AICAFMHA: promoting mental health for young Australians
Australian Infant, Child, Adolescent and Family Mental Health Association Ltd
ABN 87 093 479 022
With over 300 abstracts submitted, the 5th AICAFMHA/14th TheMHS Conference is
shaping up to be a good one. The registration brochure is due out later this
month and will also be available online from the AICAFMHA and TheMHS websites.
Current available details about the conference are located at
http://www.aicafmha.net.au/conferences/goldcoast/index.html .
The COPMI Project update for this fortnight is now available online at and
includes some useful information about how you can support the dissemination
of the recently launched resource materials.
The final ACER Press publications for feature this financial year are below.
AICAFMHA members are encouraged to utilise the opportunity to receive a 10%
discount on the purchase of any ACER Press publications by quoting their
membership number with their order. Order forms are available at
http://www.aicafmha.net.au/membership/index.htm .
Parent, Adolescent and Child Training Skills (PACTS)
Editor Martin Herbert
ACER 2004
The Parent, Adolescent and Child Training Skills (PACTS) series of highly
practical guides has been developed for all practitioners. These guides provide
timely information on issues affecting parents and adolescents in today's
society.
The aim of this series is to provide concise, up-to-date information on
children's problems in order to help the practitioner understand, assess and
treat them more effectively.
16 - Aggression and Bullying in Adolescence
Suzanne Guerin and Eilis Hennessy
Aggression and Bullying in Adolescence provides information about aggression
and its development during childhood and adolescence. This guide introduces
bullying as a subset of aggressive behaviour, highlights research on the
nature and extent of bullying in schools and outlines some of the
characteristics of children involved in bullying. It highlights common signs
of bullying that parents and practitioners need to be aware of and offers
interventions and resources for those dealing with this behaviour.
17 - Panic Disorder and Anxiety in Adolescence
Sara G Mattis and Thomas H Ollendick
Panic Disorder and Anxiety in Adolescence guides practitioners through the
definition, causation, assessment and treatment of various panic and anxiety
disorders. It offers insight into this complex area while offering sound
practical advice.
18 - School Refusal in Adolescence
David Heyne and Stephanie Rollings (with Neville King and Bruce Tonge)
School Refusal in Adolescence covers various stages of intervention while
offering a practical insight into how appropriate strategies may be applied.
It aims to help practitioners distinguish between school refusal and other
forms of school attendance problems and to assist them with the development
of intervention plans.
**** Rural Health Education Foundation National Satellite Television
Broadcast ****
Managing Mental Health Issues for Young People
25 May 2004
This program is supported by an unrestricted educational grant from Wyeth
Australia Pty Ltd.
Adolescent health care in Australia provides specific challenges for general
practitioners. The transition from child to adult is characterised by
developmental and behavioural issues that can lead to risk-taking behaviour,
feelings of isolation, breakdowns and/or difficulties with parental
relationships and communication. This program will cover practical clinical
skills for GPs to enable them to work effectively with young patients who are
experiencing emotional or mental health problems, and includes a dramatised
case study.
Speakers
Dr Michael Carr-Gregg, Consultant Adolescent Psychologist, Albert Road
Centre for Health, South Melbourne.
Dr Lena Sanci, General Practitioner and academic specialising in adolescent
health, Department of General Practice, University of Melbourne.
Professor Ian Hickie, Executive Director, Brain & Mind Research
Institute & Dept of Psychiatry, University of Sydney.
Dr Jenny Beange, Rural GP & CEO of Dubbo Plains Division of General Practice,
Dubbo NSW.
Dr Rob Walters, General Practitioner in Sandy Bay, Tasmania & Chair of the
Australian Divisions of General Practice.
Chaired by Dr Norman Swan, Presenter of the Health Report on ABC Radio
National.
Broadcast details
Tuesday 25 May 2004 at:
- 8pm Sydney/Melbourne/Brisbane/Canberra/Hobart time
- 7.30pm in Adelaide/Darwin
- 6pm in Perth, repeated at 8pm in WA
Also repeated on Friday 28 May 2004 at 12.30pm Sydney time (12noon SA/NT,
10.30am WA)
For further information
Go to www.rhef.com.au/programs/406/406.html
or contact the Foundation on tel (02) 6232-5480 or via
email rhef@rhef.com.au
Call for Papers
Paediatric Consultation Liaison
Jointly presented by:
RANZCP Faculty of Child Psychiatry
Department of Psychological Medicine, Women's & Children's Hospital, Adelaide
Cynthia Poulton Centre
St. Peters Cathedral Close
27 King William Road
NORTH ADELAIDE. 5006
2nd & 3rd September, 2004 See details.
Early Childhood Conference - Call for Papers
Maroochy Childcare Services, Maroochy Shire Council, which will be held on the
Sunshine Coast on the weekend of 29, 30 and 31 October 2004. See details.
Registration Brochure for Annual Service Conference (Mater Hospital). Getting
what you want, Getting what you need, Practice and Research in Child & Youth
Mental Health to be held in Brisbane from 9 - 10 June and Workshops on Friday
11 June 2004.
Further details are available on the www.kidsinmind.org.au website.
Perspectives on Recovery Conference 2004
Monday 2nd & Tuesday 3rd August 2004
Wanganui Gardens, Brisbane, Queensland
Email: secretariat@amhcn.com.au
Web: www.amhcn.com.au
Creating Connections:
Siblings Australia is hosting a conference on family and sibling issues in
Adelaide, November 2004. We are aiming to explore areas such as mental health,
education, community responses, research, family strengths, early intervention,
and future directions relating to policy and political agendas.
Information, registration, and abstract details are available via our home
page at http://www.siblingsaustralia.org.au/ .
