MENTAL H EALTH CA RERS
ARAFMI
ILLAWARRA Inc
Newsletter
1 Atchison St Wollongong
NSW 2500
Ph 42541699
April/ May 2016
Email: [email protected]
www.arafmiillawarra.org.au
On a happier note I would like to welcome
incoming staff and new students that will be
placed within the ARAFMI office and
programs over the next coming months. We
welcome:
Suzanne Freund
Hello to our Carers, family members and
friends. I hope you had a wonderful Easter.
On a sad note and on behalf of our service I
would like to say thank you and a sad
farewell to Sanela Mizdrak and Hanna
Akkaway, two of our provisional Psychologists
who are leaving our service to pursue other
exciting pathways in their career in
psychology.
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Hanna has been with our service going on 12
months where she commenced her placement
which included Carer counselling at ARAFMI
and SCP, MMR group facilitation and the “My
Sanctuary” Support Group. Like Hanna,
Sanela also had an influencing presence as a
co-facilitator for the My Sanctuary Support
Group for Carers.
What might be our loss is certainly someone
else’s gain. Hanna and Sanela have been a
part of many of our carers’ journeys and I am
certain Hanna and Sanela will be greatly
missed by all who crossed their path within
ARAFMI and our support groups.
Suzanne has extensive experience in counseling and as
an educator in Mental Health First Aid and Suicide
Prevention along with many other skills that she brings
to our service. Suzanne will be providing carer
counseling and carer check up’s within the ARAFMI
program and consulting at South Coast Private
Hospital.
We also welcome our Psychology students Conor
Farland and Nahida Haoui who will be available for our
carer check up’s. We also have Mitchell Devers who has
been designing and implementing our new Carer Check
Up
Along with Jason Van Mouwerik who is completing his
diploma of counseling, Kirby Mead is completing her
diploma of youth work and Lauren Wain completing her
Cert IV in Mental Health. On behalf of the ARAFMI
service and carers welcome to our team.
Kelly Parrish
friendships. Our information evenings and our
community awareness sessions are open to all
interested community members. Our carer focused
evenings including caring and sharing groups are for
carers only.
We have some new workshops starting that cover skills
to assist carers with self esteem, emotions and self
soothing to name a few.
Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) is a complex
mental disorder that affects people’s thoughts,
emotions and behaviours, making it difficult to cope in
all areas of life.
The core features of BPD are intense, uncontrollable
emotions, a pattern of troublesome relationships and a
disturbed sense of self or identity. People with BPD
may appear to lead chaotic lives, act impulsively or
intentionally harm themselves as a method of coping.
BPD can be difficult for other people to understand,
and people with this disorder are often unfairly
stigmatised. Even the name can be confusing, as it was
originally named because the symptoms seemed to be
‘on the border’ between psychotic and neurotic
disorders.
“MY SANCTUARY” A Personality Disorder Support
Group (for carers), this group is held on the 1st and 3rd
Tuesdays of the month (5.30-7.30pm) at South Coast
Private Hospital in Burelli Street. Please register your
interest via email or phone.
Our Social Group for Carers is on the 1st Wednesday of
the month. This is for Carers who like a Coffee, Cake
and a Chat with other carers.
To register your interest for these groups please contact us on
4254 1699, or email us at: [email protected].
(Registering doesn’t mean you need to attend every group, it
is so we can notify carers of changes and / or cancellations)
However, many health professionals agree it needs a
more appropriate name. Some people who have this
disorder have said they would prefer to be known as
having a highly sensitive soul, and more often than not
BPD is associated with Complex Trauma
If you would like to register for this support group you
can contact us on 42 541699. An appointment will be
made to see one of our Carer Counsellors and then a
referral into the support group will be made.
Carers do not need to attend all group meetings but
registration of the group is essential for communication
purposes so they can be notified of any changes to the
group.
The group is on the 1st and 3rd Tuesday of the month at
5.30- 7.30pm
If you would like to attend our general support groups
for all carers, why not give one of our other support
groups a try? A break for a couple of hours once a
week may be the start of some lovely friendships with
likeminded people. Contact us for details.
