Welcome - ACT Mental Health Consumer Network
Welcome to the home page of the ACT Mental Health Consumer Network, an organisation that is run by consumers for consumers.
Recent / Upcoming Events
- Monday, 29 June 2009
3.00 pm - 4.00 pm
Canberra Hearing Voices Group - meeting
[Griffin Centre - Level 2 (Meeting Room 9), 20 Genge Street, Canberra City] - Tuesday, 30 June 2009
6.00 pm - 6.30 pm
Mental Illness Education ACT - 'Opening Minds' radio program
[ 2XX FM = 98.3 MHz or http://www.2xxfm.org.au/08/ ] - Tuesday, 7 July 2009
5.00 pm - 7.30 pm
* Mental Health Community Coalition ACT - Consumer / Carer Caucus meeting *
[Griffin Centre - Level 3 (Meeting Room 13), 20 Genge Street, Canberra City] - Friday, 10 July 2009
10.00 am - 12.00 noon
ACT Transcultural Mental Health Network - meeting
[Theo Notaras Multicultural Centre, North Building - 2nd Floor, 180 London Circuit, Canberra City] - Tuesday, 21 July 2009
11.30 am - 1.30 pm
ACT Mental Health Consumer Network - Management Committee meeting
[Griffin Centre - Level 2 (Meeting Room 9), 20 Genge Street, Canberra City]
Mental Health in the Media
Here are some links to interesting articles about Mental Health and related issues :- Voices of "From Shadow to Light", a look at mental health in Saskatchewan
Regina Leader-Post [Saskatchewan, CANADA] 19 June 2009
"It's not their job, yet police officers are often the first to respond to mental health crises. Are they adequately prepared? Thursday's stories will address that question and raise others. On the surface it seems simple: laws are made to protect the public and the courts enforce the laws. What isn't so simple is what to do with mentally ill people who break the law. Are they criminals?" The Canberra Times [Australian Capital Territory, AUSTRALIA] 21 June 2009
"Defence has settled one of its longest-running, most contentious and costly legal disputes with a former Royal Australian Air Force officer it sacked for suffering depression. After a decade-and-a-half of legal action costing taxpayers an estimated $15 million, the Defence Department has finally made a generous settlement with former Wing Commander Russell Vance.""Psychiatric diagnoses are less reliable than star signs"
The Times [U.K.] 22 June 2009
"According to Bentall, the evidence supports a treatment model that relies on supportive relationships rather than pills. ‘What works is being kind and listening to people, encouraging them to be optimistic and treating them with respect. The tragedy of psychiatry is that it makes patients feel that they are objects to be chemically tinkered with by a bunch of arrogant people in suits.’ "- Mental health
ABC News [AUSTRALIA] 22 June 2009
"Greens MLA Amanda Bresnan says health services need to work with different government programs to effectively help those suffering a mental illness. ‘There has been some movement on the issue, obviously 7.7 per cent of the ACT health budget going towards mental health is good,’ she said. ‘But I guess what we're saying is what will help to achieve that goal of 12 per cent is if we do adopt a whole of government approach.’ Ms Bresnan says that target is shared by the Victorian Government and it has already been achieved in New Zealand." - $1.2 million for health promotion projects
Katy Gallagher, MLA - Media Releases [Australian Capital Territory, AUSTRALIA] 24 June 2009
"Women's Centre for Health Matters - ‘Peer support for women living with mental health issues’. The goal of the project is to develop peer support programs in the ACT for women living with a mental illness in order to connect/reconnect with their community and to build support/social networks. This will be achieved through a consortium of organisations led by the Women's Centre for Health Matters."