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MHYFVic Committee wishes the warmest of Festive Season Greetings to all our members and affiliates (notwithstanding the gloomy things that are happening in other places around the world). We hope that 2024 will be a rewarding year for all of us.
Our cornerstone event for the year will be the annual Winston Rickards Memorial Oration, which will be on the evening of Monday 25th March. Full details follow.
Another important event will be our Annual General Meeting, which will be on the evening of Thursday 25th July.
During 2024 we plan to hold some workshops on topics of interest. These, too, will be publicised in our mailouts. If any member has a suggested topic for future workshops, please let us know.
By Ruth Wraith and Dr Jennifer Re, Child and Adolescent Psychoanalytic Psychotherapists
Enhancing Mental Health for Children and Adolescents: Exploring the Potential of Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy in the 21st Century
“Today’s complex landscape of child and adolescent mental health brings a myriad of challenges such as ADHD, ASD, Anxiety Disorders and School Refusal.
Contemporary psychoanalytic psychotherapy, encompassing research, theory and practice, has significant relevance for applications in schools, specialist agencies and disaster contexts.
Beyond the clinic, the untapped potential of psychoanalytic thinking embraces not only individual personal development but also that of families, organizations and the wider community, impacting mental health and wellbeing policy and care services across society.”
At 7.30pm on Monday 25th March 2024, The Ian Potter Auditorium Melbourne
In Person and Zoom attendance both possible- further details will be publicised in January
The defeat of the Referendum for establishment of an indigenous voice to the Commonwealth parliament is acknowledged with sadness. The hoped-for levelling of the playing field for attention to the plight of indigenous people has not eventuated. However, despite this, the work of redressing the imbalance goes on.
The authors of the Uluru Statement asked for a week of contemplation before commenting. A deeply impressive reflection has been made by Aunty Pat Anderson, which can be viewed here.
New resources to share with families: Supporting children through experiences of bullying
Bullying is a common childhood experience that can cause physical and psychological harm. It’s important for all children and parents to talk about childhood bullying, know what to do if it occurs and how to best prevent it.
This suite of resources from Emerging Minds Families has been created to provide information and practical advice to parents and family members who are concerned about their child experiencing or being involved in bullying. The fact sheets include tips and strategies for supporting children, and information about services and helplines families may wish to contact. Share them with your clients today.
The recent Victorian Royal Commission into Mental Health ascertained that specialist services were generally available for serious mental disorders and that a range of primary care supports were available for mild disorders. However, it identified a “missing middle” of services for problems too difficult to respond to supportive measures but not serious enough for acceptance by area mental health services. To cater for this sector, it recommended establishment of local mental health and wellbeing services in two age-based streams 1) adult and aged care and 2) families and children 0-11 and youth from 12-25 years.
The Department has commenced planning between fifty and sixty of these for the adult stream but only three for the child and family hubs. Given that most disorders begin in the childhood years, and that prevention and early intervention is more cost-effective than later treatment of established disorders, it is imperative for higher priority to be given to the child and family hubs.
An integrated Child and Family Hub provides a ‘one-stop-shop’, where families can access a range of supports that improve child development as well as child and family health and wellbeing. The Hubs have two critical roles – improving access to a range of health, education and social services using a family centred approach, and providing opportunities to build parental capacity. More information is available at www.childandfamilyhubs.org.au
Mental Health for the Young and their Families (MHYFVic) advocates that the next State Budget makes provision for State and Local Government partnerships leading to the establishment of Child and Family Hubs in every Local Government Area.
Your comments would be welcome at admin@mhyfvic.org
After much thought our website has been significantly revised to give casual visitors immediate information about what we do and what we stand for, whilst at the same time allowing members to go straight to specific sections such as Projects or Newsletters or Events, without having to navigate past reams of information.
Now that the main revision has been implemented we are working on tasks of development of Projects to give us the evidence base for our advocacy. There are quite a few items under development at the present time which are not yet reflected in the website but over the next few months we expect to see a burgeoning of activity.
Annual membership of MHYFVic is now due.
Our mission is to promote improvements in mental health for the young and their families, so you receive our newsletters and notices whether or not you are a paid-up member.
Membership subscriptions of $50 per annum enable the organisation to maintain its website, mailbox, telephone service and to undertake its administrative tasks. If you value the work that MHYFVic does, we need your financial as well as your ethical support.
Send cheques to MHYFVic, PO Box 206, Parkville, Vic 3052; or Transfer funds to MHYFVic, BSB: 033 090 Account: 315188; write your name in the Reference tab. In addition, please send a confirmatory email to admin@mhyfvic.org
Mental Health for the Young & their Families in Victoria is a collaborative partnership between mental health & other health professionals, service users & the general public.
MHYFVic
PO Box 206,
Parkville, Vic 3052