Features | WayAhead

Reflections from five years leading the NSW Mental Health Commission

October 6, 2017

During July, WayAhead, Being and Mental Health Carers NSW hosted a farewell lunch at the joint Collective Purpose office for outgoing NSW Mental Health Commissioner John Feneley.

Before the lunch Mr Feneley spoke to Mental Health Matters about his time as Commissioner, a role he has held since July 2012, and the achievements of the Commission in that period.

John with Liz 2017

“Our first big achievement was producing Living Well, the strategic plan for mental health in NSW. That was what the Mental Health Commission Act legislation told us we had to do first. We asked more than 2000 people around NSW – including 800 people with personal experience of mental illness – what needed to change in the mental health system and how, and it was the most inclusive consultation on mental health ever done in NSW. That is something I remain proud of. The NSW Government accepted the plan in 2014 and so all those voices are now guiding Government decisions and funding.

John with Liz and Sharon at the WayAhead Workplaces 2016 Annual Forum

“I’m also really pleased to see that some key areas that we identified in Living Well have made tangible gains in the five years I’ve been Commissioner. Suicide prevention is a big one – when I started there were a lot of people working very hard to save lives but the left hand didn’t always know what the right hand was doing. Some of the things the Commission has done, like funding the proposed Suicide Prevention Framework for NSW and forming the Suicide Prevention Advisory Group, are not things the public has necessarily heard about. But they have helped make suicide prevention in NSW more coordinated and I believe we’ll see evidence in the next few years of lives saved because of that effort.”Workplace mental health and wellbeing is another area where Mr Feneley has seen significant improvement, particularly when employers have taken a leading role in creating and implementing wellbeing programs.

“Workplaces are a wonderful example of where the message of mental health and wellness has community benefits too, because people take what they have learnt at work about mental health and wellbeing into their home lives, leading to a community change.

“The work that WayAhead has been doing in this sector for years now is just tremendous. WayAhead has been able to work with employers and workplaces to help their staff return to work and not leave unnecessarily or early. These are all key elements in ensuring the health of employees and the health of the business.”

Mr Feneley emphasised that much of the work the NSW Mental Health Commission has done since its creation has been about empowering people with lived experiences of mental illness and their carers to be more involved and informed about their condition and treatment options.

John presenting at the 2016 Mental Health Matters Awards

“How do we help people have self-agency? How do we help people feel like they can have a conversation with their doctor as an equal? How do we change the system so that it supports people to identify and achieve their own recovery goals? A lot of our projects, like the review on medication and mental illness and our carers’ forum this year, are about exactly those issues.

“Someone who has been a carer for five years for their son with schizophrenia, for example, will have a terrific understanding about medications, about their son’s needs, about what works for them and what doesn’t. Yet I commonly meet carers who have been caring for 10 years and say that no one has ever had a proper conversation with them about this. We want to get it to the stage where the clinicians will work with the person with a lived experience and their carer at the time of treatment. We want clinicians to think of best practice as when a consumer or carer asks for help, clinicians respond by saying ‘we trust your judgement and understanding of the situation and we want to work with you on a path to recovery’.”

John at the WayAhead Mental Health Expo in Chatswood 2017

Looking ahead, Mr Feneley acknowledged the next few years are likely to be a time of even more change for the community-managed mental health sector.

“With the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) rolling out it’s a time of big reform and uncertainty, and we will all need to be watching closely to see what happens. The work of the mental health peak bodies like WayAhead, Being and Mental Health Carers NSW has perhaps never been so important.”

Mr Feneley finished his term in August 2017 with former Deputy Commissioner Catherine Lourey succeeding him.

By Benjamin Graham

Responding to refugees’ mental health needs in South-West Sydney

October 6, 2017

Fairfield is best known for its vibrancy and diversity of its residents, with a large proportion having a migrant background. Migrants have continually gravitated towards Fairfield for its long history of providing a home and a community for migrants. Since 2006, Fairfield City Council has welcomed 10,484 humanitarian entrants – the most of any local government area in NSW and almost double the number in Liverpool, according to the Settlement Reporting Facility of Department of Social Services.

In September 2015, the Australian government announced that it would resettle an additional 12,000 refugees in addition to the Refugee and Humanitarian Program, as a response to the global refugee crisis. It was estimated that about half of this special intake would be resettled in Fairfield, a suburb of about 18,000 people in the south-west of Sydney.

WayAhead spoke to Professor Newman about the challenges that refugees have experienced including trauma and trauma-related depression or stress when settling into the community, as well as the necessity for increased resources to respond to their needs.

“I have seen the whole spectrum of mental health issues displayed by refugees. I think they are very poorly understood and need more dedicated trauma-related mental health services because the impact of fleeing their homes for another country can be very damaging and long-term,” Professor Louise Newman explained.

Professor Newman has a background in child psychiatry, and worked with child refugees in south-western Sydney when she was conducting research around children and their mental health. She also worked with the Immigration Department Advisory Committee in 2013, working on reforms with the immigration policy amid growing concerns about offshore processing and detention centres.

