Tune In Not Out

We are introducing you to a great youth website which has street appeal as well as being a highly informative and engaging website for young people.

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

headspace - Fremantle

Fremantle headspace provides free and confidential mental health and wellbeing support, information and services to young people aged 12 - 25 and their families. They offer a range of services such as a youth friendly GP as part of the GP4YP program, youth engagement supports, drug and alcohol withdrawal support, counselling, parent and family supports and linking young people in with other appropriate support services.

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.

SLEEP!

One of the most important things we need is often the fist thing we are willing to sacrifice in the name of productivity, namely, sleep. You know you have said it, or at least thought, "I can sleep when I'm dead". Ironically, restriction of daily sleep requirements (either voluntarily ie. choosing to prioritise activities over sleep; or non voluntarily ie. inadvertently loosing sleep due to shift work, or caring for an ill child) to get more done in a 24 hour period actually costs the Australian Government $10.3 billion annually in lost productivity (1). Over 1.2 million Australians experience sleep disorders. In general, an occasional late night is no problem for most people, provided there is an equal amount of 'sleep-debt' repayment time to offset the deprivation incurred. However, in today's society, where we have unprecedented access to information and each other through text messaging, email and the like, coupled with a wide range of tempting after hours activities, we often find it difficult to set boundaries around our work and social lives.

The implication of sleep deprivation, both voluntary and non-voluntary, are numerous and well documented. Excessive sleepiness, difficulty with memory and concentration as well as coordination problems can arise due to insufficient sleep (2). Additionally, performance on complex tasks, and mood disturbances (as well as increasing the risk of depression (8.3% (1)) and anxiety related mental illnesses (2)) are significantly impacted by a chronic lack of sleep. Accident risk increases as sleep disorders underlie 9.1% of work-related injuries (1), and has been found that seventeen hours of wakefulness leads to a decrease in performance equivalent to a blood alcohol reading of 0.05% (1). Importantly, insufficient sleep significantly contributes to 2.9% of diabetes diagnoses (1), and can nearly double the risk of developing heart disease (3), a disease that annually kills 1 Australian every 11 minutes (4).

So the need for getting enough sleep cannot be overstated. In the next few Blooming Minds blogs, we will discuss the different types of sleep deprivation including shift work related issues, insomnias and ways to improve your sleep hygiene (the term used by clinicians to talk about your activities relating to sleep).

References

1. Fact Sheet: Interesting Facts and Statistics About Sleep www.chiropractors.asn.au

2. Australasian Sleep Association. Healthy Sleep and Sleep Disorders. www.sleep.org.au

3. Researchers say a lack of sleep doubles risk of death..... but so can too much sleep (2007) www.warwick.ac.uk

4. Data and Statistics. www.heartfoundation.org.au

Blooming Minds provides group training and individual consultancy services to assist organisations to understand the impacts of mental health problems in the workplace and to minimise the human and economic impacts of employee stress, anxiety, depression and other mental illnesses. We are based in Perth, Western Australia and deliver services throughout Australia and internationally.

Copyright Blooming Minds 2011. All rights reserved.

GROW - A Community for Mental Health and Wellbeing

GROW is a consumer driven, community based mental health organisation. In began in Sydney in 1957, and has since spread to Ireland, New Zealand and the USA. GROW was established in WA in 1967.

The GROW program and unique structure has been developed by "Growers" in the course of rebuilding their lives after a breakdown. They started forming mutual help, self activation groups that took on a person centred, health orientated, and community building approach to mental health.

We were first known as 'Recovery' groups but changed the name in 1975 in order to meet the increasing demand for the groups' services in pprevention as well as rehabilitation, and even more broadly for a popular school of life and leadership for mental health. Over the last 54 years, GROW has evolved into adult education which embraces the whole spectrum of problems in self understanding, self regulation and self sharing for mental health. GROW offers the WA community a research validated, consumer driven recovery program.

The service GROW provides is founded upon its weekly rehabilitation and mutual, peer support groups. These meetings are well-structured and provide a setting where people with mental health problems can come together for mutual support, personal growth and life-skills development, using a 12 Step Program.

Currently in WA, we have 30 GROW groups in the metro and country areas:

GROW groups are run by their own members; weekly meetings are structured to allocate time for:

- personal testimonies - offering hope and optimism,

- group work on members problems - with vital assistance from the GROW Program,

- assignment of tailored practical tasks,

- reports on progress, which offer encouragement to change and grow,

- adult education about maintaining mental health and rebuilding lives, and

- development of social skills and supportive relationships.

The weekly meetings do not operate in isolation. GROW has a well developed organisational infrastructure which provides supportive training, expanded literature, and a social network. GROW encourage people to become involved in:

- monthly training activities and live in training weekends,

- various GROW social events (outings, walking groups, coffee mornings, picnics etc.),

- residential community building weekends,

- for those so inclined and capable, training in public presentations on GROW and fundraising.

Last year there were 1296 GROW meetings held, with 8576 attendances. We are open to all, no referral is needed, just come along. GROW is free, anonymous and confidential.

Call freecall 1800 558 268 or www.grow.net.au for your local group details.

Blooming Minds provides group training and individual consultancy services to assist organisations to understand the impact of mental health problems in the workplace and to minimise the human and economic impacts of employee stress, anxiety, depression and other mental illnesses. We are based in Perth, Western Australia and deliver services throughout Australia and internationally.

Copyright Blooming Minds 2011. All rights reserved.

Schizophrenia Awareness Week

Schizophrenia Awareness Week runs from the 16th to the 22nd of May 2011. Schizophrenia is an illness affecting normal functioning of the brain, interfering with a persons ability to think, feel and act. Symptoms include; confused thinking, delusions and hallucinations (www.sane.org).

As part of Schizophrenia Awareness Week there is a State and National Panel Webinar event "Unlocking the Door to Health and Wellbeing: Where Do We Find the Key?" on Saturday 21st May 2011. This is being presented by the Mental Illness Fellowship of WA. There is a local event being held at ECU in Mount Lawley (http://www.mifwa.org.au) or you can log on from home (http://www.meetview.com/healthwellbeing20110521).

In Sydney there will be discussions from consumers and carers, academic experts and MC Julie McCrossin - journalist and broadcaster.

After the national broadcast there will be a state panel discussion officially opened by the Honourable Helen Morton -  Minister for Mental Health; Disability Services, and the panel will consist of experts from UWA, the Mental Health Commission, and our local MC Tony Serve - talkback host, news producer and presenter at radio 6PR.

This is a wonderful opportunity to hear experts discussing some of the issues surrounding schizophrenia from a national and a local perspective.

Blooming Minds provides group training and individual consultancy services to assist organisations to understand the impact of mental health problems in the workplace and to minimise the human and economic impacts of employee stress, anxiety, depression and other mental illnesses. We are based in Perth, Western Australia and deliver services throughout Australia and internationally.

Copyright Blooming Minds 2011. All rights reserved.