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Other Support Groups!
Currently we have a “General Carer Support Group”
which is held on Thursday nights at 6.30-8.30pm this
group is open to all carers and family members. The
group has caring and sharing evenings, guest speakers
(an agenda is available) and carer and family outings.
This group gives carers the opportunity to unite
together and receive support and make new
2016 Mental Health Month theme has
been announced - Learn & Grow.
The theme carries a simple but important
message – that each of us learn about our
mental health and by doing so grow. By
learning we are empowering ourselves and
others to take an active approach towards
good mental health and wellbeing.
The Learn & Grow message also aims to
reduce the stigma around mental health by
increasing mental health literacy and
encouraging help seeking behaviours.
The Recovery Learning Network
Tim Heffernan visited our carer support group last
week and spoke on RichmondPRA’s Recovery
Learning Network.
The Recovery Learning Network is a state wide
model of recovery education. The idea that
recovery could be enhanced by education and not
just medication saw the establishment of
Recovery Education Centres in the USA in 2000
and Recovery Colleges in the UK from 2009.
Mostly these Recovery Colleges are run by public
mental health services and in the UK their number
has grown to over 30. Tim was a Peer Educator in
the first NSW Recovery College at South East
Sydney Local Health District, after travelling to
Boston, USA in 2013 to participate in Boston
University’s Centre for Psychiatric Rehabilitation’s
Global Leadership Institute.
The Recovery Learning Network will be run and
staffed by Peer Educators and will be piloted in
two Recovery Learning Communities in
Wollongong and Newcastle. Traditional day to day
living centre’s, like the New Outlook will be
transformed to become places of layered
education that is suited to the individual’s stage of
recovery. Through a process of partnership and
collective impact the Wollongong Recovery
Learning community will support people back to
social inclusion, mainstream education and work.
Please see links for further information about
recovery information below.
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UK Recovery Collegeshttp://www.imroc.org/recovery-colleges/
SESLHD Recovery College http://www.seslhd.health.nsw.gov.au/Recovery_
College/
Recovery Education, Boston University https://cpr.bu.edu/living-well/services/health
“People can and do recover from even the
most serious mental health problems.
Recovery means being able to live a good
life, as defined by the person, with or
without symptoms.”
-Scottish Recovery Network
The Illawarra Women’s Health Centre is looking to
interview young women aged 18-35 who have an
intellectual disability who can be involved in a research
project. The interviews will take place from March to
May 2016.
The project is called Breaking The Silence and it aims to
find out about the experience of young women who
may have had violence of any kind in their life. We
want to learn how to help these women find safety
and get better help with this issue. We want to hear
their stories and learn from their experiences.
The interviews will be private and confidential and
held at the Centre in Warilla. A woman can contact the
Centre herself or can be referred by a disability worker
or carer. The interviews will take about an hour.
If you or anyone you know wants to find out more
please call Kim Sattler on 4255 6800 to arrange a time
to meet. If you want to bring a friend or carer you are
welcome to do so.
Domestic Violence & Disability Project Officer
Breaking the Silence Project
Illawarra Women's Health Centre
2/10 Belfast Ave, Warilla
t:
4255 6800
e: [email protected]
Making Mental Health Recovery a
Reality for All
SRN is a non-profit program aiming to promote and
support recovery from mental illness. They act as a
catalyst for change by sharing ideas and practice.
SRN aims to see greater awareness and expectation of
mental health recovery.
They use a strategic approach to their online
communications to help achieve this through: social
media, multimedia including videos and podcasts,
emails, booklets and leaflets as well as being able to
write to them about your own recovery journey.
http://scottishrecovery.net
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Panel
Forum & Survey Launch
On Friday 18th March I had the pleasure of
attending the Post Traumatic Stress Disorder
Panel Forum & Survey Launch hosted by South
Coast private Hospital.