“It is hard for refugees to reintegrate within society with these mental health issues. Some people come from certain countries and may not understand what mental health services are. They may not have had access to such support in their countries of origin but many refugees will accept mental health services if help is offered.”

Currently, all newly-arrived humanitarian entrants are eligible to receive initial, intensive settlement assistance through the Humanitarian Settlement Services (HSS) program in their first year of arrival. The services provided to help refugees settle in Australia generally include linking them to community programs to get assistance with finding accommodation and registering with schools, banks, Centrelink and other social services. When refugees show a need for mental health services, HSS may refer them to the Department of Health which offers the Programme of Assistance for Survivors of Torture and Trauma (PASTT) and NSW Services for the Treatment and Rehabilitation of Torture and Trauma Survivors (STARTTS).

STARTTS has a state-wide reach and provides a variety of services to refugees with a background of trauma. Their services include a balance of both community development activities and clinical approaches.

“We acknowledge that trauma impacts on individual’s ability to participate in their community and on the community’s ability to support individuals and families,” said Jasmina Bajraktarevic, the Community Services Coordinator of STARTTS. “We believe that intervention at any level of social system will have impact on the community level and will contribute to community strength.”

CORE Communities Services, a local organisation dedicated to refugee advocacy and policy work, assists refugees in navigating the Australian system including finding housing, employment, education and recreational activities to increase their social connections.

“I think there should be both investment in indirect and direct services addressing mental health for refugees. We plan activities to help refugees be more connected to the community, for example, excursions to different places of interest, like museums, or hold sporting activities that have great recreational benefits. These activities and outings have positive effects on refugees’ mental health as they are able to form social bonds and participate in the community,” explained Morlai Kamara, the Community Development and Policy Officer at CORE.

However, with the recent intake of resettlements, Fairfield is struggling to provide adequate resources for resettlement in such a short timeframe. “Indeed, [this is] five times our average annual settlement rate,” a spokesperson for Fairfield City Council said. “This translates into extraordinary pressure on the numerous community services and charities who are approached to help the new arrivals.”

“Immigration is a Federal Government responsibility and the settlement of refugees and migrants across the country is a national matter that requires open dialogue and action from the top tier of Australian government,” the Council said.

Demand for services is high with organisations having to expand to meet the need. Last year, STARTTS opened a new office in Fairfield in response to the growing demand for mental health services. In spite of increased pressures, the community in Fairfield remains open to resettling refugees and many non-government organisations continue to respond to their needs.

By Cindee Duong

The impacts of unemployment on youth mental health

October 6, 2017

Caught in the cycle of ‘need experience to get a job; need a job to get experience’, mental health issues such as stress, anxiety and depression are rising alongside unemployment rates – and young Australians are among those who are the most affected.

The Participation, Job Search and Mobility survey conducted by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (February 2016) shows that around 819,400 people were unemployed at the time of the study.(1) A closer look reveals that of the 819,400 unemployed, 15% were aged 15 to 24 years and 21% were aged 25 to 34 years.

In 2015, Roy Morgan Research also released findings that found that as the youth unemployment rate rose, mental health issues among young people simultaneously rise.(2) The key findings in that report showed that there had been a 9.7% increase in rates of stress as well as 8.1% increase in depression amongst young Australians since 2010.

The Group Account Director of the Roy Morgan Research, Angela Smith, said that the mental health impacts of unemployment for young Australians were severe.

“At this critical stage of a young person’s life and career, failure to find a job can have serious implications on their self-esteem and general mental health. It is not coincidence that stress, anxiety, depression and even panic attacks have sky rocketed in incidence over the past five years among 18-24 year olds as unemployment rises.”

Looking at the Foundation for Young Australian ‘The New Work Order’ report, the situation looks even more challenging because young Australians (aged 20-24) are about to face the biggest disruption to the workplace since the industrial revolution.(3) Young people will be disproportionately affected by digital disruption and automation, with the report suggesting that 70% of entry-level jobs are at risk of automation while 60% of young people are currently studying for jobs that will be affected by automation.

High unemployment rates, coupled with the growing mental stress and anxiety from unemployment, mean that young people are even more vulnerable to being locked out of the workforce. Young Australians are staying longer in education and are more qualified but are unemployed or underemployed.

Raise, a youth mentoring foundation, offers best-practice mentoring programs for students in high school who are at risk of disengaging with education. The Career Program was piloted earlier this year featuring soft-skills based workshops in partnership with mentors from corporate companies. These workshops focus on setting goals, interview skills and career planning.

The Program Officer, Jenny Moulder, said the Career Program hopes to empower young people to become resilient, capable and connected through workshops.

“It makes a really big impression on the students because some of them have actually never been to the city before so they get to see the options available to them…They feel much more confident than before in their career choices for life after school.”

Ms Moulder understands that more young people are likely to experience anxiety, whether due to their personal circumstances or uncertainties regarding their futures.

“At the heart of what we do is that we know suicide is the biggest cause of death for young people and we don’t want a young person with mental health difficulties to get to that stage where they think of suicide as an option. We want them to think ‘you know what, I’m not okay but I will speak to someone about this’.”

