www.tuneinnotout.com (TINO) provides 24 hr TV for life's challenges for young people aged 16-25 on topics that matter to them such as; mental health, sexual health, relationships, online safety, domestic violence, body image, alcohol and other drugs and education.

The website is designed to meet the needs of this hard to engage target audience by connecting their digital lives and utilising a range of multimedia formats including over 300 on-demand videos to provide fast, authentic and engaging content. The videos are supported by fact sheets, blogs, real stories and music.

TINO's wide ranging content and user friendly design provides a safe and private online space for you people to access and discuss topics that they may not feel comfortable talking to a parent or friend about.

The website even features a dedicated music room which showcases youth created music video playlists matching times and moods in a young persons life.

If you need another reason to visit the site and check it out, knowing that it is an Official Honouree in the International Webby Award and was named Australian and New Zealand information website of the year 2011 should convince you!

www.tuneinnotout.com.au have some free, funky promotional postcards that can be ordered for distribution throughout your community to help you inform young people about this resource.

email:crew@tuneinnotout.com

Dealing with Difficult Colleagues

This half day course uncovers common difficult behaviours in workplaces and relationships and gives participants helpful strategies to respond.

"I've had enough of him!"

"I can't work with her ANYMORE!"

are cries that are heard across many workplaces. Dealing with difficult behaviour can decrease productivity, diminish morale and increase staff turnover.

At the completion of this seminar participants will

• have an increased awareness and understanding of the common difficult behaviours that are reported in workplaces
• understand the role they (often unintentionally) play n perpetuating difficult behaviours
• learn how to avoid the common mistakes people make when responding to difficult behaviours
• learn key strategies that are proven to work in responding to and minimising difficult behaviours at work.

Presenter: Tasha Broomhall, Blooming Minds

Date: Wednesday 2nd May 2012

Time: 9:30am - 1pm

Venue: Enable South West, 104 Beach Rd, Bunbury

Cost: $155 inc GST for NDS members, $195 inc GST for non members (includes catering and materials)

Registration: www.nds.org.au/events, email pd@nds.org.au or call 9208 9876

The choir is essentially for the people who do not get a seat at the table of conventional society and who are bound together by a love of singing and a strong sense of community.

In their everyday lives, the members of the Spirits of the Streets choir experience social disadvantage, isolation and often stigma because of their circumstances - which may include either a mental, neurological, physical disability or homelessness.

The choir provides them with a non-discriminatory, non-judgmental, safe and nurturing environment where each individual feels acknowledged and valued. At the same time they are encouraged and inspired to see past the difficulties and disadvantage of their daily lives to achieve the very best they can as a member of the choir family.

The choir has provided tremendous support for its members, some of whom live very lonely and isolated lives. Many have commented that the choir is now their family. It has become a safe place to begin their journey back to the wider community. A major result is the growth of self-esteem and confidence in many individuals as they overcome obstacles such as anxiety and depression and participate.

Carers and volunteers who have an interest in supporting our members are also welcome.

The SOS choir rehears every Tuesday at St john's Lutheran Church Hall, 16 Aberdeen St, Northbridge. Rehearsals commences at 1:30pm with a cuppa. Singing starts at 2pm until 3:30pm.

SOS is self-funded, relying on performance fees (36 performances in 2011!) and donations. To sponsor the choir, or for more information, please contact the choir manager Ken Steele on 0419 042 397 or kensteele@dodo.com.au.

SOS is currently looking for new premises to rehears as St Johns is undergoing major renovations this year. If you think you may be able to help, please contact Irene on 0433 789 785 or email ilightenall@optusnet.com.au.

www.spiritofthestreetschoir.org.au

The first of these will be held on the 27th and 28th of February 2012.

This course has been customised to meet the needs of those working in the disability sector. Participants will be equipped with the knowledge and skills to recognise and respond to developing and ongoing mental health issues in their clients, in themselves and in their colleagues.

Presenter: Angi Leighton, Blooming Minds

Date: 27th and 28th of February 2012

Time: 9am - 4:30pm

Venue: NDS WA Board Room. Unit 1/59 Walters Drive, Osborne Park (parking available at the old IKEA site)

Cost: $355 NDS members, $445 non-members (includes catering on both days and all materials).

