ROdown Blog posts

It's International Women’s Day

Mon, 08 Mar 2010 19:04:1268075040 GMT

You might remember we celebrated Man Week with triple j last year, so it seemed to me we couldn’t let International Women’s day pass without a mention!

In fact, perhaps we should be having a Woman Week?!

Each year around the world, International Women's Day (IWD) is celebrated on March 8. Hundreds of events occur not just on this day but throughout March to mark the economic, political and social achievements of women.

Organisations, governments and women's groups around the world choose different themes each year that reflect global and local gender issues.

This year the theme is Equal rights, equal opportunities: Progress for all.

I personally feel very fortunate to be a woman in Australia. I know there are still some areas, for example pay, where inequalities can exist, but for the most part I feel like I am treated equally to men, I do not feel oppressed because of my gender - and I actually really enjoy being my gender.

Looking at the situation in some other countries it seems like this is a very fortunate position to be in.

So – as much as I appreciate men (!), I feel grateful and very happy to be a woman in this country.

How do you feel?

If you're female, do you ever feel your gender is an issue? What's great for you about being a woman?

If you're not female, do you have particular thoughts on the status of women in Australia?

Are there issues related to being a woman you’d like to explore further...perhaps in a Woman Week?!

And finally, did anyone do anything exciting today to celebrate International Women’s Day? I had dinner with some of my close female friends last night - not planned around today, but I think it was an unconscious celebration of sisterhood - and it was great :)

Would love to hear your thoughts!

How does the world feel... right now?

Fri, 05 Mar 2010 18:12:1267812720 GMT

Over at We Feel Fine they're doing some really cool stuff with tracking how Twitter, Facebook and blogs show how people all over the world are feeling at the moment.

Click on the ‘Interactive Version’ in the bottom left and you'll be able to see how the general mood of the world ebbs and flows - sometimes everybody else is chuffed, or sometimes you're not the only one who's feeling down.

In fact, they found that some days are very 'happy' days, and others have been very much the opposite. In looking at results in the US, they found:

The consistently happiest days are, not surprisingly, vacation days and holidays. The overall happiest days of the last few years were election day (November 4 2008) and President Obama's inauguration (January 2009). On these days, people typically typed sentences with words like ‘pride’ and ‘proud’.
Some of the saddest days over the last few years have been the anniversaries of 9-11 and even the day before that solemn anniversary, September 10. Michael Jackson's recent death also caused a drop in the average national happiness. (via msnbc)

What's really cool about this is the interactive site where you can see people all over the world expressing how they feel at this very moment, and also what is the most-expressed feeling right now.

Click on any individual bubble, and see what someone said:

You can change how you view the data as graphs, lists, lumpy blobs, or scattered free-form dots:

It would be great if there were something similar to analyse how our own status reflect our own feelings-a bit like the Facebook ‘Year in Status updates’ app, but across all platforms. Then you could compare it to how everybody else is feeling.

Do you use any app or service to track how you feel, or would you like to know how you're feelings compare to the mood of everybody else?

Acknowledgement: big thanks to Vince from the Reach Out crew in Ireland for allow the Australian crew to share this blog here with you guys in :)

Art imitating life: grief, loss, the ups + downs of life + getting through it

Fri, 26 Feb 2010 12:10:1267186200 GMT

Art

I saw a really great play a couple of weeks ago called Spring Awakening which focused on a group of young people from a town in Germany in the late 1800s.

It dealt with a lot of issues – from young love and friendship to sexual assault and incest. From teenage pregnancy and abortion through to suicide and death. It was pretty full on, but I really enjoyed it - it was real.

There were heaps of young people there – much more than your typical night at the theatre! There was a lot of rambunctious applause, a lot of crying, and some laughing in there too, reflecting the ups and down of life.

Real life

Most of you will have experienced the ups and downs of life. You will possibly have experienced friendship, love and happiness, but you might also have experienced bullying, low self-esteem, the loss of a loved one or mental illness.

Grief, loss + the rollercoaster that life is

The play and other recent events got me thinking about grief and loss, the ups and downs of life, and the massive impact that traumatic events experienced by many of you out there can have on your mental health and wellbeing.