If you are a young person experiencing distress or if you are concerned about your mental health, please contact Kids Helpline on 1800 55 1800 or Lifeline on 13 11 14. You can also take a look at their websites at kidshelpline.com.au or lifeline.org.au

By Cindee Duong

Cabramatta Mental Health

July 4, 2017

For many years, Cabramatta was known as the heroin capital of Australia. Crime on the streets was rife, so was racism, and people were scared. I have many memories of wanting to play in the park but not being allowed to because there were needles on the ground.

There are lots of those stories in the media, and elsewhere, but there is also an untold story. One about the community’s mental health.

A Little History…

Before Australia opened its borders, there were only about 700 Vietnamese people living in Australia, mostly tertiary educated students or wives of the Australian Defence Force from their time during the Vietnam War (Department of Immigration and Citizenship, 2014).

But by early 1980s, the Vietnamese community had multiplied exponentially. Currently, there are about 190,000 Vietnamese immigrants (Census of Population and Housing, 2016) now living in Australia. In particular, Cabramatta is home to the largest concentration of Hoa Vietnamese immigrants in southwest Sydney. Hoa Vietnamese people are a minority group in Vietnam with Chinese ancestry, with which I personally identify. Since the fall of their government to the Communist regime in the 1970s, about two million Vietnamese fled their homeland by boat in search for freedom.

One of their destinations was Australia.

Cabramatta Mental Health Issues

According to the Australian Social Trends 2014 Report (ABS, 2014), a total of more than 20,000 residents were born in Vietnam and are now living in Cabramatta and surrounds. It is the third-most populated local government area of Sydney and the fourth-most disadvantaged.

Since leaving Vietnam, some Vietnamese people have been through war, violence, isolation, racism, stress and difficulty adapting to their new country. Looking back on its history, it is unsurprising that existing mental health studies of Vietnamese refugees have found to have high levels of depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder (Hinton et al, 1993). The Fairfield City Health Framework 2012 reported that Fairfield City residents have high incidences of suicide, mood disorders and other mental health issues.

But interestingly, this is not reflected in their access to mental health services where it was reported in the 2009-2010 Social Health Atlas that Fairfield City residents accessed psychiatrists at a much lower rate than elsewhere in Sydney.

Dr David Rouen, from the Bankstown Anxiety Clinic, treats two major cultural communities: the Vietnamese and the Arabic. In his experience, considering the long history of trauma and displacement, the Vietnamese community is very underrepresented in the clinic. He believes that psychological treatment does not fit well with their cultural understanding as it is traditionally not acceptable to seek out treatment for things such as anxiety disorders.

Because of this, patients often misdiagnose themselves. Dr Rouen explained that sometimes when a patient is having a panic attack, they will call the ambulance, believing that they are having a heart attack. Once the hospital confirms that their heart is fine, then that is the end of that. They cannot see that their symptoms could be anything other than a physical illness.

“Sometimes the only way we get into contact with the Vietnamese community is when their doctor or GP has to convince them to go but by the time that they do, we find that it is a much more severe psychological illness,” explained Dr Rouen.

It is hard for a community to see an invisible mental health issue when they often have more pressing matters at hand such as work or family responsibilities and teaching their children not to play with things they find on the ground. Dr Rouen also often wondered if the underrepresentation of patients could be attributed to their work ethic and strong sense of self-diligence as the Vietnamese community prioritise their work and family responsibilities over engaging with their mental health.

Barriers

I asked my mother recently, what she thought mental illness was, or whether she knew anyone with depression or anxiety. I struggled to describe the conditions to her and she struggled to understand me.

There is relatively little research into Vietnamese communities utilising mental health services in Australia, contributing to a greater cultural divide and miscommunication. I found a study into the research of the characteristics of Vietnamese patients attending an anxiety clinic in Australia and it found that Vietnamese people did not differentiate between concepts of ‘stress’, ‘anxiety’, and ‘depression’, believing that they were synonymous with each other (Wagner et al, 2006).

Like my mother who came to Australia from Vietnam, many Vietnamese people have very traditional beliefs about mental health – that it is a shameful and humiliating thing that must be kept hidden within the family for fear of ‘losing face’.

‘Losing face’ is an interesting concept; it means losing pride or respect and it is seen as a weakness – it is a shameful, dishonourable thing to admit that you need help. Social stigma has a strong hold and Vietnamese families prefer to hide their mentally ill family members until the problem becomes severe and professional help is needed (Chiu, 1994).

Apart from internalised stigma, external factors such as a lack of cultural awareness can also hinder communication (Sozomenou et al, 2000). According to one study, consumers thought that health professionals generally lacked cultural awareness when dealing with a diverse community.

Overcoming Barriers

Some of the barriers could be overcome by addressing the lack of knowledge about mental health services within the Vietnamese community. Transcultural Psychiatry (Wagner et al, 2006) suggests that by educating the community on these issues, including doctors and primary carers, would lead to better identification and treatment of mental illness. It is through education and awareness that mental illness can be destigmatised and understood.

In a western society, there is a reliance on the western biomedical model which is based on biological factors to the exclusion of environmental and social factors. This model, while very successful in treating illness in most western countries, could be incompatible or inappropriate for certain cultures. (Sozomenou et al, 2000).