NDS WA Professional Development

Post: PO Box 1428 Osborne Park 6916

Phone: 9208 9876

Fax: 9242 5044

Email: pd@nds.org.au

NDS are running a number of these courses throughout the year. These are listed on the calendar of events on their website www.nds.org.au

So if one of your goals for this year is to get more fulfillment out of your work, then consider these steps:

• Start to notice what it is about your current job that no longer invigorates you (have your tasks, hours, managers, home responsibilities changed?)
• Appraise yourself and your current skills, abilities, responsibilities, loves, interests and personality. These things all change and mature all over the years, affecting how you feel about work.
• Read the Employment section of the paper, observe jobs in the community, talk to people about their work and browse on SEEK. Look through the whole employment section and keep any jobs that would be your 'dream' job, or have elements of your dream job (perfect hours/pay/clients/company/tasks). Collect these up over a few weeks or months, creating a picture of the kinds of work that excites you. Don't limit yourself based on your previous training and experience...this is a time to dream!
• Find out about the realties of some of the jobs you are interested in. Do some online research to find out about the training, experience, skills and abilities required to do some of the jobs that appealed to you.
• Make a plan...

The most important step is to use all of this information to make a plan for your life. If you need more experience, skills or training...find a way to work towards it. You can usually start acting on your plan while you continue in your current role, invigorated because you have a new direction and a plan to get there. Start to work towards your dream and make a difference to your life.

Young people might access Fremantle headspace for a whole range of reasons, with some including mental health issues, general physical health, sexual health, family and relationship issues, drugs and alcohol, education and training, sexuality issues and accommodation.

Young people can refer themselves and make an appointment simply by giving Fremantle headspace a call. Alternatively, they receive referrals from family and friends, teachers and GP's; and provided they receive consent from the young person an appointment will then be scheduled with one of their youth friendly workers.

Fremantle headspace is a consortium model which means they partner with a number of other support services to make referrals easier and limit the number of times a young person has to tell their story. The consortium is made up of the Fremantle GP Network, St John of God Drug and Alcohol Withdrawal Network (DAWN), Fremantle CAMHS, Youth Reach South, Quarry Sexual Health for Under 25's, City of Cockburn, City of Melville and the City of Fremantle.

As Australian research shows that 1 in 4 young people will have a mental illness in any given year their focus is on early interventions and prevention. Fremantle headspace seeks to offer young people a youth friendly and accessible service that responds to their needs in a respectful and non-judgmental way.

Also available through Fremantle headspace is eheadspace which is a confidential, free and secure space where a young person or their family can web chat, email or speak on the phone with a qualified youth mental health professional. eheadspace aims to offer flexible mental health support to young people 12 - 25 years of age and their families or friends. eheadspace is not a crisis service. 

Contact details for eheadspace are as follows: eheadspace.org.au from 1pm - 1am AEST or eheadspace telephone 1800 650 890 during the hours of 10pm - 1pm AEST.

Fremantle headspace is open from Monday to Friday 9am - 5pm and they're located at 235 High St, Fremantle.

PH: 08 9335 6333

Email: info@fremantleheadspace.com.au or visit the website at www.fremantleheadspace.com.au.

I just love this quote! In the past I have been a bit inclined towards grudge holding - not always long term grudges, but certainly grudges of great emotional intensity! Over the last few years I have been liberated somewhat from this habit and have felt much better for it. However,  over the last 6 months we have been delivering a lot of our "Dealing with Difficult People" courses and I have been amazed by how often people get hooked into another's bad behaviour and hold grudges with the dedication that an Olympian would envy. So, before we get into the season of catching up with family and friends, the tensions this can sometimes cause, deciding who will and will not be invited, who to sit next to who etc etc, think about this:

Who are you holding a grudge against?

Who is being hurt (poisoned) by this grudge?

What can you do about it?

It can be useful to acknowledge that sometimes we feel hurt by others actions (whether intentional or not) and that we also sometimes create hurt. However, the dissection of a grudge is often like unravelling a game of Chinese whispers; trying to figure out what actually happened can be very difficult because we each remember events from our own perspective and through our own "filters'. So, instead of trying to prove who was right and who was wrong, it can be more liberating to think about:

How you may have contributed to th event?

Whether it is hurting you to hold the grudge?

Whether holding the grudge is ever going to change the other persons (past or future) behaviour?

We can only be responsible for our thoughts, our feelings and our own behavioural changes. To get freedom from a grudge doesn't have to depend on the other person apologising or making amends. We can get freedom from it within ourselves and through the energy we give it.

