Unpaid social contributions valued at $237 billion

Australians generated at least $287.86 billion in value through unpaid social contributions in 2021, according to a new report from the University of Sydney's Mental Wealth Initiative.

The report, A Contributing Life: A Snapshot of the Value of Social Production, shines a spotlight on the unseen value Australians contribute to national prosperity in terms of social production value that traditionally lies outside of the boundary of gross domestic product (GDP). Social production is made up of unpaid contributions to society, including carer roles, among others.

Nearly 1 in 200 people homeless on Census night in 2021

More than 122,000 people in Australia experienced homelessness on Census night, an increase of 5.2 per cent from 2016, according to data released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).

Georgia Chapman, ABS head of homelessness statistics, said this represents 48 people experiencing homelessness for every 10,000 people, compared with 50 people for every 10,000 in 2016.

New funding announced to tackle homelessness

$67.5 million in funding was announced this week to help homeless services address serious challenges that were revealed in the latest Census data. This funding will assist services through the National Housing and Homelessness Agreement in 2023-24 as the Federal Government develops a new National Housing and Homelessness Plan to begin in 2024-25.

Study reveals high rates of physical and mental health problems in children held in detention

A sample of asylum seeking children and young people held on Nauru were found to have high rates of physical and mental health problems around the time of transfer from Nauru, according to new research. The study also found that most had multiple adverse childhood experiences in their lifetime, including disruptions to education, family separation and witnessed trauma.

Early psychosocial supports program extended

The Victorian State Government has extended the Early Intervention Psychological Support Response (EIPSR) by two years.

Designed for individuals who can't yet access or aren't eligible for the NDIS, the EIPSR program provides short to medium term psychosocial support for Victorians aged 16-64 years. There are ten NGOs delivering the EIPSR program: Mind Australia, Wellways Australia, EACH, Cohealth, Mallee Family Care, ERMHA, Star Health, Sacred Heart Mission, Mentis Assist and Uniting Vic Tas.

New acute mental health beds for women in Shepparton

Five new acute mental health beds have been opened, two in Shepparton Private Hospital and three in-home managed through Goulburn Valley Health, as part of a $100 million Australia-first Specialist Women's Mental Health Service. An additional 30 new beds will open in late 2023 at the Albert Road Clinic in Melbourne and will be delivered by Ramsay Health Care in partnership with Alfred Health.

10 new beds for Queensland mums experiencing mental health challenges

A new centre for parents experiencing mental health conditions like anxiety and depression is set to open at the Mater in South Brisbane.

$7 million in capital funding has been committed by the Queensland State Government along with $11 million in annual operational funding, and an additional $17 million in community donations to the Mater site, on which the facility is to be built.

headspace Osborne Park moves to new centre

Headspace Osborne Park and Early Psychosis Service has moved into a new purpose-built centre. Only a short walk from the Glendalough train station and a nearby shopping centre, the new centre features free parking and is fully wheelchair accessible. 

Implementation Plan released for suicide prevention in Tasmania

The Tasmanian State Government has released the first Implementation Plan of the new Tasmanian Suicide Prevention Strategy which aims to reduce suicide in Tasmania and build more connected and compassionate communities.

The third suicide prevention strategy for Tasmania - Compassion and Connection: Tasmanian Suicide Prevention Strategy 2023-2027 - sets out the government's vision and priorities for preventing suicide over the next five years.

Next Thursday is World Bipolar Day

Every year, World Bipolar Day is celebrated on 30 March. In the words of the official website, "World Bipolar Day provides a moment to join together in solidarity around the goals of increasing awareness, acceptance and funding for this illness - all of which are key objectives of our forthcoming annual meeting, alongside promoting excellence in clinical care and research."

BEING is currently hiring

BEING - Mental Health Consumers is currently looking for a Suicide & Self Harm Community Engagement Coordinator. This role is key to ensuring the voice of lived experience people is included in service design and its implementation processes.

The Suicide & Self Harm Community Engagement Coordinator will:

• Establish and facilitate two state-wide lived experience online advisory
  groups,
• Raise advocacy issues of relevance to mental health consumers in NSW with
  lived experience of suicidality or self-harm, and
  
• Raise advocacy issues relating to suicide support peer workers when they
  arise.

Please note that this is an advocacy and community engagement role NOT a service provision role.

Attend a webinar in cultural intelligence 

This two-day virtual webinar program delivered by the Centre for Muslim Wellbeing will use the Cultural intelligence (CQ) model to explore culturally intelligent mental health care with Muslim clients and aims to improve Mental health practitioner cultural responsiveness to work more effectively with Australian Muslim clients.

This course builds on the introductory course: Cultural Intelligence in Mental Health Care Level 1 and explores core issues that may be elicited when working with Australian Muslims, common psychological presentations and strategies to engage Australian Muslims in mental health care. Level 1 course completion is not pre-requisite to participation in the Level 2 course.

Join Black Dog Institute's new Health Professional Resource & Education Hub

This custom-built platform provides GPs and Allied Health Professionals with access to evidence-based digital resources, including free CPD accredited webinars and online training modules, podcasts and other e-Mental Health in Practice content.

Connect with other health professionals through the Mental Health Community of Practice, and exchange ideas, thoughts, and experiences with peers via our moderated forums and hear from Black Dog Institute's team of experts.

New users are able to sign up for free as of this Monday. 

Contribute to the Electronic Prescribing Survey

The Australian Digital Health Agency is pleased to invite consumers and carers to participate in a national Electronic Prescribing survey.

Australia's first paperless prescription (also known as an electronic prescription) was issued in May 2020. Since then, over 115 million paperless prescriptions have been received by Australians from their healthcare providers. Electronic prescriptions are digital versions of a paper prescription.

The online survey aims to better understand the consumers' awareness, perceptions, and experiences with paperless prescriptions. The survey will not ask for health information or other information of a personal nature. All participants must be residing in Australia, aged 18 years and older and must have access to an appropriate device and the internet.