Many of these events can be earth-shatteringly painful. They can change you as a person. It might feel like it will be difficult to move on.

Help is available + you can get through it

There is help out there though, and you can move on from even the most difficult situations. At Reach Out we believe in your ability to get through anything and everything, with the right help :)

Fact sheets + stories on Reach Out that you might find useful

Stories and fact sheets on loss and grief
Feeling crap or when life sucks fact sheet

Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
Who can help you section
Help yourself section (fact sheets on building your own mentalhealth and wellbeing, and ...well, helping yourself!)

What has been you experience + what are your tips for others?

What have you found helpful to get through grief and loss, and the tough times in life, and what tips would you give to others to get through these times?

What do you do to bring about more of the happier times in your life?

Happy weekend everyone :)

(Please remember the community rules to keep our community safe - we'd love you to share tips about how to get through tough times without going into detail about your own personal situation. Eg, who did you talk with, what helped, what do you reckon would help other people? Thanks everyone!)

Oh yeah – it’s O-Week!

Tue, 23 Feb 2010 18:15:1266948900 GMT

O-Week is here for lots of uni students, and across the country beaches are emptying, buses are refilling, and engineering students are getting up to drunken mischief.

For most people it’s a really fun week to orientate yourself to university, or else to regroup with all your uni buddies after the holidays.

However, O-Week can also be a week where anxieties are heightened, tricky social situations need to be negotiated, and sometimes all at the same time as moving out of home!

There's a whole lot of fact sheets on Reach Out that might be helpful at this time, including:

Who's going to O-Week this week? What are your plans for the week?

Who's been before, and has tips on how to get the most out of it?

Have fun everyone!

Are you more than your marks?

Mon, 15 Feb 2010 19:45:1266263100 GMT

What’s involved?

School is about more than just your marks, right? What is success at school really all about, and how should it be measured?

All secondary students across Australia now have the opportunity to change the way ‘success’ is measured at school by taking part in the Tell Us survey.

By taking the survey you'll go in the running to win one of the amazing prizes. From iPods to surfing lessons, movie packages to art classes, the best thing about the prizes is you get to choose!

Take the survey now!

Why should people do this?

Have your say about how schools and students should be measured!

Tell Us is open from now until Friday 30 April. The results will be presented to Government, giving young people the chance to speak up and change the way ‘success’ is measured at school.

Other stuff

Watch the Tell Us Video:

Contact information

For more info check out the Tell Us website: http://www.tellus.org.au

How can you stay safer on the roads?

Fri, 12 Feb 2010 17:27:1265995620 GMT

You probably would have seen in the media that there have been a lot of fatal car accidents involving young people recently.

Every week when I turn on the news or open the paper there seems to be another horrific accident, and it makes me really, really sad to see such young, promising life taken so prematurely. It doesn’t need to happen – it feels stupid and unnecessary to me.

The devastation has impacts beyond those who might be immediately obvious; it affects families, friends, crash survivors, school and broader communities.

Young people are most affected

According to the RTA website young drivers represent around 36 per cent of annual road fatalities, despite making up only 15 per cent of drivers.

The biggest killer of young drivers is speeding and around 80 per cent of those killed are male.

In fact, sadly, young drivers are over represented in all fatal crashes, including drink driving and fatigue.

What can you + your friends do to stay safe on the roads

Keep an eye on your speed. Watch this video from Crashlab to see the impact difference if you crash at 60km per hour versus 100 km per hour. Really made me think.

Don’t drink and drive. Check out the Reach Out fact sheet and video on drink driving for for more info.

Don’t drive when you’re tired. Fatigue can lay a major role in car accidents.

Try to avoid driving at night (after 10pm) and carrying passengers also increases the crash risk significantly.

Check out the RTA Geared website for a whole lot of info about driving, from getting your licence and keeping it through to tips for staying safe on the road.

How do you stay safe on the roads?

Do you have tips for other people about how to stay safe on the roads?

For example, what do you do for transport when you go out to parties?

How do you talk to a friend if you think their driving is dangerously fast?

What do you do if you have to drive long distances?

