By Ian Hickie Launching the Coalition’s policy for Efficient Mental Health Research and Services late last week, Tony Abbott said he wished all his policy statements attracted such media attention. Given the Australian community’s demonstrated engagement with mental health, it’s more surprising that we’ve heard so little about it in this election campaign. Abbott’s commitment…
By Anthony Jorm, University of Melbourne Despite two decades of investment in improving mental health services, the mental health of Australians has not improved. This may be because haven’t been spending money on the right approach and need to place greater emphasis on prevention. In 1997, Australia had its first National Survey of Mental Health…
Australian Federal Police (AFP) Deputy Commissioner Andrew Colvin and South Australia Police Deputy Commissioner Grant Stevens have launched National Missing Persons Week in Adelaide this week. This year the campaign will focus primarily on people living with a mental illness as one of the key groups at risk of going missing. Deputy Commissioner Colvin said…
This guest post is by Australia Counselling member Sarah Wayland Every year in Australia 35000 missing persons reports are made about the safety and wellbeing of an individual. More than 95% will be located (or return of their own volition) within a month but the loss experienced by those left behind can be difficult to…
Mental ill health is one of the major obstacles to a productive and rewarding working life. So a landmark alliance is being formed to help create mentally healthy Australian workplaces. The Mentally Healthy Workplace Alliance is a collaborative partnership between business, the mental health sector and government, and was officially launched by the National Mental…
Mental health first aid can be considered a ground breaking public education program. This program can help ordinary individuals with proper training to identify, understand, and respond to signs of ill mental health. Mental health first aid can be considered simply as extension of general first aid. The concept of first aid encompasses the assistance…
A new study conducted by the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and the Naval Health Research Centre published in the July, 2013 issue of the journal SLEEP showed that military personnel who suffered from insomnia prior to deployment had a much greater chance of returning home with post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), anxiety…
Between 2001 and 2010, there were 996 suicide deaths registered across Australia where the deceased person was identified as Aboriginal in origin. Suicides accounted for 4.2% of all registered deaths of people identified as Aboriginal in 2010 when compared with 1.6% for all Australians. With the suicide rate of the indigenous community soaring to a height of…
The importance of mental wellness is widely ignored. This can be gauged by the fact that although it is professionally acceptable to call in sick when you are physically ill, there is no concept of taking a day off for the sake of mental wellness. This ignorance may seem astonishing when compared with the fact…
Acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) is a kind of behavioural therapy that uses mindfulness to develop psychological flexibility, which further helps direct value-guided behaviour. Through metaphor, paradox, and experiential exercises clients are taught to make healthy contact with thoughts, feelings, memories, and sensations that they might fear and avoid. Clients develop skills to recontextualise and accept…