It is also very important to have trained bilingual staff and interpreters who are able to overcome language and cultural barriers as they encourage more access to mental health services for those who share the language (Sozomenou et al, 2000). Jacky Yeung, a Fairfield Community Mental Health nurse, believes that their capacity to accommodate patients with a migrant background by having bilingual workers allows for better communication and engagement. Without this bridge, Mr Yeung says there are wild misconceptions about the mental health industry.

“Unfortunately, what I find with the Vietnamese community is that if there was no hospital or police involvement then we won’t know about what is happening; they tend to hide it within their family and we don’t know about it until something big happens because they think don’t trust mental health services. . . They think that they are being experimented on or that we are conspiring against them,” he said.

Concluding Thoughts

On a Sunday afternoon in December, we celebrated International Human Rights Day in Cabramatta. Many Vietnamese people came on stage in true Vietnamese style, took hold of the mic and belted out songs about their suffering and anguish since the fall of their country. While not understanding much of the lyrics, I could hear the emotions flowing through their words and heartbreak through their falsetto. This says to me that the community in Cabramatta is still recovering from their history and they are still dealing with their mental health.

But I also understand now that this community is dealing with its mental health every day but in a variety of different ways. They like community gatherings and they like karaoke.

From my findings, it is clear that mental health services are not very popular, but it is still important to provide access to such services that cater for this community because they experience mental health issues just as any people of any culture would. With continual training for professional staff alongside education and awareness in the community, Cabramatta will know where to seek the help it needs.

By Cindee Duong

Bibliography

Sozomenou, P. Mitchell, M. H. Fitzgerald, A. E,. Malak, D. Silove. Mental Health in a Culturally Diverse Society. National Mental Health Strategy, Mental Health Consumer Participation in a Culturally Diverse Society 2000, 89-131.
Australia Bureau of Statistics, 2014, Australian Social Trends 2014 Report, viewed 11 September 2016, < http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/Lookup/4102.0Main+Features102014>
Department of Immigration and Citizenship, Community Information Summary: Vietnam-born, Commonwealth of Australia 2014, viewed 17 September 2016, <https://www.dss.gov.au/sites/default/files/documents/02_2014/vietnam.pdf>
Fairfield City council: Social, Health and Housing, 2012, Fairfield City Mental Health Framework, viewed 30 September 2016, <http://www.fairfieldcity.nsw.gov.au/downloads/file/384/fairfield_city_health_framework>
R. Wagner, V. Manicavasagar, D. Silove, C. Marnane, V.T. Tran. Characteristics of Vietnamese Patients Attending an Anxiety Clinic in Australia and Perceptions of the Wider Vietnamese Community about Anxiety. Transcultural Psychiatry 1996, 259-271.
W.L. Hinton, J.D. Chen, C.G. Tran, J Miranda, S. Fraust. DSM-III-R Disorders in Vietnamese Refugees: Prevalence and Correlates. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease 1993, 1113-1122.

Behind the Photographer’s Lens

June 23, 2017

Photographer – Jennifer Blau

Last month, documentary photographer, Jennifer Blau, exhibited her portraits of people who had had an eating disorder in the series Just ask me how I feel, created in partnership with WayAhead. The portraits were shown at Manly Library as part of the international Head On photo exhibition that runs in Sydney every year.

Since we worked with Jennifer on this project as well as a video installation for Parramatta Library on eating disorders for Mental Health Month 2016, we thought it would be fascinating to get to know what makes the person behind the lens tick.

What made you want to work with WayAhead to create your portrait exhibition Just Ask Me How I Feel?

There were a couple of reasons…

Although no one in my family has experienced an eating disorder I have close friends whose children have been, and the effect can be devastating. So, at the very least, I hoped that this work might help someone.

It had also been a while since my last documentary portrait series because I’ve been doing a Masters in Art Therapy the last couple of years. I’d been wanting to re-engage with photography and work on a new portrait project and when Matthew Keighery at WayAhead suggested this to me, it seemed to dovetail my interests in photography and therapy. Within art therapy I’ve been learning about eating disorders.

One of the things I enjoy about portrait photography is the connection with my subject. It can be a privilege to be allowed into someone else’s world. People often feel quite vulnerable as they reveal themselves before the camera. So, in a similar way to establishing a safe place for a client in therapy, I aim to be sensitive to their needs for them to feel safe in my presence. The best portraits, I believe, always show some emotion in the subject and so this connection with subject is vital. For this series, I also asked the subjects to try to convey to me what they felt in their body when they experienced the feelings associated with the eating disorder.

You’ve photographed people who are often overlooked or underestimated by society, like women over 50, teenagers, people experiencing homeless and now those affected by eating disorders. What draws you to these subjects?