This gave me a great insight to the UOW PTSD
survey that is being facilitated by Dr. Emma Barkus
from the University of Wollongong. This
presentation was alongside a presentation on the
Trauma Focused - PTSD Program that South Coast
Private hospital is offering people who live with
the effects of PTSD. This program was highlighted
by Cinzia Gagliardi, Clinical Program Manager and
gave the audience a firsthand look into the
program “Many Faces of PTSD and Effective
Treatment”. The audience also had the pleasure of
hearing from Professor Bashir on her empathetic
views on PTSD and how professor Bashir
continues to highlight this syndrome within the
wider community.
It is great to see such a supportive community
behind such an important and often
misunderstood illness, thank you to South Coast
Private for hosting such an event, an important
area that touches many lives throughout our
community and families.
Above: Dr Emma Barkus from the University of Wollongong
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Left: Cinzia Gagliardi,
Clinical Program Manager
from South Coast Private
Hospital presenting their
PTSD program.
Carers NSW is calling on anyone who cares for a family
member or friend to speak out and help advocate for
unpaid carers by completing the Carers NSW 2016
Carer Survey. Every response will contribute directly to
the support of carers and Carers NSW advocacy work.
A carer is any individual who provides care and support
to a family member or friend who has a disability,
mental illness, drug and/or alcohol dependency,
chronic condition, terminal illness or who is frail.
Carers come from all walks of life, cultural backgrounds
and
age
groups.
There are over 850,000 unpaid family and friend carers
living in NSW alone and findings from the Carers NSW
2014 Carer Survey indicate that one-in-four carers
provide in excess of 70 hours of care per week. The
2014 survey also highlights the significant personal
consequences of providing so many hours of care,
including poorer wellbeing, increased need for
support, and difficulty in accessing services.
The results from the 2014 Carer Survey did show
several positive trends, for example, the number of
carers who stated that they started caring because
they wanted to was more than double those who felt
they had no choice and the positive value of caring for
a loved one was consistently reported to be greater
than
the
negative
impacts
of
caring.
Carers NSW CEO, Elena Katrakis said “The Carer Survey
is a vital piece of research which enables us to identify
the areas of greatest need amongst carers.”
“Findings from the Carer Survey allow us to target our
work and focus on the things that matter most to
carers.” said Ms Katrakis.
The Carer Survey is being conducted by Carers NSW in
collaboration with researchers from the University of
Wollongong, UNSW Australia, Macquarie University,
University of Sydney, Australian Catholic University,
and University of Melbourne. The survey is completely
anonymous and is open to any unpaid family or friend
carer over the age of 16, living in NSW. Results from
the survey will be published in a publicly available
Carers NSW report, a number of peer reviewed
journals and will be used to influence advocacy work.
The Carers NSW 2016 Carer Survey is available online
until Saturday 30 April 2016. If you'd like to contribute,
please visit:
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/2016CarerSurvey
Lunch provided
ARAFMI Illawarra is proud to be an approved sponsor
organisation in the Work and Development Order
(WDO) Scheme.
The WDO Scheme is a world first program administered in
partnership by the NSW Department of Police and Justice,
State Debt Recovery, Legal Aid NSW and the Aboriginal Legal
Service NSW/ACT. WDOs are orders, made by State Debt
Recovery, that allow eligible people to “pay-off” outstanding
fines by undertaking unpaid work, counselling, courses or
treatment programs.
Unpaid fines lead to licence sanctions, debt stress and
compounding disadvantage. The WDO Scheme provides an
opportunity for vulnerable people in our community to
reduce their fines debt while they develop skills, engage
with support services and receive treatment.
ARAFMI Illawarra is approved to provide voluntary unpaid
work, case management, counselling or life skills courses as
WDO activities for eligible members. We may also support
eligible members to do a WDO on referral to other services
for education, counselling or treatment programs.
Phone Kelly Parrish on 4254 1699 for more information.