Share your tips below in the comments section below.

Safer Internet Day 2010: ‘Think before you post’

Tue, 09 Feb 2010 16:32:1265733120 GMT

Ever had an experience like in the YouTube clip above? It’s likely that you’ve heard of someone who’s had an experience online where they’ve shared something that they’ve regretted later. You may have even had such an experience yourself.

At Reach Out we love the internet. Obviously! That’s where we live and breathe and connect with you guys.

We know that it’s possible to have a lot of fun online – creating, consuming, sharing, commenting and connecting with others. We also know that it’s possible to take some pretty simple steps to stay as safe as possible.

That’s what Safer Internet Day (which is today!) is all about – raising awareness about ‘the safe and responsible use of new technologies’.

Think before you post

‘Think before you post’ is this year’s Safer Internet Day theme. It’s a pretty important internet safety reminder for all of us, and applies to both our use of the internet and mobiles.

The idea of the theme is to encourage people to think about how what they share online and via mobile phone can have an impact on themselves and on others as well.

The Cybersmart website provides easy-to-recall tips which detail some of the most important points. These include:

Think before you hit send or post. Once something is posted, it can be online forever.
Don't post anything you don't want others to know—or that you wouldn’t say to them face to face. Treat others as you would like to be treated.
Remember that private images and videos you send or post on a social networking site may be easily passed on to others and uploaded to public sites. Once they’re up, it’s almost impossible to remove them completely.
Respect other people’s content and be aware that if you post or share their content it might breach copyright laws. For example, a photo that your friend took is their property, not yours. You can only post it online if you have their permission.
Keep your personal information private. Don’t share personal details like your name, address or school with people you don’t already know in real life.
If you plan to send private information to anyone using your mobile phone, talk to a trusted adult before you send. Be cautious.

Check out the Reach Out Safe chat over the internet and Cyberbullying fact sheets for more info about how to stay safe online and how to get help if you need it.

How do you stay safe online?

I’m imagining (and hoping!) that you’ve probably heard a lot of these tips before.

What works for you? Do you have any other tips to add, or stories from friends about how they’ve managed tricky (and potentially unsafe) situations online?

Let us know in the comments box below!

Big win for mental health: Professor Patrick McGorry Australian of the year!

Wed, 03 Feb 2010 18:41:1265222460 GMT

I'm suddenly feeling a lot more optimistic about our collective wellbeing!

I’m sure by now a lot of you would have heard that Professor Patrick McGorry, Executive Director of Orygen Youth Health (and friend of Reach Out) was named Australian of the year for 2010. Super exciting news for mental health in Australia.

On behalf of the Reach Out crew we would like to extend a big congratulations to Professor McGorry on this massive achievement and thank him for his tireless campaigning in the area of mental health for more than 30 years (yes, I know – that’s a long time!)

Here’s some of Professor McGorry’s acceptance speech from Australia Day eve:

“A psychiatrist as Australian of the Year – this is a new form of climate change!” he said.

“It reflects the growing recognition that good mental health is of at least equal importance to good physical health. The large group of Australians affected by mental ill-health – up to half of us – is awakening and deserves a much better deal. Mental ill health typically affects young people in the critical years of the life cycle. It shortens and blights lives. This is mostly avoidable. However our systems are weakest where they need to be strongest.”

“Australia deserves a modern and mature system of mental health care. Mental health reform is a team game and I am just one player. Our team needs more recruits, we need a level playing field in the health sector, and we need the Australian public and our governments to back the team. Thanks to a new openness and Australian innovation, I believe we are at the tipping point for a great leap forward. I want to dedicate this award to all of you who suffer or will suffer poor mental health and ask for your deep commitment to help change the landscape of mental health care in Australia.”

Personally, I think it’s hugely promising to see someone who works in the area of mental health receive such an honour. As Professor McGorry said in his acceptance speech, it signals a greater recognition of the importance of good mental (as well as physical) health, and hopefully a growing commitment to change the landscape of mental health care in Australia.

Want to have your say on SBS's Insight?

