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AICAFMHA:
promoting mental health for young Australians
Australian Infant, Child, Adolescent and Family Mental Health Association Ltd
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AICAFMHA E-News in Brief Issue #3.17

News in Brief - Issue #3.17 (13/09/2003)

AICAFMHA News / What's On? / Mental Health News / Resources / Back to E-News index

AICAFMHA News

AICAFMHA is delighted to announce that the 5th National Infant, Child & Adolescent Mental Health Conference will be held in September 2004 on the Gold Coast, in conjunction with the 2004 TheMHS Conference. The conference theme is 'Harvesting Hope: Across the lifespan' which presents an excellent opportunity for our association to collaborate with TheMHS to bring you this exciting event.
The conference will be held at the Gold Coast Convention Centre which is currently under construction. Further details will be advised via the list and on the website as they become available. We look forward to seeing you there!

The COPMI Project update for this fortnight is now online. Thanks to those of you who have provided feedback on the draft document "Principles and Actions for Services and People Working With Children of Parents With A Mental Illness". The current update, including a revised resource listing, is available here.

AICAFMHA memberships have now reached 30% of our target for this year. If you have yet to complete your application, you can do it now by printing an application form at http://www.aicafmha.net.au/membership/index.htm . Alternatively, contact secretary@aicafmha.net.au to have a form mailed to you. You can even call on 08 8132 0786 and have your credit card application processed over the phone!

If you have changed email address in the past few months or do so in the future, please advise secretary@aicafmha.net.au of both your old and new email addresses so the subscriber list can be accurately maintained and so you don't miss the news!

What?s On?

World Conferences on Health Promotion and Health Education are held every three years, and the 18th Conference will be held in Melbourne in April 2004. Approximately 2000 participants are expected, including delegations from the World Health Organization and other UN bodies, national health ministries, bilateral aid agencies, major NGOS, foundations, universities and community health services. The conference will take place from 26 - 30 April 2004, and is preceded by several other important meetings, including the International Conference on the Reduction of Drug Related Harm and a full meeting of the WHO Mega-Country Health Promotion Network and a meeting of the World Federation for Mental Health Global Collaboration.
The closing date for abstracts for IUHPE Health 2004 conference in Melbourne is 31st October.
Further information is available at http://www.health2004.com.au/about/ .

An invitation for applications to the 2004 National Youth Roundtable has been released. Applications from young people 15 years and older are invited. Further information and application forms on the Youth Roundtable are available at: http://www.thesource.gov.au/youth_roundtable/

Partnerships Conference 2003 - Maintaining Momentum - Rottnest Lodge, Rottnest, WA Friday 17 and Saturday 18 October 2003
PDF of program available.
Details at http://www.rottnest.wa.gov.au .

The 6th International Narrative Therapy and Community Work Conference that is to be held in Oaxaca, Mexico from July 7th-9th 2004!
This conference which is being co-hosted by Dulwich Centre Publications and ILEF (Instituto Latinoamericano de Estudios de la Familia) is the first event of its type ever to be held in Mexico.
For more information about the conference please see the web site: www.dulwichcentre.com.au Early-bird registration ends on 1st November!

The keynote speaker at the 4th International Mental Health Conference, on the 18 & 19th October will be Peter Tyrer, Professor of Community Psychiatry and Head of the Department of Psychological Medicine in the Division of Neuroscience and Psychological Medicine at Imperial College in London.
You can download a program and get more information at www.astmanagement.com.au/psych2003

THE NINTH AUSTRALASIAN CONFERENCE ON CHILD ABUSE AND NEGLECT
24-27 November 2003, Sydney Convention Centre, Darling Harbour Early bird registrations close on 30 September 2003. For your early bird online registration and an outline of the program, visit: www.nsw.gov.au/accan2003

The Third Australian Family & Community Strengths Conference - 'Building a Truly Civil Society' will be held at the University of Newcastle, NSW, Australia from 30 November to 3 December 2003.
The full draft program is now available on the conference website - www.pco.com.au/familystrengths. Family Action Centre Website: www.newcastle.edu.au/department/fac

Mental Health News

For your information:
Tuesday 9 September 2003
'The UK government this week unveiled its long-awaited children's green paper, which sets out its plans to reform services for young people.
Summary (20pp.) at
http://image.guardian.co.uk/sys-files/Society/documents/2003/09/08/EveryChildMattersSummary.pdf
Full document (108pp.) at http://image.guardian.co.uk/sys-files/Society/documents/2003/09/08/EveryChildMatters.pdf
Both these files, plus a children/youth version of the summary are available for download at http://www.dfes.gov.uk/everychildmatters/ .