I’ve been interested in exploring ideas about identity, how people portray and perceive themselves. My work on teenager’s bedrooms was about how the bedrooms reflected the important and growing need for self expression and quest for identity – despite their parents’ obsession with the mess. With the women over 50, in my book The 50 Book: Women Celebrate Life, I explored the change of identity that occurs as women age, youth and beauty fade and significant roles, such as being nurturing mothers, subside. Women at this age can begin to feel worthless and invisible (or, conversely, liberated). I’m interested in transitions in life but also I think it’s important to show that what someone is currently experiencing does not necessarily define them, that there is a person underneath the label, whether you’re a defiant teenager, an empty nester, homeless or anorexic and everyone has similar emotions. I think that being photographed can help those who may feel misunderstood, undervalued or invisible feel acknowledged and validated. This has certainly been the case with people experiencing homelessness who I’ve photographed with Sydney Homeless Connect for the last six years (this work was exhibited at the State Library of NSW in 2013). It is always a wonderful experience to see the pleasure they receive in seeing themselves presented in a positive light, often in new clothes and a new haircut provided by other volunteers. We all like to have a good photograph of ourself as it boosts our self image but when going through difficult times it is even more important to counter negative feelings. Another area I’m also interested in further exploring is whether portrait photography might help people with body dimorphic disorders reconcile how they perceive their bodies.

What role do you think photography plays in broader conversations about social issues here in Australia?

As a documentary photographer (I did a masters in documentary photography at Sydney College of the Arts a few years ago) I am interested in people and their stories and the powerful way in which one still image remains tangible (as opposed to video images which are fleeting), can communicate so much, touch people emotionally, raise awareness and open a dialogue about important social issues related to marginalisation, diversity, inequality, including of course the stigma of mental illness. Platforms such as the Head On Photo Festival are fantastic as they allow so many important issues to be canvassed photographically and ever-increasing numbers of the public attend their exhibitions. As an example, Manly Library had 30,000 people viewJust Ask Me How I Feel so the marriage of the festival and community audience has enormous potential for creating awareness. Head On is now a significant international photo festival and attracts contributors from all over the world. Sadly, documentary photography is increasingly undervalued in the mainstream media especially with recent cutbacks in print journalism and to the work of photojournalists and so photographers need to find alternative ways of communicating.

You have a really interesting background, with an undergraduate degree in media and psychology, as well as experience working in publishing for children. How do these inform your photography work?

Yes, I started life studying both psychology and media but despite an ongoing interest, deviated from the psychology path until recently. I worked in TV, radio and then book publishing for 25 years firstly as a photo editor and picture researcher and later as a senior editor in illustrated books working in both adult non-fiction and children’s books. I’ve been lucky to have spent most of my working life looking at some of the world’s best images – both photographic and illustrative on all sorts of subjects – and incorporating them as a counterpart to the text in books I’ve worked on. So visual communication has always been important to me and the interplay between words and image has informed my work in books, my photographic work which is often supported by my subject’s words, and interestingly now my work in art therapy where nonverbal expression also works in tandem with talking therapy.

For you, what is the value in art therapy and what made you decide to pursue further study in it?

I have always had a yearning to pursue both counselling and photography and when I first heard of art therapy it seemed to combine both interests. Art therapy is a way of accessing unconscious material working creatively with the imagination. Lots of photographers (and other artists) pursue personal psychological themes in their work so I was curious to know how/whether photography might be incorporated into therapy. It can be used as therapeutic photography as a kind of self-help or can be used as a vehicle for expression and discussion with a therapist. So I am hoping to explore art therapy with a focus on using photography as a medium because photography is so accessible and ubiquitous. I’ve begun doing this with drug and alcohol rehab clients in my clinical placement.

What are you working on next and where can we see some of your other work if we missed the exhibition at Manly Library?

I’m not sure what is next for me but am committed to continuing with documentary photography and hopefully marrying this with my interests in mental health. Some of my work can be seen on my website jenniferblau.com and also in my book The 50 Book: Women Celebrate Life at the50book.com

By Tasnim Hossain

Talking about it: Celebrities opening up about mental health

June 23, 2017

Recently, several celebrities have opened up about their personal journey living with a mental health condition.

One of the most high-profile of these was musician Lady Gaga’s recorded FaceTime conversation with Prince William. The pair discussed the open letter Lady Gaga penned about what her life has been like, living with a mental health condition.

“There’s a lot of shame attached to mental illness, you feel like something is wrong with you and in my life, I go ‘oh my goodness, look at all of these beautiful, wonderful things that I have.’ And I should be so happy but you can’t help it if in the morning when you wake up, you are so tired, you are so sad, you are so full of anxiety and the shakes that you can barely think — but it was like saying ‘this is a part of me and that’s OK,” she said.

Prince William, along with his wife, Catherine, and Prince Harry, have started their own mental health promotion organisation, Heads Together. They created the organisation after identifying the prevalence of underlying mental health issues through their charity work and how it negatively affected people’s lives if it went untreated.

Heads Together Campaign

Prince Harry also recently made headlines when he opened up about his own struggle with his mental health resulting from never properly dealing with the grief he felt after his mother’s death, Princess Diana.

“I can safely say that losing my mum at the age of 12, and therefore shutting down all of my emotions for the last 20 years, has had a quite serious effect on not only my personal life but my work as well,” he said.

