Managing the Impacts of Bullying: Prevention, Policy and Practise

The Australian & New Zealand Mental Health Association would like to invite you to attend the No 2 Bullying Conference which is being held at the Outrigger Surfers Paradise on the Gold Coast from Wednesday 22nd to Friday 24th May 2013.

We are now accepting abstracts for what will be a very significant event on such an important topic.  Please visit the conference website http://www.no2bullying.org.au to submit your paper.

The theme for the Conference is “Managing the Impacts of Bullying: Prevention, Policy and Practice", the conference will examine bullying from School to Workplace and the new phenomenon of Cyberspace.

The Bullying Conference program will include material on:

• ·        Building coping strategies for all parties involved
• ·        Costs of bullying: Communities and Companies
• ·        General health to Mental health: effects and rehabilitation
• ·        Interventions
• ·        Identifying and measuring bullying
• ·        Risk factors
• ·        The law and bullying
• ·        Types of bullying

If you have any questions please email conference secretariat at register@no2bullying.org.au

Suicide in Rural & Remote Areas of Australia Report Lauched

The report was requested by the Australian Suicide Prevention Advisory Council (ASPAC) and funded by the Commonwealth Department of Health and Ageing. This report will assist the Council in their formation on advice to the Minister for Mental Health and Ageing.

The report was launched at the Australian Rural and Remote Mental Health Conference in Adelaide, you can download a copy here.

Left: Minister for Mental Health and Ageing, the Hon Mark Butler MP, and Dr Kairi Kolves, Senior Research Fellow AISRAP, at the launch of the report in Adelaide on Tuesday 20/11/12

Capacity building in rural and remote areas is hampered by the lack of availability of trained supervisors

Capacity building in rural and remote areas is hampered by the lack of availability of trained supervisors for clinical psychology and other mental health students in rural and remote locations.

Difficulties also exist with the current mental health workforce who are qualified to practice yet are unable to access a supervisor to provide the support required to deal with often complex and clinically challenging mental health issues.

Training to improve the quality of supervision and the number of appropriately trained supervisors has the potential to reduce burnout and declining retention rates.

The Codes and guidelines paper issued by the Psychology Board of Australia indicated that, under the National Accreditation rules which took effect in July 2010, there will be an increased emphasis on student supervision. More flexible rules will allow increases use of distance methods including teleconference quality video to assist training for those in remote settings. Notably, supervision will now be required for all practising psychologists, no longer just for students, thus the demand for supervision training is expected to increase significantly.

For the Mental Health Nursing profession, participation in clinical supervision is an essential requirement for completion of the Credentialing process, as specified by the Australian College of Mental Health Nurses, and is regarded as a benchmark to maintain standards of practice.

Outcomes from a program funded by the Department of Health and Ageing will be described  including the development of a self-directed supported training syllabus to prepare mental health professionals for the role of clinical student supervision.

Prof Russell Hawkins, James Cook University will present this paper at the 4th Australian Rural and Remote Mental Health Symposium, 19 - 21 November 2012, Adelaide, SA

The role of basic environmental factors in the development of psychiatric morbidity: introducing environmental mental health assessment tools

Dr Gelaye Nadew

Psychiatric morbidity is linked to complex interactions of social, environmental and biological factors. Social and biological factors have been given comparatively better attention while environmental issues are paid a partial consideration, especially when considering rural and remote communities. Hence the role of basic environmental health in the development of mental illness in rural and remote population is not understood.

This presentation will explore the link between mental illness and basic environmental health issues affecting rural and remote populations and introduce an environmental mental health checklist. Mental health professionals have established the role of excessive and unrelenting day to day stress in the development of psychiatric conditions such as depression and anxieties. In rural and remote Australia many of the day to day stresses are generated by issues associated with environmental health.

People living in rural and remote Australia have greater environmental health stressors than the metropolitan population.  Identifying the link between these basic environmental health issues and development of mental illness will lead to more effective and comprehensive psychological intervention.

The process of addressing these problems demands the need for collaboration and partnership with various departments and community service providers who traditionally played little or no role in mental health care. For this to occur, mental health professionals need to extend mental health assessment to include basic environmental factors. This presentation highlights issues that need to be covered and introduces environmental mental health assessment tools. 

PUTTING PEOPLE FIRST: MENTAL HEALTH NEEDS AND INITIATIVES IN AUSTRALIAN RURAL AND REMOTE COMMUNITIES.

 

Dr Gelaye Nadew and co-author Mrs Tania Wiley, Combined Universities Centre for Rural Health, University of WA will present this paper at the 4th Australian Rural and Remote Mental Health Conference in Adelaide from November 19th to 21st 2012

Visit the conference website for full program details http://anzmh.asn.au/rrmh