The Three C’s
Group for Carers
“Coffee - Cake n
Chat”
A social group for carers who support a friend or
family member living with a mental illness, who
want to meet other carers for a coffee and chat. This
group is about friendship, peer support and
understanding.
This group is on the first Wednesday of every month.
10am—12pm
Please call us to register your interest for this group,
so we can keep you updated on venues and changes.
Phone; 4254 1699
Free workshop for Carers at
Shellharbour
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Do you care for a family member or a friend who has a
chronic or mental illness, disability or is frail aged?
Dates: Wednesday May 11th, 18th & 25th
Time: 9:30am – 2:30pm
Venue: The Disability Trust Level 1 11A/75 Cygnet Ave
To register please phone the Wollongong Hospital
Social Work Department on 4253 4501 or email
[email protected]
Come to our three day workshop and learn how to
manage stress, meet other carers and find out about
services that can help you.
What’s On
April and May !!
When: Thursday 7th April
Carer Focused
Focus – Caring and Sharing
Facilitator: Kelly
Time: 6.30pm – 8.30pm
Where: Group Venue
When: Thursday 14th April
Focus – Carer Focused / Mindfulness
Facilitator: Sarah Read
Time: 6.30pm – 8.30pm
Where: Group Venue
Registration: 4254 1699
Thursday 21st April
Focus – Community Awareness / Schizophrenia respite Services
Guest Speaker: Lynne Hutton
Time: 6.30pm – 8.30pm
Where: Group Venue
Registration: 4254 1699
Thursday 28th April
Focus – Carer Outing
Time: 6.30pm – 8.30pm
Where: Venue to be confirmed, contact ARAFMI for details
Thursday 5th May
Focus – Caring & Sharing
Facilitator: Kelly
Time: 6.30pm – 8.30pm
Where: Group Venue
Thursday 12th May
Focus – Community Awareness / Hearing Voices Network
Guest Speaker—
Venue: South Coast Private Hospital- 6.30pm
Registration: 4254 1699
Thursday 19th May
Focus – Navigating the Mental Health System
Facilitator: ISLHD Mental Health Representative
Time: 6.30pm – 8.30pm
Where: Group Venue
Registration: 4254 1699
Thursday 26th May
Focus – Carer Outing
Time: 6.30pm – 8.30pm
Where: Venue to be confirmed, contact ARAFMI for details
Would $500 assist you
with education costs?
On 15 March 2016, Mental Health Carers Arafmi NSW
facilitated a successful launch for two important
resources for carers. A Practical Guide for working with
carers of people with a mental illness and the NDIS
Literature Review for Carers.
The Smith Family delivers Saver Plus, a FREE
matched savings and financial education
program where you could receive up to
$500 for educational costs. There's no catch
- you save first, then your savings get
matched!
To be eligible you must:
 have a Centrelink Health Care or a Pensioner
Concession Card
 have a child at school or be in study yourself
 have some form of household income
Call or SMS Lindi Jamieson-Brown, your
local Saver plus Coordinator at, the Smith
Family
on 1300 610 355
Upcoming Guest Speakers for April
and May 2016
The Practical guide evokes the fundamental principles
of collaborative work for carers towards recovery. The
MIND Literature review examines the impact of
individualised funding on family carers of people with
psychosocial disability in the context of the NDIS.
Lynne Hutton from Schizophrenia respite Service will
be visiting our carer support group on the 21st April
Lynne will be talking about current programs and
respite options for carers and their family members.
On the 12th May we will be having a guest speaker
from the Hearing Voices Network who will talk to us
about current support for people who have paranoia
and / or who hear voices.
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On the 19th May we have a representative from our
local mental health services will be also coming to talk
to us on how best to navigate through the mental
health system affectively, and update us on any
changes to our local services.
Above from left to right: Chris Havron President ARFAMI Australia,
Janne McMahon & Judy Hardy from the Private Mental Health
Consumer Carer Network (Australia) and CEO ARAFMi NSW Jonathan
Harms holding the new Practical Guide for working with carers.