“I have probably been very close to a complete breakdown on numerous occasions when all sorts of grief and sort of lies and misconceptions and everything are coming to you from every angle,” Prince Harry said in an interview with the UK press.

Since seeking help, Prince Harry has been able to come to terms with the anger and grief he felt over Princess Diana’s death and now works with Heads Together to help break down the stigma which is still sometimes associated with mental health.

In Australia, AFL Sydney Swans player, Lance ‘Buddy’ Franklin, went public towards the end of 2015 when it became apparent he needed to take time out from the AFL finals series to start treatment options to gain control of his mental health. It was one of the most public personal stories of an Australian sports star’s mental health issues.

The response was overwhelmingly positive, with fans from across AFL teams, sporting codes and the wider community showing their support for Buddy’s mental health journey on social media and the more traditional press.

However, it wasn’t all positive; his partner, the model Jesinta Campbell, told Fairfax media at the time of Buddy’s return, “There have been some people in the media that have just said some really incredibly nasty and hurtful things that are just so left of field and so wrong in this day and age.”

Buddy returned to AFL during the 2016 season and was warmly welcomed back to the AFL family. Since returning to the field, Buddy has been shown a willingness to speak openly about his journey and lend his voice to encourage people who find themselves in a similar position to seek help, when they think they need to.

Since Lady Gaga and Buddy Franklin shared their experience, it has helped others feel comfortable sharing their experience living with a mental health condition, as shown by the comments made on social media.

Since its launch, Heads Together has used its public profile to get mental health into the mainstream media. Most recently Prince William sat down with British GQ to talk about the work of Heads Together, the stigma still faced by some people living with a mental health condition.

Sources

Lance Franklin article The Age

Heads Together

Prince Harry article UK Telegraph

Prince William article GQ Magazine

By Benjamin Graham

Into the Light

December 12, 2016

WayAhead is housed in a cooperative of three mental health advocacy organisations called “Collective Purpose” and one of the great benefits of this is that we are able to participate in other organisation’s events and vice versa.

One of our co-inhabitors “BEING” (the other is Mental Health Carers NSW) has been developing an Arabic Psychological Health Resource in the form of a collection of videos. These videos aim to raise awareness both of the rate and commonality of mental illness within the community and of resources and treatments that are available. To launch this resource BEING held an Arabic language panel on psychological health in Rockdale in July.

The panel featured five speakers….and was run entirely in Arabic. As a non-Arabic speaker I missed the nuances of the panel discussion but from the passion in the speakers tone and the small elements that were translated I gathered the importance of this conversation to the community.

One of the main points addressed with the importance of early intervention and the role that religious leaders had to play in this field. The stigma in to community towards the expression of mental illness has led to many individuals failing to seek help, possibly for years, until their mental health issue has developed into something far more serious.

Hend Saab, Clinical Psychologist was particularly passionate about this subject, saying she has seen many culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) individuals, young and old, who have presented to her in severe distress at a point where treatment has become challenging because of the long term nature of the issue. As a psychologist, she said one of the most upsetting things in this regard is that she is aware that people who present with long term issues have been suffering in silence for a long time.

She called on religious leaders to recognise the significant impact that mental health issues can have on the community and to ensure that individuals who approach them for help are referred to the correct mental health services as quickly as possible.

Hend Saab

“Sometimes the process of referral can take years, can cost thousands of dollars before the individual is referred to a psychologist.” She said. “Because people listen to their religious leaders and these leaders aren’t always educated in mental health.”

While both religious leaders – Sheikh Youssef Hassan and Father Yousef pointed out that mental health issues are prevalent across all cultures, not just the Arabic community, they both acknowledged the need to reduce stigma surrounding psychological assistance for mental distress and the important role religious leaders have to play in this.

Father Yousef noted that because religious leaders are often the first point of call for individuals experiencing something they don’t feel right about, it is imperative that they are trained to recognise the difference between spiritual health and psychological health and to treat the two separately. In doing this, and acknowledging the prevalence of mental health issues across the community religious leaders were hoping to reduce the stigma and shame associated with seeking professional help for their issues.

While there was a great diversity in expertise and known around the issue of mental health in CALD communities, all parties agreed that acceptance is importance to move forward in recovery. Mental illnesses are real and we have treatment and shame of one’s own illness (internal stigma) and shame within the community (external stigma) is a double duo that prevents many people from seeking help.

Being’s “Into the Light” resources are available on their website. If you are looking for an Arabic mental health service near you WayAhead’s directory allows you to search language preferences and provides relevant services. WayAhead also runs monthly anxiety support groups across the state as well as offering various programs such as small steps, anxiety forums, and will be running Mental Health Month in October.

Written by Jean Roxon

Sharing stories to improve mental wellbeing

December 12, 2016

As a species we have passed down our history and knowledge through stories, teaching others of the experiences of those who have gone before us and it is this premise that is behind a new group of women coming together to improve mental health and wellbeing.

An intrepid group of African women across the suburbs of Perth have come together to launch a range of social activities as a way to prove mental health and overall wellbeing through the ‘Courageous African Women Network’.

The network is a partnership initiative between the African Women’s Association and local not-for-profit mental health and wellbeing organisation, Richmond Wellbeing.

