ANNUAL BUNNINGS SAUSAGE SIZZLE!

On Saturday 22nd September ADAVIC will be holding its Annual Bunnings Sausage Sizzle Fundraiser at the Hawthorn Bunnings Store (230 Burwood Road, Hawthorn). If you are in the area and have some free time, come along and meet the gang from ADAVIC and buy one of our yummy snags that Frank, our awesome chef, will be serving up and meet some of our fabulous volunteers. We will be at Bunnings from 9.00 am to 4.00 pm – so try and drop in to support our cause!

 

 

SOCIAL ANXIETY IN A CONNECTED WORLD - RESEARCH PARTICIPANTS NEEDED

 Do you use Twitter, Facebook, email or the tonne of other social media channels but experience anxiety symptoms? Participate in study research for Swinburne Uni! Study participants needed for study of social anxiety related to online communication.

ONLINE DEPRESSION THERAPY PARTICIPANTS SOUGHT

An RMIT University study is looking for participants to help test an online group therapy program to treat depression.

MoodGroup is an online program created by doctoral student Kerry Arrow that aims to make it easier for adults suffering depression to seek help.

Around one million Australian adults live with depression each year, but fewer than half will seek medical treatment.

Although online one-on-one therapy programs exist, this study represents the first time structured group therapy for depression has been conducted via the internet.

Ms Arrow said the online program aimed to decrease depression and increase quality of life for participants.

"Social isolation can have a big impact on people suffering depression," she said.
"By encouraging participants to talk about their experiences with their peers, we can re-engage them with the community and reduce their isolation."

Ms Arrow said online interventions could promote access to psychological care in rural and remote regions, with those based in cities almost twice as likely to access care as those in remote areas.

She is looking to recruit Australian-based adults suffering depression to take part in a nine-week trial of the MoodGroup program.

Participants will be required to meet online for two hours each week and complete homework tasks lasting around two hours.

Discussion groups will include eight participants and will be monitored by provisional clinical psychologists.

To take part in the study, participants will need to have access to the internet and complete an online survey to determine suitability.

Anyone interested in contributing to this study can find out more by visiting the MoodGroup program web page or by calling (03) 9925 7776.

The project is supervised by Associate Professor Andrea Chester and Dr Keong Yap.
 
For interviews: Kerry Arrow, 0452 466 448.
For general media enquiries: Alan Gill, RMIT Science, Engineering and Health Communications, (03) 9925 9772 or 0419 591 102.

(source) 

PARENTING CHALLENGING TEENS - FREE SEMINAR

Free seminar run by Deakin University Psychology: Parenting Challenging Teens

 Thursday September 20th, 5:30pm-7pm

See the flyer for more info!

AN INTERIVEW WITH TREVOR HAZELL

Great and interesting interview with Trevor Hazell, director of the Hunter Institute of Mental Health from the crikey blog
 
Q and A with Trevor Hazell
 
Q. What have been the most important developments in mental health over your career – whether specific programs or policy initiatives, or developments in treatment, or changes at a community level?

A. Definitely it is the Commonwealth Government getting involved in directly changing the service delivery system.  It has helped enormously to provide better access to services, particularly for those with the high-prevalence types of mental illness.  This target group was really missing out under the old system.  By having national policy approaches we have more equitable access now than ever before.

Q. What have been the biggest disappointments in mental health over that time?

A. The tertiary level of mental health service provision remains relatively underfunded.  One of the consequences of this is that the services have little capacity to be innovative and to try more flexible models of treatment.  Consequently we are seeing little reform in these services.

Q. There is often a tension between whether we should focus more on promotion/prevention or more on treatment services or more on the broader needs of people with mental illness (eg employment, housing, social inclusion etc). Do you think we have the balance right? If not, how do we need to rebalance?

A. Not at all.  We have done well in primary and secondary care but to some extent this has been at the expense of promotion and prevention.  The current mental health plan was written “for those who have a mental illness and those who care for them”.  There is no vision that we might one day prevent cases of mental illness.  There is scant and limited attention to the promotion of mental health.
If we want to promote mental health and prevent mental illness, we truly need cross-portfolio leadership from the Prime Minister and from Premiers because the determinants of good mental health are influenced by all aspects of society and community life.  The activity for promotion and prevention is mostly outside of the health portfolio.
It would be good to start with a Vision in the National Mental Health Plan.  It would be good to broaden the mandate of the Mental Health Commission.  It would be good to have a National Plan for Good Mental Health for all Australians.


Q. Which of your many professional achievements do you think has made the most impact – and why?

A. The Hunter Institute has gone from a small band to a large orchestra.  As a whole, the Institute is now making a significant contribution in a range of innovative areas.  I think I am good at leading a team of people, to getting them working in the same direction and caring about the outcomes of what they do, and then building their capacity to do their work well.  But of course I have been fortunate to be able to recruit people with great skill, integrity and professionalism.