The guides can be found at http://www.arafmi.org
Or you can call ARAFMI Illawarra on 42 541699 and we
can have a practical guide emailed to you.
Carer Rights
Primary carers and designated
carers

advocate for both Carers’ and Consumer
rights, regarding standards of treatment and
care)
To appeal to the Mental Health Tribunal
against the refusal to discharge the consumer
The term ‘primary carer’ in the Act has been
changed and is now known as a ‘Designated Carer’
(s71). Any primary carer nominations that were
current as at 31 August 2015 remain in force,
although they are known from that date as
designated carer nominations.
Principal care providers
A new type of Carer has been added to the Act,
the Principal Care Provider (s72A). The Principal
Care Provider is the person who is primarily
responsible for providing day to day support
and/or care but is not wholly or substantially paid
on a commercial basis (s72A(1)).
ARAFMI’s Website Pick
The written word is truly an amazing thing. With the help
of it we can record our innermost thoughts and spread
them if we like. With the help of the written word we can
look far, far back into time, through the decades, the
centuries
and,
yes,
even
the
millennias.
Today I would like to look back into the past and see what
the wise people who have walked on this earth can tell us
about happiness and how to uncover it. No matter if you
live today or lived two thousand years ago.
1.
“Thousands of candles can be lighted from a single
candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened.
Designated Carers’ and ‘Principle Care Providers’
Rights
Happiness never decreases by being shared.”
Buddha
2.
As a result of changes to the 2007 Mental Health
ACT, applicable for 31st August 2015, Designated
Carers and Principle Care Providers have the right
to be advised:
“Happiness is the art of never holding in your mind the
memory of any unpleasant thing that has passed.”
Unknown
3.
“To be happy, we must not be too concerned with
others.”
Albert Camus
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By the treating physician about events
impacting on the consumer detained in a
mental health unit.
If the consumer stays away from the mental
health unit without permission.
If the consumer is re-classified or admitted as
a voluntary patient
If consideration for a Community Treatment
Order or application is being made
If a Community Treatment Order is varied or
application is being considered
To know the person for whom they care is
being admitted to a Mental Health Unit.
Regarding the types and dosage of
medication being administered to the
consumer.
To have an Official Visitor visit. (Official
Visitors Program aims to safeguard and
4.
“If you want happiness for an hour — take a nap.’
If you want happiness for a day — go fishing.
If you want happiness for a year — inherit a fortune.
If you want happiness for a lifetime — help someone
else.”
Chinese Proverb
5.
“The moments of happiness we enjoy take us by
surprise. It is not that we seize them, but that they seize
us.”
Ashley Montagu
101 Inspiring Happiness Quotes by Henrik
Edberg.
http://www.positivityblog.com/index.php/
2013/08/20/happiness-quotes/
ARAFMI Illawarra is conducting research into the term
Consumer and Carer that is used in the Mental Health
Industry.
112 Burelli St
Wollongong NSW 2500
Phone: 1800 250 000
www.Southcoastprivate.com.au
“Creating the best private mental health hospital for our
region”
After hearing many views on this subject in recent years
we have decided to conduct some more formal
research on the use these terms within the Illawarra.
The survey is strictly anonymous with no names or
contact details requested.
If you would like to participate please click on the link
below:
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/J5WKYZ5
We thank you for your time and if you would like any
further information about this survey or ARAFMI
Illawarra please call 02 42541699 or email
[email protected] au.
Brahma Kumaris Australia
41 Brentwood Ave, Figtree
Ph: 42 272 241
Please call for bookings
Please call to book in or to find out about our
meditation programs
Email: [email protected]
Wollongong Legal Aid Office
73 Church St
Wollongong NSW 2500
(02) 4228 8299
ARAFMI would like to thank all of our
community supporters and partners.
Rotary Club of Dapto
YOU ARE NOT ALONE!
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Mental Health Carers "ARAFMI Illawarra" is funded by
the ISLHD NGO Grant Program through NSW Health.
We would like to acknowledge and thank them for their
ongoing support of our organisation.