The initiative has a vision to establish a network of active women coming together to share stories, skills and support in a culturally and socially safe environment.

Richmond Wellbeing and the network are also using the classes to promote enhanced mental health through physical activity and counselling services. Activities also include workshops and training covering areas such as parenting, life-coaching, sexual health and safety, and other important lifestyle issues.

Yvonne Johnson, Chairperson of the Courageous African Women Network, says it is different for women to accept common mental health issues, such as depression and anxiety, but when they come together and share their experiences it changes the atmosphere.

“… When they meet with other women and begin to talk about some of their experiences then they can share knowledge and learn different ideas on how to deal with those issues affecting their mental wellbeing,” she says.

“It is important to provide services for women to get together and share their experiences and learn from each other different ways to address issues affecting their mental wellbeing.

“For instance, sometimes women find it difficult to discuss challenging behaviour of their children with strangers, but when women get together and build relationships and trust through shared experience they can gain new cultural ideas to deal with issues differently.”

Support of the Courageous African Women Network is an outreach initiative of Richmond Wellbeing’s Partners In Recovery (PIR) program.

Neil Guard, Richmond Wellbeing Chief Executive, says the PIR program was first introduced by the government to address the deeper challenges existing within the mental health system and to develop a genuine collaborative and cooperative approach by service providers.

“Through our Partners in Recovery program we aim to assist the Courageous African Women Network to nurture strong, confident, empowered women who have a positive vision for their futures and the future of our local communities. It’s also a great way to address issues such as depression amongst a very isolated community group,” he says.

“Life challenges and mental health issues affect people across all ages, nationalities and cultures. To positively impact overall health and wellbeing across these diverse demographics we need to encourage people to share their messages and experiences of acceptance and recovery.”

Written by Danielle Hanrahan

The Big Stigma

December 12, 2016

As scary as it may seem, mental illness doesn’t have to be fought alone, but for a quarter of young Australians who experience mental health problems each year, 1 in every four will not seek the help they need or talk to anyone about what they’re experiencing.

In light of these statistics Headspace, the National Youth Mental Health Foundation launched The Big Stigma awareness campaign. The campaign aims to tear down the stigma and negative perceptions around mental illness for young people, and encourage conversation. The data found that 52 percent of young Australians who suffer mental illness are too embarrassed to talk about their problems. With a quarter either not discussing their issues with anyone including close friends or the family doctor.

The campaign began in Melbourne and was a physical representation of mental health stigma taking shape as a dome structure. Outside of Southern Cross Station, members of the public were invited to tear off a piece of the dome with information on the back of each panel explaining mental illness and where and how to get help. The result is that the stigma dome gets smaller and smaller the more people tear it down and learn about mental health.

The Big Stigma now exists as an online campaign thebigstigma.com.au, where people can tear down the stigma virtually and share it on Facebook and Twitter, encouraging their friends and family to tear down negative perceptions as well. It also has the personal stories of three headspace ambassadors who in the past kept quiet about their struggles, but are now hoping to prevent others from making the same mistakes they did. Headspace also hope to educate people on the tools and resources out there on where to seek help and the benefits of doing so.

On a personal note one of my close friends is starting to experience symptoms of anxiety. At the moment she hasn’t told anyone, and like many 20 year olds is choosing to keep her feelings to herself rather than burden others with her struggles, and worries abouthow people might see her differently. As I’m not supposed to know that she has having these thoughts and feelings, I can’t just start giving her advice and support as freely as I would like.But if she or anyone in the same situation is reading this I say TELL SOMEONE. If not me then another friend, your mum, your doctor. You are not a burden. What you’re feeling is totally valid and nothing to be ashamed of. I will help you find the right kind of treatment and support you whichever way you may want me to, be that big or small. I will never judge you on the decisions you make or the way you feel. I might not be able to talk to my friend about this right now, but that doesn’t mean you can’t talk to the person in your life that is silently suffering. Or if you are the friend that needs help, don’t shut your loved ones out. They want to support you. You don’t have to go through this alone.

Tearing down the stigma can start with a simple conversation. ental illness is nothing to be ashamed of. The more it’s discussed and talk about in an open conversation, then the easier it will be for you or someone you know to seek the treatment or support needed and not to have to go through it alone.

thebigstigma.com.au

Meet Jo – Carer, Sister, Aunt, Mother

December 12, 2016

Jo is a resilient woman.

As a carer to her sister and nephew, both of whom lived with schizophrenia, and then to her son, who developed clinical depression and bipolar disorder, she has experienced a road full of personal heartache and despair, and while there have been moments on her journey where her resolve has wavered, it has never diminished.

As an ambassador of SANE Australia’s Thriving Communities campaign, which aims to raise awareness of the benefits online support and social connection can have on Australians whose lives are affected by complex mental illness, Jo’s voice is one that demands to be heard. She represents a group of individuals whose efforts to support family and other individuals living with mental illness is severely underestimated.

“Burnout goes hand-in-hand with the job of caring because unlike other means of employment, there are no holidays, no weekends off and the carers’ pension is not great.

