A social enterprise providing education and information to protect and enhance the mental health of young people
Glancing through her bank statement made Brisbane mother-of-two Belinda* realise there was a problem. What had started with a few small amounts, as little as $1.60, for video game purchases, a song or an app “add on”, racked up almost unknowingly by her teenagers, was now totalling almost $300. Neither Belinda nor her children, aged [...]
Apple chief executive Tim Cook has demanded a tough new US data protection law, in an unusual speech in Europe. Referring to the misuse of "deeply personal" data, he said it was being "weaponised against us with military efficiency". "We shouldn't sugar-coat the consequences," he added. "This is surveillance." The strongly-worded speech presented a striking [...]
The blurb on the back of the book had an enticing promise: "Take a few minutes out of your day and colour your way to peace and calm". After decades of grappling with acute anxiety, perhaps this mindfulness colouring book would be my magic bullet. I bought a pack of fancy pencils and got to [...]
Many parents will be only too familiar with the problem of children tossing and turning for hours before they finally go to sleep. Rather than put up with it, a growing number of families are turning to prescribed melatonin to help children fall asleep. For many it’s a revelation. “It’s amazing!” said Alison Guille from [...]
It should be one of the happy rituals of parenthood. You drag yourself out of bed early on a weekend, stand by the side of a sports field and with a bit of good natured grumbling about the cold, the heat or the hour, cheer your child on in sport. But for one Melbourne mother [...]
We are a coalition of humanists, parents, women’s groups, survivors, academics, and activists campaigning against commercial objectification of human beings who are concerned with the normalisation of “sex robots”. These technologies are developed and backed by academic and business robotics and Artificial Intelligence (AI) communities who have to date, the loudest voices shaping the policy [...]
The National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) is required by law to provide “reasonable and necessary supports” to help eligible people with a disability live more independently. Determining what supports are reasonable and necessary involves subjective assessments by the National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA), which administers the scheme, or its contractors. This makes for a tricky process. The [...]
Stigma marks a person as ‘different’. The World Health Organisation defines stigma as “a mark of shame, disgrace or disapproval which results in an individual being rejected, discriminated against, and excluded from participating in a number of different areas of society.” Unfortunately, stigma often arises when people who don’t have a full understanding of someone [...]
The report on LGBT conversion in Australia includes anonymous interviews with 15 people who went through conversion therapy. One was going through therapy up until 2016. "We need stronger laws signalling it's harmful, inappropriate and unethical," La Trobe University's Dr Timothy Jones said. The report was released only days after part of the Ruddock review [...]
The Morrison government has put more than its own clumsiness on display by voting for a motion in the Senate that it is “OK to be white”. The big myth of this absurd vote was that the government made an “administrative error” and did not realise its mistake until it was too late. What is [...]