Q. What difference do you think social media and other online tools are making to mental health – both positive and negative?

A. I think social media is fantastic for many people who have a mental illness.  Take someone who has a severe anxiety disorder.  Their biggest risk is that they will become cut off from family, friends etc.  Social media presents a very safe way for such people to keep up to date with what is happening to family and friends.  Even if their only interaction is to press ‘Like’ on a Facebook page, they are maintaining connection which may be very useful for them as they recover from their illness.
Negatively, I think there is a lot of scope for the spreading of socially negative and unhelpful material (untruthful, misogynistic, racial etc) which would not formerly have had much currency.

Q. If there was one thing you would like to see change/happen in mental health, what would it be?

A. We know that mental ill-health is really common. Yet when people experience mental illness they feel isolated, and to some extent they tend to isolate themselves.  While it might be good to for people to withdraw somewhat and to attend to their healing and recovery, they should feel that they are understood and supported while they do this.
Instead, we hide our periods of mental illness and in doing so we deprive ourselves of the support of others.
Our current goal is to stop people from discriminating against those who experience mental illness.  One day I’d hope that we can mobilise the community more positively to provide mutual support during our episodes of mental ill-health.

Q. The mental health sector gives the impression of being quite fractured and divided. What might help to create a more unified sector? Or do you think the sector works well as it is?

A. No it definitely does not.  There are many divisions and competitions.  One part of the problem is the term ‘mental illness’.  We lump together all forms of diagnosable disorders under a single term.  We don’t do this with physical illness.  We don’t send people to’ physical health services’.
If we lumped all the physical illnesses together and expected to see all the stakeholders united and harmonious I doubt the picture would look much better.
The scarcity of money is another problem this increases the competition between advocates of different disorders, or between youth services and adult services.

Q.  You have been open in talking about your own experience with anxiety and depression, and about not recognising the signs when they developed five years ago. What did you learn out of this experience, and what role do you think personal experience has in advocacy? What reaction have you had from colleagues and others?

A. In retrospect, despite many positive aspects to my family and school life, I can see many early signs that I was an over-anxious child and adolescent.  I came to accept certain ways of thinking and feeling as ‘just the way I am’.  I often felt miserable, and was frequently in a bad mood.
Now of course, as a young person I would not have been able to have access to modern medications and psychological therapies.  So what I have learned is that now that we have effective ways of treating these types of symptoms, we need to really encourage young people to recognise them and to know that they don’t have to put up with them. They don’t just have to accept them.
I don’t advocate because I have personal experience but I do think that my personal experience probably makes me a more authentic advocate.
I have had only positive reactions when I have disclosed my illness and treatment.

Q. Your staff say that you are known for your personal commitment to building a mentally healthy workplace. What have you learnt along the way – what worked and what didn’t? Any concrete advice for other organisations/employers about how to build and sustain a mentally healthy workplace?

A. I think the main thing is mutual respect.  Now we used to think about respect in a hierarchical way.  The boss was supposed to ‘command’ respect whereas new employees had to ‘earn’ it.  This doesn’t really work if you want to build a team.  In mental health we want to build self-esteem and self-respect.  The best way to do this is for each individual to give respect to each other.
We define respect as ‘treating each other with care and consideration as another human being’.  This is a behavioural definition and it is a lot easier to achieve than other definitions of respect such as “positive esteem”.

Q. A Senate Inquiry into the social determinants of health has been announced. What is the main message you would like to give that inquiry?

A. In the long view, we have to create the conditions for a greater proportion of the population to have a safe, healthy childhood, free from abuse, growing up in family environments and having access to child care and educational services that build the foundations of mature emotional and social development.
If we can get a greater proportion of children through to their adolescence with greater strengths and fewer risk factors, we can hope for a more mentally healthy adult population in the future.

Q. What is the question I haven’t asked that you wished I had?

A. “What is the biggest influence on my mental health?”
To this there are three answers.
The first is obvious – the people close to and around me (and my dogs).
The second is work.  If I hadn’t faced up to my mental illness I would have had to leave work and that would have been disastrous for me.  No matter how hard, work is so good for me.
The third answer is the Newcastle Knights.  They give me reason to hope for better days ahead.


for more of the interview please head to : 

http://blogs.crikey.com.au/croakey/2012/08/31/what-does-it-take-to-improve-mental-health-some-insights-from-three-voices-of-experience/

***

ANXIETY ADVICE

Can a healthy diet help anxiety? Considering the known benefits of keeping a healthy diet, it may well just be worth a try. 

Start from outside, they say, with a little bit of exercise. According to Natural News:

"Regular exercise can also decrease the production of stress hormones and therefore help to better manage stressful situations. Reducing stress through exercise can give one a sense of well being and confidence. The more stress is reduced; the easier it becomes to cope with and eliminate stress."

