digital mental health resources in Australia. It includes free or low-cost apps, online support communities, online courses and phone services that are private and secure.

Funding for mental health prevention in construction industry

The WA Government recently announced $310,000 in funding to MATES in Construction to raise mental health awareness among construction and FIFO workers. The charity was established in 2008 to reduce the high level of suicide among construction workers, and provides support and assistance to people affected by suicide in the construction industry, including FIFO sites across Western Australia. CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE MEDIA STATEMENT. 

WAAMH's support for 'Yes' vote

In September, WAAMH's Board voted to support marriage equality for LGBTI people, as an issue of equity and human rights which addresses discrimination and promotes mental health. As such, we've promoted this on social media and encourage our membership to vote 'Yes'.

If you feel distressed over the debate (or have clients that are), there are a range of phone and online services available to support you:

  • QLife/Switchboard - counselling and referral service for LGBTQI people 1800 184 527
  • WA AIDS Council - in person, online chat & phone service 1800 671 130
  • www.livingproud.org.au - promotes wellbeing of LGBTQI people living in WA
  • Lifeline - 13 11 14
  • SANE Australia - 1800 187 263

Alternatively, WAAMH has an online service directory of WA community mental health services in your area.

Online resources to engage carers of people living with mental illness

The Private Mental Health Consumer Carer Network (Australia) Limited have been funded by Mind Australia to create a free online library, ‘Working with Families and Carers’, to support health practitioners to engage with families and carers of people living with a mental illness. This was created to support implementation of 'A Practical Guide for Engaging Carers of People with a Mental Illness' launched last year.
The online library provides free resources including research articles, fact sheets, online learning, reports, guides, tools and practical resources, and was launched at the International Carer's Conference on 5th October 2017. It is now available for anyone to access for free at http://www.workingwithfamiliesandcarers.com.au/.

 

ADVOCACY & REPRESENTATION

Ten-Year Mental Health Plan update

The Mental Health Commission (MHC) is reviewing its 10-year plan and will release a draft Plan Update for consultation at the end of 2017. They have stated that while the original Plan continued to be the primary reference for mental health and associated services development, the Plan Update will provide the latest modelling and population demographics to ensure ongoing responsiveness to emerging trends. As part of this process MHC has released ‘Key Achievements 2015-2017’ which demonstrates progress across most service types set out in the plan, but little growth in community supports. 
It’s essential the sector and people with lived experience contribute to this process – it’s an important opportunity to influence the implementation of the plan. WAAMH will make a submission to the draft Plan Update – watch this space to contribute your views!

Sustainable Health Review

WAAMH’s submission to this review is now available to view.
We also encourage other organisations to make their views known by participating in the review, by completing the online form or sending by email to SHR@health.wa.gov.au by 27 October.

National Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Plan released

The Commonwealth Department of Health has released its Fifth National Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Plan. VIEW THE PLAN HERE

NDS Industry Plan released

This plan was released at the NDS WA Conference held recently in Perth and details a snapshot of the key consultation findings, analysis of service capability, strategies for transition and a plan for implementation. VIEW THE PLAN HERE.

Youth-friendly mental health service relaunched

Young people experiencing early psychosis can continue to access youth-friendly mental health support services in Perth’s northern and eastern suburbs thanks to the relaunch of the headspace Youth Early Psychosis Program (hYEPP). Renewed federal funding of $9.5 million a year has allowed WA Primary Health Alliance (WAPHA) to re-engage Black Swan Health and Youth Focus to deliver the program which runs out of headspace centres in Joondalup, Midland and Osborne Park. Young people can be referred to the program by anyone, including their GP or another mental health professional, or by self-referral. For more information phone 08 9301 8999 or email hYEPPReferral@headspacejoondalup.com.au.

New report: Bringing the NDIS to people living in psychiatric hostels

The NDIS in Perth Hills has undertaken some excellent work to engage people living in psychiatric hostels, with WAAMH as part of the stakeholder reference committee. They have completed their report and it’s an important read that shows what can be achieved when taking a targeted approach, combined with specific psychosocial expertise. CLICK HERE TO VIEW REPORT NOW.

MHC Annual Report released

The WA MHC has released its 2016-17 Annual Report detailing key initiatives focused on prevention and increases in hospital and community bed-based services, and a focus on integrating mental health and AOD issues. The report provides the public with significant detail on how the MHC spends its mental health and AOD funding.

 

CONSULTATION OPPORTUNITIES

Consultation opportunities

The Australian National University is conducting a survey to investigate community priorities for research in mental health. To find out more or complete the survey, it can be accessed at https://anu.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_bxvfe1WyMJy811j.

Integrated Care Project

Richmond Wellbeing is running the Integrated Care Project to understand and improve people’s experience of care from alcohol and other drug and mental health services within their community. The results of consultation will inform the use of funding, either of new initiatives, or improvements to existing services. For more information and to take part CLICK HERE.

Community of Peers Project

Private Mental Health Consumer Carer Network (Australia) has formed a consortium with the National Mental Health Consumer and Carer Forum and the National Mental Health Commission to respond to the significant gap in Australia for a member-based peak body to bring the peer workforce together.

Peer workers bring their valuable lived experience and unique skills to the mental health workforce and can establish valuable connections to assist others in the recovery journey. Having a dedicated organisation or association to support mental health peer workers is the next vital step. They would like to consult with as many mental health peer workers as possible between now and late 2018. CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFORMATION. or visit the website

Register here to receive updates about the project and details of the upcoming consultations.

