The Council of Australian Governments (COAG) has agreed to targets in the areas of health, education and employment for Closing the Gap on Indigenous disadvantage.
Early childhood ; Economic participation ; Governance and leadership ; Health ; Healthy homes ; Safe communities ; Schooling
The Clearinghouse contains a large number of links and documents on indigenous issues. An email alert service is also available via free subscription
Endorsement of the plan represents commitment by all governments to implementation of the following vision for mental health set out in the National Mental Health Policy 2008:
"a mental health system that enables recovery, that prevents and detects mental illness early and ensures that all Australians with a mental illness can access effective and appropriate treatment and community support to enable them to participate fully in the community."
The plan identifies key actions that will make meaningful progress towards fulfilling the vision of the policy. While led by health ministers the plan takes a whole of government approach through involving sectors other than just health. The plan will provide a basis for governments to advance mental health activities within the various portfolio areas in a more integrated way, recognising that many sections can contribute to better outcomes for people living with mental illness.
The plan has five priority areas for government action in mental health:
* Social inclusion and recovery
* Prevention and early intervention
* Service access, coordination and continuity of care
* Quality improvement and innovation
* Accountability - measuring and reporting progress.
The plan is ambitious in its approach and for the first time includes a robust accountability framework. Each year, governments will report progress on implementation of the plan to the Council of Australian Governments. The plan includes indicators for monitoring change in the way the mental health system is working for people living with mental illness as well as their families and carers. Health ministers have agreed to develop targets and data sources for each of the indicators in the first twelve months of the plan.
The model of a 'virtual extranet', based upon a Web 2.0 'cloud', or collection of EBP resources, sourced/contributed from across Australia and New Zealand, can function as a working collaboration between clinicians from all disciplines, in community and institutional settings, as well as between academics, teachers, researchers, administrators and consumers, to better inform knowledge and practice.
The content of the CEBPA 'cloud' is based on resources compiled by a wide range of contributors. Key features include :
* ERA (Evidence Repository Australasia): a 'warehouse' for evidence summaries generated within Australasia.
* Clinical ANZwers: a tool to convert evidence summaries into clinical questions & answers.
* Evidence Australasia: a dedicated search engine that searches guidelines and similar sites across Australasia.
* Converge: a communities of practice communications hub, linking clinicians, health policy-makers, academics, researchers and health consumers across Australasia on issues relating to EBP.
* Critical appraisal and clinical audit resources (including AuditMaker, CAT check lists and GateLite)
* an EBM Toolbox
* dynamic EBP news feeds/mashups/alerts
* a dedicated Virtual Learning Centre that can provide online classrooms and the facilities for developing online EBP courses, etc (In development)
The Bush support line is part of a revamped set of Bush Support Services from CRANA which also include
* Stress Management courses and other workshops.
* Publications, including self care booklets.
* Best Practice Guidelines to support practitioners following job related trauma.
Livewire Parents is a place for parents and carers to meet, share experiences with people who understand what they are going through, find relevant information and gain support from one another. There are approximately 500,000 parents and primary carers of people with a serious illness, chronic health condition or disability. Many parents and carers struggle to cope and suffer a huge emotional burden and physical and financial stress. As a result, parents and carers have the lowest health and wellbeing of any group in society.
Dr Christine Bennett, Chief Medical Officer of Bupa Australia, warns that short-term, risky health actions taken by individuals in an attempt to save money or prove job dedication are likely to have long term negative health outcomes for Australia. "The poll has revealed that during the past six months, more than two million workers have gone to work ill because they have been concerned about taking a sick day, and a worrying 17 per cent of Australians have avoided or delayed a visit to a GP, dentist or a specialist", Dr Bennett said.
The results reinforce the findings of Research Australia's report, Australian Financial Crisis: Implications for Health & Research , which highlights that the fall-out from the GFC goes beyond economics and has major long-term health implications for Australia.
Comprising a handbook and DVD, the resource was developed to meet the expressed needs of mental health staff across NSW and demonstrates best practice in connecting and working collaboratively with carers and families of adults with mental illness in public mental health services. The resource :
* Follows a "mock" family on their journey through a public mental health service over a 2 year period - hear "behind the scenes " comments from family members and health professionals
* Provides the theory and the practice on how to build partnerships with carers and families in mental health
* Is rich in content and easy to use - scenario based resource with training tips. Facilitators can tailor sessions by mixing and matching different sections contained in the resource
* Includes a full interview with a real carer of someone with severe mental illness
* Can be easily adapted for use with students (doctors, nurses, allied health)
A limited number of copies of the resource have been made available to educational institutions and health libraries. If you would like to obtain a hardcopy for your library or organization contact the Working With Families Statewide Training Co-ordinator by emailing Kathleen Hossack with your details (ph 9540 7800). Offer ends Dec 31st 2009. The Connecting With Carers Handbook and DVD are currently being uploaded onto the NSW Health Internet(Mental Health and Drug and Alcohol page).