Professor McGorry will be on SBS TV's Insight program this month. They are putting a forum together on mental health and young people (under 30), in light of Professor McGorry winning Australian of the Year for his work in the field. Contact auskar.surbakti@sbs.com.au if you’re interested in sharing your stories (whether you experience mental health difficulties, know someone who does, or are a carer).

Spread the good vibes

You can pass on congratulations / comments / thoughts about what opportunities might lie ahead in the comments section below, or you can become a fan of Professor McGorry on Facebook.

If you feel like it, you could even share this blog post via email, Facebook, Twitter or Myspace using the share function at the top right of this post on the yellow bar.

We’re pretty excited, and hope you are too :)

Raising awareness + funds for mental health + wellbeing

Mon, 01 Feb 2010 19:14:1265051640 GMT

I’m sure a lot of you probably heard about the recent telethon fundraiser organised by George Clooney in the US that managed to raise over $A64 million for victims of the Haiti earthquake – an amazing amount to raise in the face of such a tragedy.

What was really cool about it was to see how the community came together to support a worthwhile cause, and people in much need.

While mental health and wellbeing might not be a natural disaster with as dramatic and sudden an impact as the Haitian earthquake, we know that in Australia alone there are hundreds of thousands of young people whose mental health could be much better. You might even argue millions, if you accept that we can all do things to improve our mental health and wellbeing!

How would you convince someone to donate to Inspire?

We’d love to hear from you about what you would tell a potential funder to convince them to donate to Inspire. (Inspire is the organisation that runs Reach Out).

Leave your message to potential funders as a comment below, or else send us a short paragraph (or one line even!) to crew@reachout.com.au.

This will be used to put on our funding proposals OR in reports to funders on how we used their money. It's really powerful to hear from you!

Let’s see if we can mobilise our wider community to be passionate about and commited to mental health and wellbeing (often less visible to the community) in the same way they often are about other more visible important causes.

Come talk about drugs

Fri, 29 Jan 2010 16:55:1264784100 GMT

Hey all

I’m Kitty a Research and Evaluation coordinator for ReachOut which basically means I sit in the background, watching reading and writing.

Some of you might have seen me around attempting to lure...ah...I mean...'recruit' for surveys, focus groups or interviews but this blog is more about the writing side of things and in particular POLICY.

We here at Reach Out are not only obsessed with collecting all sorts of information to help inform our programs, but also like to use this information to bug governments and other organisations with ideas for how technology can be used to help young people through tough times (or hang out or whatever you’ve come to Reach Out for:) in an attempt to change their ways.

“Why the hell are you telling us this you policy wonk?” I hear you ask...

WELL it’s about time we worked out a better way of helping YOU tell governments and other organisations what you think!

“How the hell are you going to do that?” Oh yee of little faith...

Right now we’re preparing a submission for the Australian Ministerial Council on Drug Strategy consultation and we want to get your feedback on two sections:

How the internet and technology can be used to implement the strategy.
What other issues need to be thought about when implementing a drug strategy for young people (see Glossary for policy wonk terms below).

YAWN! Yeah...I don’t blame you but...

Put another way we want you to tell us:

How you think the government, organisations and health services (aka other policy wonks, CEOs in suits and people in white coats with stethoscopes) can use technology to minimise the harms of drugs and alcohol for young people.
What else is going on in the lives of young people that might make those 'drugs are bad mkay' lessons at school well, pretty much useless.

So tell us what you think or just check out what other people are saying about drugs and technology and government and life and stuff below!

I’ll be lurking about over the next couple of weeks reading your stuff and maybe asking for clarification or prompting you with questions.

See you all in nerdsville,

Kitty

PS For more information, whether it be on advocacy and policy submissions, the National Drug Strategy and this consultation, or any other questions, post a comment or send me an email (kitty@inspire.org.au).

Glossary of stupid terms policy people use:

Policy – a statement about why, what and how something should be done.
Submission – a formal way of turning a policy statement into a long rant.
Ministerial Council – bunch of governmenty-professionally people put together to solve a problem (or in many cases talk about the talks needed to start talking about the problem).
Strategy – ridiculously long document on what the talkers talked about and what to do with that talk.
Consultation – an invitation for lots of people to send in their rants to the talkers.