Think about what lesson you can take from the experience that lead you to holding the grudge, and decide to move on with this new knowledge, and wipe the slate clean with the grudgee. This doesn't mean you have to pretend that they never hurt you or that you allow them to walk all over you in the future. It means that you are acknowledging that you are not going to be stuck in the negative energy of the past and that you will move forward respecting the other person is creating their own path in life, just as you can create yours. You may decide that you need to maintain stronger boundaries or distance between yourself and this person, even that you may never wish to engage with them again. Depending on how they've hurt you, this may actually be quite a good idea. However, whether you see them again or not, the idea is that you will not attach the same emotional intensity to them or their actions. You will not allow them to continue hurting and affecting you through reliving events of the past. It may take time and practice to feel yourself letting go of your grudge, after all, you probably rehashed the reasons for the grudge over and over again and it can take a while to undo this intensity. However, if you don't want to be stuck drinking the poison, it may just be worth it.

What grudges can you shake off this year, to move into 2012 more peacefully?

Some ideas to let go of grudges that are hurting you are:

Write a letter to the grudgee about what and how they've hurt you and then burn or bury the letter, deciding for yourself that you are now going to let go in your own best interest.

Make some time to meet with your grudgee and talk calmly about why you are holding the grudge and that you want to let go of it (this will only work if you are able to manage your emotions in this meeting and accept that your perspective of events may be different to the other persons, and so you need to respect their perspective even if it contradicts your own).

Write yourself a list of all the lessons you can learn from the experience and put those lessons into practice.

Write yourself a list of the ways you and the grudgee are similar and increase your empathy for them.

Meditate on letting go of the negative energy that you are holding on to (do this every time you find yourself pondering your grudge).

Lastly, recognse that this is a process and give yourself some grace that it may take time and don't beat yourself up about the process!

I'd love to hear how you go with this.

Kind regards,

Tasha

Copyright Blooming Minds 2011. All rights reserved.

Blooming Minds Institute of Mental Health and Wellbeing works in partnership with community groups as well as workplaces to develop programs to reduce the risk of psychological injury in the workplace and to increase community mental health literacy. Blooming Minds is hosting a Mental Health in the Workplace Symposium on February 14th, 2012 at the Perth Convention and Exhibition Centre, and are seeking participants for a brief survey of mental health in the workplace across varying types of organisations at all levels of responsibility and across several nations. Information collected in this anonymous, confidential survey will be presented at the symposium as well as at other venues, lectures and publications related to understanding workplace mental health issues, and on our website.

Participation in this survey is completely voluntary, and all information collected will be kept confidential. We thank you in advance for your participation in this survey, and invite you to send any queries you may have about this survey or our organisation to the lead investigator in this survey, Tasha Broomhall at tasha@bloomingminds.com.au

The link for the survey can be found at https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/Blooming_minds_at_work_2011.

Please copy and paste the link in your browser if clicking the link does not take you directly to the survey.

Please help us to reach as many people as possible so that we can get a comprehensive idea of opinions and what people are experiencing.

Kind regards,

Tasha Broomhall

Act Belong Commit also has a Youtube channel! Please spread the word and gain more views of the complete range of TV adverts.

In many organisations:

- Poor mental health & wellbeing affects staff morale, decreases productivity and increases absenteeism and presenteeism.

- The impacts of anxiety and depression are high in the workplace,

- Staff experience high stress levels.

To be able to start to reduce the costs - both financial and to individuals, we really need to improve the mental health literacy in our workplaces. Managers and Supervisors must know their roles and responsibilities in responding to mental health issues in the workplace. They need to know what is legally required to ensure that they are not discriminating against staff because of their mental illness. They need strategies to approach and address staff with mental health issues, how to have the conversations with staff and how to develop reasonable workplace accommodation for mental illness.

Does your organsation have a mental health and wellbeing plan? If not, then it's time to get one!

1. Start by giving your organisation a mental health check-up. Analyse how often mental health issues are impacting in your workplace, how much time are supervisors and managers spending supporting staff with mental health issues, how much time is lost to reduced productivity and absenteeism?

2. Assess your organisataions mental health literacy. How much do they know about mental health and wellbeing? What do they know about their legal obligations in responding to mental illness in the workplace and how comfortable are they with these obligations and employee entitlements?

3. Develop a plan that includes a clear organisational policy and procedure for minimising psychological risk in the workplace, for responding to mental illness and for enhancing mental health and wellbeing.

4. Implement the plan and include broader awareness raising activities to increase mental health literacy as well as targeted training on recognising and responding to mental health issues in the workplace.

5. Moniter this plan at regular intervals, update and modify as required.

If we can help with any of this, please give us a call.

Have a blooming great week!

Copyright Blooming Minds Inc 2011. All rights reserved.