Mental Health & Wellbeing

In my father’s name, are you OK?

Suicide is the leading cause of death in Australia for men under 44 and women under 34. According to the most recent Australian data (ABS, Causes of Death, 2009) 2123 Australians died due to suicide that year. That equates to six deaths by suicide a day, or one every four hours. For every completed suicide [...]

By |2013-09-15T12:15:18+10:00September 12th, 2013|Categories: Mental Health & Wellbeing, Society & Culture|Tags: , , , , , |0 Comments

Supporting families as they manage separation and divorce

In Australia nearly one in two marriages end in separation and divorce. This directly impacts many children in our schools and adults in our workplaces, parishes and social networks, and quite possibly our own family too. Coping with the family changes that result can be challenging for children and their parents, and for those supporting [...]

Sex, Drugs, The Media & Our Kids

In the weeks since that Miley Cyrus performance at the VMAs, more fuel has been poured onto the fiery debate around the overtly sexual messages our kids are receiving thanks to the media.   Add this to the heady mix of alcohol, violence and drug use with the apparent rise of such related anti-social behaviour [...]

Videogame May Help Rejuvenate Elderly Brains

If keeping the brain spry were as simple as pumping iron, everyone would want to own the ultimate piece of cognitive exercise equipment. But designing activities to reverse the mental effects of aging is tricky. A new videogame created by neuroscientists shows promise in reversing some signs of decline. Now, the researchers behind it aim [...]

William Glasser, Psychiatrist Who Promoted Mental Health as a Choice, Dies at 88

Dr. Glasser trained therapists and others mainly through the William Glasser Institute, a nonprofit organization he founded outside Chicago. In his book “Choice Theory,” he summarized its strategy as helping patients and schoolchildren to shift their view of reality fundamentally — from one where behavior is controlled externally by coercion, to one where individuals control [...]

Problem gambling, substance abuse problems are correlated, finds new study

Problem gamblers are a hidden population among people with mental health or substance abuse issues who often don't get the treatment they need, a new study shows. Anywhere from 10 to 20 per cent of people with substance abuse problems also have significant gambling problem, yet few programs are targeted at them and most social [...]

Parents’ Yelling Is as Harmful as Hitting

Parents who yell at their adolescent children for misbehaving can cause some of the same problems as hitting them would, including increased risk of depression and aggressive behavior, according to a new study. A good, warm relationship with Mom and Dad doesn't protect teens from the negative effects of parents' yelling, cursing or lobbing insults, [...]

5 tips to help young people quit smoking

Many teenagers want to quit smoking and make serious attempts to do so each year. However, most are addicted to nicotine and have little knowledge about the quitting process. In most cases young people go ‘cold turkey’, quitting abruptly without any assistance or medication. Not surprisingly, quit rates are very low. Here are 5 tips to [...]

How to be a wellbeing teacher without teaching wellbeing

I’ve had too many conversations with teachers who believe that the whole, “Pastoral care, touchy feely, emotional, welfare, wellbeing stuff” isn’t what they signed up for when they decided to become a teacher.   As strange as you and or I – I’m assuming we’re on the same page given you subscribe to, or have [...]

Go to Top