“The build-up of sleep deprivation and physical and mental exhaustion spawns feelings of defeat, failure and a loss of self-esteem, self-confidence and self-worth, creating a gradual loss of identity.”

For Jo, the pressure to care for her loved ones, together with the lack of support at the time for services to assist carers, led her to relieve the stress and anxiety of her role by turning to alcohol and later, Valium. The effects of each would only be temporary and the weight on her shoulders would return come the rise of the sun in the morning.

Eventually, she would develop healthier methods of dealing with stress, such as journaling, which she would utilise in the aftermath of her nephew’s suicide at the age of 19 and her sister’s death eight weeks later.

“Writing my feelings and thoughts down on paper – my guilt, grief, depression and anger – definitely helped me to cope.”

One example of an entry in her journal highlights the loneliness and pain Jo experienced during this turbulent time. The following is an excerpt of an entry she wrote on the night of her nephew’s funeral.

“Dear Joel,

Maybe in time I would have been able to communicate with you successfully. Maybe someone would have come up with a cure for schizophrenia. As a child, you slept in my bed with me and I felt so much love for you I thought my heart would burst. You were such an angry little boy at times. No Dad and a Mum who was always sick. It wasn’t fair, was it Joel?

I remember your gentleness with every living creature – rescuing grasshoppers from cats and carefully affixing cobwebs to one side of the garden path each morning so that the spider could retrieve its nightly catch of mosquitoes.

Although I couldn’t cope with your adult rebellion, my heart ached for the frightened little boy hiding in the corners of your living nightmare.

I’ve been given your wallet as a memento, Joel. It contains 15 cents and your health benefits card. These were your worldly possessions.

I don’t know what to do with your wallet. I can’t bear to look at it, yet I can’t dispose of it either. I’ll keep it in the glove box of my car for the time being. Does that seem a strange place to keep it Joel? It is as strange as the place where I keep my feelings hidden. But I don’t know what to do with them either.”

She was put to the test again when her son developed clinical depression and bipolar disorder, and she would became his full-time carer.

While there were no support groups and online forums during Jo’s lowest moments in the 1970s and 1980s, these days she acknowledges there are a number of services and charities carers can access to help them cope with the stress and exhaustion of their roles.

“Carers need to be able to be in contact with professionals who are understanding and compassionate, who can advise and help. But they also need to be in contact with other carers so they can realise they are not alone.

“Its extremely important carers seek support from professionals, carers’ support groups and, if it’s impossible to leave the house, join the wonderful online forums that now exist. SANE Australia has a carers’ forum where you can talk to fellow carers from all over Australia at any time of the day and night, and it is anonymous.”

Passionate about advocating for the support services carers need, Jo also runs workshops across Australia. During these one-day or weekend workshops, she facilitates a safe and supportive space where carers can connect with others who share the same feelings, thoughts and experiences as them. Together with fostering connection, Jo teaches meditation and relaxation exercises, creative writing and journaling – the activities she cultivated to help in her darkest hours.

For Jo, it’s all about balance and making sure that as a carer you look after yourself too.

“It is important to take care of yourself so strive to get enough sleep, if possible, and certainly eat healthily. You need to remind yourself that if you got sick, who would look after your loved one?”

Written by Danielle Hanrahan

During July, WayAhead, Being and Mental Health Carers NSW hosted a farewell lunch at the joint Collective Purpose office for outgoing NSW Mental Health Commissioner John Feneley.

By Benjamin Graham

By Cindee Duong

Caught in the cycle of ‘need experience to get a job; need a job to get experience’, mental health issues such as stress, anxiety and depression are rising alongside unemployment rates – and young Australians are among those who are the most affected.

By Cindee Duong

For many years, Cabramatta was known as the heroin capital of Australia. Crime on the streets was rife, so was racism, and people were scared. I have many memories of wanting to play in the park but not being allowed to because there were needles on the ground.

A Little History…

Cabramatta Mental Health Issues

Barriers

Overcoming Barriers

Concluding Thoughts

By Cindee Duong

Bibliography

What made you want to work with WayAhead to create your portrait exhibition Just Ask Me How I Feel?

You’ve photographed people who are often overlooked or underestimated by society, like women over 50, teenagers, people experiencing homeless and now those affected by eating disorders. What draws you to these subjects?

What role do you think photography plays in broader conversations about social issues here in Australia?

You have a really interesting background, with an undergraduate degree in media and psychology, as well as experience working in publishing for children. How do these inform your photography work?

For you, what is the value in art therapy and what made you decide to pursue further study in it?

What are you working on next and where can we see some of your other work if we missed the exhibition at Manly Library?

By Tasnim Hossain

Recently, several celebrities have opened up about their personal journey living with a mental health condition.

Sources

By Benjamin Graham

WayAhead is housed in a cooperative of three mental health advocacy organisations called “Collective Purpose” and one of the great benefits of this is that we are able to participate in other organisation’s events and vice versa.

As a species we have passed down our history and knowledge through stories, teaching others of the experiences of those who have gone before us and it is this premise that is behind a new group of women coming together to improve mental health and wellbeing.

Jo is a resilient woman.

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