Dr Pesce said the Report Card this year highlights the tragic state of health for Indigenous males in Australia today, and proposes solutions that will ensure longer and better quality lives.
"Indigenous males are much more likely to die earlier from preventable causes than non-Indigenous males and Indigenous females," Dr Pesce said. "At every age, from boyhood to manhood Indigenous males experience higher rates of diseases and conditions that are totally preventable."
The AMA Indigenous Health Report Card 2009 collates the tragic facts of the health of Indigenous males, including:
* An Indigenous boy born during 2005-2007 can expect to die at age 67, nearly six years earlier than an Indigenous girl, and 11.5 years earlier than a non-Indigenous boy born in the same period;
* Between 2005 and 2007, Indigenous boys were 1.4 times more likely to die in the first year of their lives than Indigenous girls, and nearly twice as likely to die as other infants in the general population;
* Between 2005 and 2007, Indigenous men died at higher rates than non-Indigenous men at all ages;
* Cardiovascular disease (including heart disease and stroke) was the leading cause of preventable death among Indigenous men, and accounted for 27 per cent of deaths between 2002 and 2005;
* Indigenous men had significantly higher levels of hospitalisation, at a standardised rate of 876 per 1,000 in 2007-08 compared with 358 per 1,000 for non-Indigenous males;
* In 2004-06, Indigenous males were more than twice as likely to be hospitalised for mental health and behavioural disorders than non-Indigenous males;
* In 2002, more than one-quarter of Indigenous males 15 years and over reported that they had been a victim of threatened or actual violence in the previous 12 months; and
* The WA Aboriginal child health survey reported that 12 per cent of Indigenous males aged 12-17 years had thought about ending their lives in the previous 12 months, and four per cent had attempted to do so in this period.
Key findings include
*the largest number of carers in inner regional and outer region were in the most populous states of New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland
* Queensland, Western Australia and the Northern Territory had the most carers in remote areas
* carers in remote and regional Australia were more likely to be Indigenous - largely as a result of the distinctive geographic distribution of the Indigenous population and the high level of care required for many in that most disadvantaged sector of Australia society
* a higher proportion of the male population in outer regional and remote areas have a disability or long-term illness
* carers in outer regional and remote areas experienced higher rates of disability or a long-term health condition themselves and lower rates of employment than non-carers living in the same areas and carers in major cities
* carers living in all areas of Australia were more likely to be living in a jobless household and to experience more financial hardship.
Anxiety Online comprises 3 main areas:
1. Information: High quality information and resources are provided to enable you to gain a comprehensive understanding of anxiety generally, and of anxiety disorders specifically.
2. Clinical assessment: Our online psychological assessment program (e-PASS) enables you to complete a comprehensive psychological assessment online. This assessment will provide you with feedback as to the type and severity of your anxiety, and appropriate recommendations for addressing any anxiety problems you may be experiencing.
3. Treatment programs: Comprehensive and effective treatment programs are available for each of the specific anxiety disorders (Generalised Anxiety Disorder, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, Panic Disorder, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and Social Anxiety Disorder).
The clinical treatment programs are available in two versions:
Self-help programs for individuals with mild symptoms, offered free of charge, and
Therapist-assisted programs for individuals with moderate to severe symptoms, offered at a low cost. Therapist assistance is in the form of weekly email communication. This form of treatment has been proven more effective than purely self-help programs.
There has been a major surge in national interest for resources to assist services to embed both social and emotional well being and mental health support into Indigenous primary health care frameworks. The document aims to be responsive and flexible in recognizing needs, translating academic understanding and integrating experience of all those involved. It has attracted attention nationally as it appears to be among the first of its kind as an education and training document as well as a practice guide to primary mental health care pathways. The authors and users anticipate that the protocols will be continually improved allowing new ideas and tools, adjustments for a changing workforce and new opportunities. Authors: Melissa Haswell, Ernest Hunter, Rachael Wargent, Brenda Hall, Ciaran O'Higgins and Roy West.
This new report tackles this challenge head on. It estimates the "health status", "economic" and "financial" benefits of reducing the prevalence of the six behavioural risk factors that contribute to chronic diseases affecting millions of Australians. These major risk factors concern obesity, alcohol, smoking, exercise, diet and domestic violence. This report has been prepared by staff at Deakin University and the National Stroke Research Institute.
The Charter applies to people in receipt of Australian Government funded packages legislated under the Aged Care Act 1997 (the Act):
Community Aged Care Packages (CACPs);
Extended Aged Care at Home (EACH); and
Extended Aged Care at Home Dementia (EACHD) packages.
Hard copies of the Charter may be ordered from National Mailing and Marketing on 02 6269 1060 and via email.
One of a number of resources available on the ADCA site.
