PIR News Dec 2014 Ho Ho Hum Christmas is meant to be a time of joy and happiness, but not everyone feels happy during the festive season. Those experiencing mental illness can often find this time of year harder to bear. Often, things like family tensions, excessive alcohol consumption, poor nutrition, loneliness, isolation, and money worries, can come to the fore and make people feel worse at Christmas. When just functioning is a struggle, the pressure to attend parties and catch up with family and friends can be hard. Who to reach out to if you are feeling low at Christmas: Prepare yourself for challenging times over Christmas. What you see on TV and in the movies is not realistic and is not real life. Make plans and set boundaries, whether this is on the money you spend, the tasks you take on, or the parties you attend whatever helps reduces the stress you face during the silly season. Don t isolate yourself from the people who care about you, even if the last thing you feel like doing is socialising. Reach out to others who may need your support and kindness over Christmas. Be kind to yourself. Eat well, exercise and relax every day, and limit your alcohol consumption. Do nice things for yourself, not just for everyone else. Remember you re not alone over the holidays, and there is always someone to talk to and help you. Beyondblue 1300 22 46 36 Lifeline 13 11 14 24-hour Specialist Mental Health Care 1300 MH CALL (1300 64 22 55) In an emergency call 000
PIR Flexible Funding Process Capacity Building Projects to be Funded Partners in Recovery first round of Capacity Building projects have been approved and will begin in 2015. These projects will start to address some of the gaps identified in the system mapping undertaken earlier this year. Wesley Mission Brisbane LGBTIQ people (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex, queer/questioning) are significantly overrepresented in negative health outcomes including suicidal behaviours, mental health (including anxiety and depression), alcohol and other drug use, and stress related physical illness. This project will look to establish a sustainable LGBTIQ Mental Health Professionals Network (MHPN) for the Gold Coast and provide LGBTIQ support services to hospitals, mental health facilities, family and community programs, domestic violence, sexual assault programs, community groups and aged care facilities. Mental health workers will increase skills and confidence to reflect on practice, provide case studies for discussion and share practice beyond the period of the funding. Enlightened Consultants Mental health services are undergoing significant reform in relation to structure, services and approaches to service delivery - in particular seamless service provisions that are accessible, flexible and responsive strengths, resilience and capacity to grow and change. Under this project, the Recovery Oriented Systemic Transformation (ROST) workshop series will be offered to up to 35 participants from all sectors who regularly engage with people who experience mental illness including key staff, management, board members and consumers and carer leaders, to build their capacity to apply the concepts of recovery and recovery oriented transformation to their personal, work and organisational lives. As a result of the project, program participants should be able to demonstrate a greater awareness and application of the processes and elements required to support people to reclaim a life beyond the impacts of mental illness. An important component of this project will include knowledge sharing to the broader community through two forums utilising a World Café style approach providing opportunities for people to discuss, share and collaborate around recovery oriented service transformation. The Pharmacy Guild of Australia This project will address difficulties in communication, lack of knowledge about mental illness and inadequate mental health education which can be barriers to pharmacists and pharmacy staff providing mental health care and referral pathway knowledge to consumers. It aims to enable community pharmacies to provide enhanced assistance to consumers with complex mental health needs. By increasing pharmacy staff awareness of mental health support services to assist with connecting people to supports and increasing mental health staff awareness of the professional services pharmacies this project will optimise lifestyle and medication management services for clients utilising mental health support services. To help reduce stigma and create a supportive environment for individuals with lived experience of mental illness through increased access to mental health training to enhance mental health skills of pharmacy staff. Building effective relationships between pharmacies and mental health support services to foster sustainability and greater coordination of supports. Continued next page
PIR Flexible Funding Process Marumali Consultations People with mental health issues from marginalised groups such as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders, drug and alcohol addiction, and culturally and diverse communities often have conditions considered too severe for eligibility for assistance through Better Access or Access to Allied Psychological Services (ATAPS) or not being considered complex enough to access services through acute care. The Positive Principles Therapy (PPT) project will develop and improve the capacity of mainstream local organisations to respond to diverse needs of these people and improve access to PPT through local mental health services, particularly for those waiting to access rehabilitation services. This project will train 4 facilitators in PPT and mentor these facilitator program) with a total of 20 participants. Participants of these groups would be those who currently cannot access Recent counselling Events services to help improve access to people in need. City of Gold Coast Libraries are the very heart of the communities they serve, allowing a wide range of opportunities for community participation and social inclusion. -help book collection and to conduct two mental health wellbeing workshops per month this project will provide an opportunity for the general community to gain knowledge and a better understanding of mental illness and to how to better support a person with a mental illness. Library Services would be working in partnership with Gold Coast Mental Health & AODS Division in the promotion of this project as well as general practitioners and other mental health professionals. Resources to workers and broader community services to assist with linking consumers to these supports for positive mental health. For more information on these projects please check out the PIR website www.pirgoldcoast.com.au or email pir@gcml.com.au Activate your voice Do you want to help shift how people living with mental illness are perceived? Do you want to support a culture of thriving on the Gold Coast? If so, come along and participate in a workshop to help shape messages that will challenge stigma and strengthen inclusion for people living with mental illness. We will also use this workshop as an opportunity to find out how Partners In Recovery can support you to further activate your voice in working towards a more inclusive culture that supports everyone to thrive on the Gold Coast. Friday 16 th January 2015 9am-12pm Mental Health Association Unit 30, 3-15 Jackman Street, Southport Qld 4215 Cost & RSVP: There is no cost to attend, but you need to book a spot by email pir@gcml.com.au or phone (07) 5612 5450 by Monday 11 th January 2015