From the MHCA:
Artwork for World Mental Health Day, 10 October 2003 is now available and is currently being distributed to each of the community forum coordinators. Please contact the Secretariat on (02) 6285 3100 or email admin@mhca.com.au to obtain WMHD promotional material.
Further information on WMHD, including latest details on the community forums and the national launch is available from the MHCA website (www.mhca.com.au).

From New Zealand:
http://www.headspace.org.nz/
Welcome to headspace.org.nz, a website for young people in Auckland and all over New Zealand, as well as their families and schools. Everybody needs to find some headspace when life gets stressful and we hope we can help.
In these pages you will find information and ideas about heaps of stuff, and on how to deal with things which might stress us out. So we have pages on lots of things like depression, anxiety and stress, as well as lots of tips and ideas of ways to deal with stressful times. Some of the pages are aimed at young people in Auckland but most of our site is for everyone. On all our pages you will also find links to other sites we think can give you more good information.

The UK Commission for Health Improvement has developed a methodology for evaluating the views of users of CAMHS services in the UK.
There are a number of questionnaires etc they have developed.
You can download them by visiting: http://www.chi.nhs.uk/eng/cgr/mental_health/

Young people a leading voice at the NSW Alcohol Summit
"The Summit gave us a great opportunity to put the views of young people across on an important issue that affects us all. I felt that we were really listened to and that we achieved a lot," Rohan, 15 years, young delegate.
The Commission for Children and Young People helped young people play an active role in the NSW Alcohol Summit that took place last week. Sixteen delegates took the 67 resolutions from the Alcohol Forum to the Summit and put forward the views of young people through speeches, involvement in Plenary Sessions and 35 media interviews on TV, radio and print.
To read the young people's speeches and resolutions to Parliament, visit: http://www.kids.nsw.gov.au/calendar/1055723496_14373.html

From Auseinet:
You may be interested in information posted to the Auseinet website about the First World Suicide Prevention Day on 10 September 2003 in Stockholm, Sweden. G o to: http://auseinet.flinders.edu.au/wotsnew/hotgoss/hotgoss.php (posted 01-09-2003).

FOCUS is delighted to announce the launch of our new website Please visit our site at http://www.focusproject.org.uk

Resources

From ABC Health Updates:
HOME ON THE HILL (Background Briefing: 07/09/2003)
For decades children needing care have been 'de-institutionalised' and placed with foster families. However, there are now too many troubled kids and not enough foster parents. Is the damage to children greater than ever?
http://www.abc.net.au/rn/talks/bbing/stories/s938296.htm

The September edition of the Mental Health Council of Australia (MHCA) newsletter is now online at http://www.mhca.com.au/cgi-bin/db.cgi?db=docs&uid=default&docs=1&Type=NL .

If you visit http://www.dur.ac.uk/service.mapping/CAMH/ this provides you with a great overview of service numbers etc of UK CAMHS Services.

From Medscape MedPulse:
The Behavioral Complaint: Symptom of a Psychiatric Disorder or a Matter of Temperament?
As a psychiatrist who treats children, my approach to diagnosis is centrally linked to the concept of individuality and the understanding that any one child is different from all other children.
Contemp Pediatr 20(8) 2003
A very sensible article with wider application than just those with an interest in ADHD, available at http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/460592_1 .

TREATMENT OF MENTALLY ILL IN PRISONS
In a survey of 17 jails, about half of the jails reported that they never or rarely provide inmates who have serious mental illness with medications or prescriptions once they are released. Read "Treatment of Mentally Ill in Prisons and Jails: Follow-up Care Needed." NEW in the Management of Serious Mental Illness Resource Center.
http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/458600 .

For those of you who may not have seen this:-
Social Policies, Family Types and Child Outcomes in Selected OECD Countries Sheila B. Kamerman, Michelle Neuman, Jane Waldfogel and Jeanne Brooks-Gunn OECD SOCIAL, EMPLOYMENT AND MIGRATION WORKING PAPERS NO. 6 Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development OECD, May 2003
Available online as PDF file [56p.] at: http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/26/46/2955844.pdf

U.S. Faults State Care Of Children Mental Health Care 'deplorable' In Places
http://www.mentalhelp.net/poc/view_doc.php?type=news&id=40432
Thousands of parents have given up custody of their children under pressure from individual states in order to obtain treatment for the children's severe mental illnesses, U.S. investigators say, but some of the states have not lived up to their end of the deal.

America's Children 2003 - America's Children: Key National Indicators of Well Being 2003. http://childstats.gov/americaschildren/ .

National Rural Health Alliance E-forum - 12 September 2003
Available online at http://www.ruralhealth.org.au/nrhapublic/Index.Cfm?Category=EForum .