Conference Date - 17- 19
November 2004
Review of the Commission for Children and Young People's legislation
The Commission's legislation, the Commission for Children and Young People
Act 1998 and the Child Protection (Prohibited Employment) Act 1998, have now
been operating for five years. They are currently undergoing a scheduled review.
The Hon. Carmel Tebbutt, Minister for Youth, has appointed Ms Helen L'Orange
AM as Independent Chair of the Review.
The Review is to check whether the policy objectives of the Acts remain valid
and whether the legislation remains appropriate to achieve these objectives.
A consultation paper has been developed that identifies key issues and requests
comment. You can obtain the consultation paper by going to the Commission's
website at http://www.kids.nsw.gov.au/ .
Written submissions close on Friday 30 July 2004. To help you complete a
submission, a template has been developed and is available on the Commission's
website.
The Ministerial Council for Suicide Prevention is seeking the involvement of
your group/organization in a consumer consultation project being undertaken by
the Council. Specifically we are seeking feedback to gain ideas on the issues
involved in providing treatment/support to men who are suicidal.
MCSP is approaching a range of service provision organizations or groups
including Health and Mental Health Services, Community Drug Service Teams,
Police Services and Emergency Departments of General Hospitals, Help Lines,
Accommodation and Outreach Services, General Practitioners, Men's Interest
Groups and support groups.
Through these consultations we hope to gain insight into factors that help
agencies and staff in linking and engaging men; especially suicidal men; into
services as well as identifying barriers to service/support.
If your organisation provides services to men in crisis we would be grateful if
you could take the time to complete the survey.
Two versions of the questionnaire are available:
- one for services that provide crisis/immediate or one-off responses to
suicidal men and
- one for where a service/organisation provides on-going/longer term
interventions or support.
Please complete the one most appropriate to your organisation and return it to
us by 28 May. Further information is included in the covering letter, see
links.
Enquiries should be directed to:
Marg Sayers,
Project Coordinator, Ministerial Council for Suicide Prevention
PO Box 855
WEST PERTH WA 6872
(08) 9489-7723
E-mail: margs@ichr.uwa.edu.au
We appreciate you assistance with this valuable research project.
The Ministerial Council for Suicide Prevention mcsp@ichr.uwa.edu.au
Australian Mental Health Consumer Network Newsletter available here.
**Kids' Stats online**
For the first time in Australia, information about the safety, welfare and
well-being of kids in NSW can be accessed from one online location. Kids'
Stats monitors seven key areas of kids' lives, including family relationships,
school and work, health, levels of economic security, community participation
and experiences of child care and safety and crime.
Follow the links to Kids' Stats from the Commission's home page
at: http://www.kids.nsw.gov.au/
Just Keeping the Peace- A reluctance to respond to male partner sexual
violence.
Issues Paper Number 1
by Melanie Heenan
Co-ordinator,Australian Centre for the Study of Sexual Assault is now
available by following the link
http://www.aifs.gov.au/acssa/pubs/issue/acssa_issues1.pdf
From ABC Health Updates:
SMELL AND SCHIZOPHRENIA (Catalyst: 06/05/2004)
Can your nose smell the early signs of schizophrenia? According to researchers
at the University of Melbourne it can. They've found that your ability to
correctly identify smells on a scratch and sniff test can be an indicator of
your risk of developing schizophrenia. In the past we've had very limited tools
to predict whether someone is going to develop schizophrenia or not. All we've
been able to use is family history and certain behaviour. Researchers at the
University of Melbourne have found that our sense of smell is turning out to be
very useful in predicting the development of schizophrenia. Take a teenager
already at risk of developing schizophrenia. The worse they score on the scratch
and sniff test, the higher their likelihood of developing schizophrenia. http://www.abc.net.au/catalyst/stories/s1102403.htm
ALL IN THE MIND: Margaret and Pauline: Resilience in Mental Health Saturday
15 May, 1.30pm, Radio National Margaret Cook and Pauline Miles are well known
figures in WA's mental health advocacy community. Born as identical twins
in Wales, they grew up in the UK with a mother with major mental illness and
a shared history of abuse. Now themselves parents of adult children, they
reflect on their own experiences of hospitalisation in psychiatric wards,
the search for identity in suffering and inspiration in healing, activism and
awareness. http://www.abc.net.au/rn/science/mind/default.htm
TRAUMA AND TRANSITION: MENTAL HEALTH IN IRAQ (All In The Mind: 1/05/2004) After
three wars, the tyranny of Saddam Hussein, 13 years of UN sanctions and the
current volatile transition, Iraq is a country under psychological strain.
One report suggests at least 50 per cent of Iraqis probably have Post Traumatic
Stress Disorder. But there are less than 100 psychiatrists and no clinical
psychologists across the population of 24 million - so who to turn to for help?
This report includes a major study by Physicians for Human Rights documenting
the shocking involvement of doctors in human rights abuses under the Ba'athist
regime. http://www.abc.net.au/rn/science/mind/stories/s1095445.htm
Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors in childhood depression: systematic
review of published versus unpublished data, Pages 1341-1345
Craig J Whittington, Tim Kendall, Prof Peter Fonagy, Prof David Cottrell,
Andrew Cotgrove and Ellen Boddington
and commentary piece in the Canadian Medical Journal by Jane Garland from
February http://www.cmaj.ca/cgi/content/full/170/4/489
Efficacy and safety of antidepressants for children and adolescents
Jon N Jureidini, head
1, Christopher J Doecke, associate professor of pharmacy practice
2, Peter R Mansfield, research fellow
3, Michelle M Haby, senior epidemiologist
4, David B Menkes, professor of psychological medicine
5, Anne L Tonkin, associate professor http://bmj.bmjjournals.com/cgi/content/full/bmj;328/7444/879