Giving people a voice through Voicebox An innovative program offering training in advocacy and peer research has empowered a group of Gold Coast residents to help drive improvements in access to health and community services. The Voicebox project, has seen people with a lived experience of mental illness and/or disability attend a series of workshops to improve skills in advocacy, peer research, presentation, public speaking, project management and creative documentation. Funding was provided by Partners in Recovery and Gold Coast Medicare Local and delivered by Human Ventures in partnership with FSG Australia. Participant, Sandra, did three projects through videos and poetry with a strong message for children that they are OK exactly as they are, no matter what the differences. She was also very passionate about raising that you can get out of the maze that is mental health, that you need to keep trying different doors back, and you will come back to where you are supposed to be. Everyone is different and different things Participant Angela, has created a video that showed the importance of widespread consultation particularly w skills during this project and had a lot of fun with others in the group. The atmosphere was really accepting and I enjoyed Melissa Latimer, who spoke at the Voicebox launch, said it was an important stepping stone towards greater Sami completed a video raising awareness of people who are both mentally ill and also have drug problems. She also completed a picture called the internal scream, to highlight her previous challenges. instrumental for me to keep my anxiety and depression under control but I also hope that by sharing my Check out Voicebox videos and stories at www.pirgoldcoast.com.au/event/
My Story By URSULA ADAMS, AFTERCARE Up until recently Jo was defined by the titles of depression, borderline personality and other mental health mental illness to define her, felt little purpose in her life or know who she was. Through researching, Jo and her mum stumbled across life coaching. In the past Jo had tried psychologists, psychiatrists, hypnotherapy, DBT, and had suggested a life coach as an alternative approach. Jo describes the first session with her life coach as unexplainable, she felt at ease and comfortable in his presence. Jo has found it hard to put into words what it is that she has experienced in the sessions. The outcome after only a couple of visits is that her day without a million emotions controlling her every thought. Jo describes leaving the sessions feeling euphoric and walks out with a smile on her face. The feelings Jo has experienced is being able to deal with the stressors of her so called dysfunctional family as a responsible mother rather than an angry adult and having the witch come out. As a facilitator I had the pleasure o s sessions and found there was a genuine connection between them. I found his session was positive and uplifting in helping Jo with her desire to step away from the illness saturated elements she has been long associated with in her past. future is much more positive, and it is has given her the ability to commit to starting her Enrolled Nursing course in 2015. Jo has come a long way in her recovery and has outstanding strength which will see her succeed and achieve whatever goals she puts her mind to. Here 31 November 2014 against targets: Note re changes to reported data. Data cleaning has resulted in adjustment to referral numbers. Originally all enquiries were included in referrals, however the data has now been cleaned back to July 1 so that only referrals are included. Contact pir@gcml.com.au or 1300 130 339 if you would like to arrange a PIR in-service at your workplace.
Helensvale Carer and Consumer Forum The recent Carer and Consumer forum was held in Helensvale. The event was developed by FSG Australia and Partners In Recovery, in consultation with a couple of Intentional Peer Support Workers. Organisers wanted to take a different approach to this forum, to ensure it was a relaxed, casual and inviting space for people to feel safe and comfortable to voice their thoughts and opinions. Gold Coast City Councillor Bob LaCastra opened the event sharing his personal experiences with mental illness with family members and friends, and how mental health affects most people at some point in their life. More than 25 carers and consumers attended the night, participating in four game stations that each had a mental health focus. This provided an opportunity for people to speak about experiences they have had, and how things could be improved, as well as what is working well currently. There and thoughts. Event organisers received a lot of positive feedback about the night: most was the casual, but effective, warm, and welcoming format. My husband & I have been carers of our son since his first presentation in 1995 and it s been quite a journey for us all. I was so glad to be there at his request. It s the sort of thing I used to spend a lot of my time talking him into attending with me and attending on my own with disappointed, guilty feelings. I have not been to such events for some years now since he developed some autonomy and/or we developed some acceptance. I was very much impressed with the marvellous improvement in service delivery since our good/bad old days. Keep up the good work!!! Season's Greetings and Best Wishes for the New Year Contact us: us, please get in contact: P: 1300 130 339 E: pir@gcml.com.au The PIR Intake Line is open: Monday-Thursday 9am-7pm, Friday 9am-4pm. Individuals are welcome to call PIR directly. Services, carers and family members should seek the consent of the individual before calling regarding their involvement in the PIR program. PIR does not offer a crisis response. For 24 hour specialist mental health care advice and crisis support call Gold Coast Health 1300 64 2255. Call Triple Zero (000) in an emergency. PIR is a Federally funded program.