 

SECTOR DEVELOPMENT & TRAINING

WA Tenancy Conference, 27-29 November

Secure, affordable housing is the basic foundation we all need in our lives, before other issues can be addressed. Housing really is the first domino. Tenancy WA and WAAMH invite you to join individual tenants and sector professionals from across WA for the WA Tenancy Conference 2017, this year exploring a mental health theme. Delegates can join us for one, two or three days of the event and prices are heavily subsidised. Click here for full details and registrations or contact conference@waamh.org.au to enquire about the range of sponsorship opportunities available.

Tenants’ Day (Day One) and the Sector Conference Day (Day Two) are exclusively sponsored by Ruah Community Services.

Home Truths: An evening with Michael Leunig

Join beloved cartoonist and quirky social commentator Michael Leunig at 7pm on Saturday, 2 December for a night of heart-lifting entertainment, raising urgently needed funds for mental health and affordable housing services. Round up your friends and get your tickets now.

Consumer and carer reviewers of mental health services

The Office of the Chief Psychiatrist is currently recruiting people who will be paid to review the performance of mental health services by talking with staff and consumers and reviewing clinical records. Come and help make a difference to consumers, carers and clinicians by facilitating best practice! The role is open to professional staff, and consumers and carers with experience in peer support or representation work. CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFORMATION. Applications close 4pm on 10 November.

SHINE: Mental Health e-learning induction package

Shine is a recovery-oriented eLearning package designed to support induction into the mental health sector. This self-paced online educational resource is primarily for people entering the mental health sector or working with people who have a mental illness, but has also been found useful by tertiary students, consumers, carers and other health and community workers.

Developed in partnership between 10 leading WA mental health organisations, SHINE is the ideal low cost way to introduce key topics for new staff and help existing staff brush up on their knowledge.

The resource consists of 11 engaging modules which each take 20-30 minutes to complete. Topics covered include understanding recovery, person-centred care, inclusion, carers, working with Aboriginal people, youth mental health, peer work, AOD issues, national standards and more. CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFORMATION OR TO REGISTER NOW.

Borderline Personality Disorder Conference

WAAMH and the Australian BPD Foundation were proud to host the 7th National Borderline Personality Disorder Awareness Conference last week. It was a great success and offered delegates with both lived and professional experience the opportunity to come together and share their knowledge and practice to strengthen our wonderful sector.
In particular, it highlighted use of the National Health and Medical Research Council Clinical Practice Guidelines for the Management of Borderline Personality Disorder. Sincere thanks to our sponsors above, whose support enabled a successful conference.

Recovery Stories Workshop

Due to overwhelming demand, WAAMH will be running another 12-week Recovery Stories training workshop. This project is a great opportunity for participants with a lived experience to:

  • Build confidence and have fun
  • Develop communication and public speaking skills
  • Refine your own personal stories to suit audiences
  • Learn advanced storytelling and audience engagement skills
  • Discover ways to use your personal experiences to help others

CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFORMATION 

WAAMH training - Nov/Dec

BOOK HERE FOR WAAMH TRAINING AND WORKSHOPS

8 Nov 2017
Building Recovery Relationships

The effectiveness of mental health services is partly determined by the relationship between consumers and service providers and our ability to form recovery alliance. This engaging and stimulating course, invites mental health workers to dive deeper into recovery-oriented practice and walk alongside consumers and better support individual recovery journeys.

14 Nov 2017
Psychology of Persuasion

It takes more than facts to shift someone else’s thinking. This insightful course presents a psychologically informed approach to influential communications and introduces a suite of tools and techniques to enhance your information and communicate your message.

16 Nov 2017
Trauma Informed Care - BUNBURY

The majority of people treated by mental health and substance abuse services have trauma histories. This workshop will focus on how to become 'trauma informed' when working with people who have experienced trauma and or abuse in their life.

16 Nov 2017
National NDIS Mental Health Conference

Held over two days 16 & 17 November 2017 in Sydney, the NDIS Mental Health Conference is an opportunity for the Mental Health sector to work together to make the most of this new scheme.

23 Nov 2017
Introduction to Governance & Board Participation

This engaging and practical course is an essential introduction for any new or prospective board members, along with staff members wanting to better understand the governance role.

29 Nov 2017
Managing Depression and Anxiety - ALBANY

Anxiety and depression are serious but manageable conditions which effect one in two Australians over their lifetime. This accessible and revealing workshop explores the causes, types and symptoms of depression and provides evidence based information about the types of treatments available and where to get help. 

30 Nov 2017
Perinatal Mental Health

Mental wellbeing through conception, pregnancy and early parenting. This insightful workshop explores the factors which influence mental wellbeing in the perinatal period and what helps new families. A key focus of the training is the interdependence of parent wellbeing and infant mental health and how the attachment relationship can be protected when a parent is unwell.

5 Dec 2017
Understanding Psychosis

This practical and accessible workshop is designed to help mental health workers, and others who may have contact with people experiencing psychosis.

6 Dec 2017
Mental Health Communication

Whether you are a specialist service provider in the Mental Health Sector or someone dealing with the general public, a strong suite of communication skills for engaging with people experiencing mental health difficulties is essential.

19-20 Dec 2017
Mental Health First Aid - ALBANY

The two-day interactive course is designed to equip you with the skills and resources to recognise and respond appropriately to someone experiencing a mental health crisis, until professional help arrives.

WA Association for Mental Health

1 Nash Street Perth WA 6000

       

 

Tel 08 6246 3000
waamh.org.au
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