Then work your way to the inside, with your diet. 

Sometimes when you're anxious or stressed healthy food is the last thing on your mind. You're thinking about chocolate and fries and deep-fried foods, the very last thing on your mind is fruit, vegetables or par-boiled meats. The thing is, however, that these more sensible foods are just that, and a wonder for managing your anxiety. While that block of chocolate may provide a fix, it is a quick and temporary fix, and you're definitely looking for something long term.
 

This delicious Greek Salad by Nigella is perfect 

(picture and recipe from nigella.com)

 

 Ingredients

• 1 Red Onion
• 1 Tablespoon Oregano (dried)
• 1 A pinch of black pepper
• 1 Tablespoon Red wine vinegar
• 200 Millilitres Extra virgin olive oil
• 5 Medium tomato
• 1 Teaspoon caster sugar
• 1 A pinch of Maldon salt
• 1 Large Cos lettuce
• 1 Fennel
• 125 Grams black olives pitted
• 400 Grams Feta cheese
• 1 Lemon juice

Method

1. Peel and finely slice the red onion then sprinkle over the oregano and grind over some pepper.
2. Pour in the vinegar and oil and toss well, cover with clingfilm and leave to steep for a good 2 hours; longer's fine. What you'll notice, once it's had its time, as well, is that the blooded crimson of the onion is somehow now a luminescent puce. It's a science thing, something to do with the acid in the vinegar: don't ask. You don't need to be fully conversant with the technicalities to be able to take advantage of them. That's to say, I often use this trick in other ways. An otherwise overwhelmingly brown slab of meat can be immediately lifted (in looks and taste) by being covered with some red onions, cut into wedges of 8 or so, and then fried in olive oil, to which, once softened, you add the juice of a lemon.
3. On top of the lemony pink onions add some sprinkled Maldon salt and a generous amount of summer-green chopped parsley. Or make a quick sauce for pasta (this should be enough for a 500g packet of spaghetti) by cutting a red onion into very fine half-moons (ie, cut the onion in half and then slice each half as finely as you can), frying it in olive oil, spritzing in the juice of half a lemon, as before, and then tossing this, along with 200g tuna cut into thin little rags, into the cooked drained spaghetti; the heat of the pasta will cook the raw tuna plenty.
4. Add seasoning to taste, and some extra virgin olive oil as you like, and a goodish amount of chopped fresh parsley (again). But these are just suggestions: the pink onion technique can be drawn on in whatever way pleases you.
5. But to return to the case in hand: when you want to eat, get started with the rest of the salad. Cut the tomatoes into quarters, then cut each quarter into quarters (always lengthwise) again, so that you have a collection of very fine segments (rather than chunks). Sprinkle the sugar and a pinch of salt over them and leave while you get on with the rest.
6. Wash the lettuce if you need to (I always try and get away with not) tear into big pieces and put into a large, wide salad bowl.
7. Slice the fennel and add that, then the olives and the feta, cut or crumbled into rough chunks, and toss well.
8. Now add the tomatoes, the red onion - now lucidly pink - in its marinade-dressing and the lemon juice. Toss gently, but thoroughly, so that everything is well combined. This is addictive: you will find yourself making it all through summer - and beyond.
9. Additional information - for vegetarians make sure the feta is one that uses vegetarian rennet. 

RESEARCH ASSISTANCE!

 Cognitive predictors of panic related symptoms in a non-clinical sample.

Deakin University is conducting research to examine factors associated with the development of panic symptoms and coping strategies people use to deal with these symptoms. Research shows that anxiety sensitivity (fear about the consequences of anxiety-related symptoms) plays an important role in the development of panic attacks and is also related to the development of panic disorder. Many people experience panic symptoms or panic attacks but do not develop panic disorder. Therefore, it is important to gain a better understanding of the factors that are related to high levels of anxiety sensitivity. This is likely to provide information about factors that may increase the risk of developing panic attacks or panic disorder.

The research is being conducted by Dr Ciaran Pier and Urszula Bobrowski as part of her Honours in Psychology research project. We are looking for anyone aged 18 and over to complete an anonymous online questionnaire which takes approx. 15-30 minutes. These questionnaires are designed to assess your experiences of anxiety and panic, your interpretation of panic symptoms, and your coping strategies for dealing with anxiety. The study has ethical approval from Deakin University's Human Research Ethics Committee (project ID: 2012-121). Participation is completely voluntary.

You can learn more about the survey by reading the plain language statement by clicking on the link below. If you are interested in participating you can begin the questionnaire.

http://www.deakin.edu.au/psychology/research/urszulabobrowski

For any further information please contact Urszula: ujb@deakin.edu.au.

Thank you, your time is greatly appreciated.

Yours sincerely, 
Dr Ciaran Pier and Urszula Bobrowski