Generation Next Blog

June 2014

Empowering The Student Voice

By |2014-06-09T18:52:53+10:00June 9th, 2014|Categories: Mental Health & Wellbeing, Society & Culture|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , |

I recently heard Student Voice being described as the ‘latest trendy term in education.’ That may be so, but I’d argue it’s a pretty important concept to understand if we are serious about reaching every kid. Research indicates that disengagement from school rises with age, to the point that nearly half the kids sitting in [...]

The Blast Of Sound That Could Help Beat Depression By Stimulating Cells Governing Mood

By |2014-06-09T16:57:00+10:00June 9th, 2014|Categories: Mental Health & Wellbeing, Science & Research|Tags: , , , , , , , , |

Treating the brain with sound waves could be a radical new treatment for depression. New research shows short bursts of ultrasound (sound waves above the range of human hearing), at just 30 seconds a time, appear to boost mood and ease anxiety. Volunteers reported significant improvements in mental wellbeing within ten minutes of a single [...]

Meditation, mindfulness and mind-emptiness

By |2014-06-09T16:39:48+10:00June 9th, 2014|Categories: Mental Health & Wellbeing|Tags: , , , , , , |

Ever been unable to sleep because you can’t switch off that stream of thoughts that seems to flow incessantly, mercilessly through your head? When your mental noise distracts you from the task at hand, makes you forget why you walked into a room, or keeps you awake at night, you’re a victim of what is [...]

Racial Discrimination Act changes will hit vulnerable

By |2014-06-09T16:35:29+10:00June 9th, 2014|Categories: Society & Culture|Tags: , , , , |

Australian of the Year and AFL star Adam Goodes has slammed the Abbott government's proposed changes to the Racial Discrimination Act, claiming they attacked the most vulnerable Australians. The Sydney Swans veteran said the changes were unnecessary - ''I don't see that the system is broken'' - and thought the freedom of speech guaranteed in [...]

Optimism associated with lower risk of heart failure

By |2014-06-09T16:12:32+10:00June 9th, 2014|Categories: Mental Health & Wellbeing|Tags: , , , , , |

Optimistic older adults who see the glass as half full appear to have a reduced risk of developing heart failure. Researchers from the University of Michigan and Harvard University found that optimism—an expectation that good things will happen—among people age 50 and older significantly reduced their risk of heart failure. Compared to the least optimistic [...]

From learning in infancy to planning ahead in adulthood: Sleep’s vital role for memory

By |2014-06-09T16:00:05+10:00June 9th, 2014|Categories: Mental Health & Wellbeing|Tags: , , , , , , , , |

Babies and young children make giant developmental leaps all of the time. Sometimes, it seems, even overnight they figure out how to recognize certain shapes or what the word "no" means no matter who says it. It turns out that making those leaps could be a nap away: New research finds that infants who nap [...]

Turn back the bogans-Australians at their worst in Bali

By |2014-06-09T14:48:16+10:00June 9th, 2014|Categories: Society & Culture|Tags: , , , , , , , , |

How come we spend billions of taxpayer funds each year preventing what may well include some perfectly decent people from entering our country when, on an annual basis, we inflict hundreds of thousands of our most egregious citizens on a poor old place like Bali? Forget about "stop the boats'. It's time, please, to "turn [...]

Private Schools And Their Moral Failings

By |2014-06-09T16:49:33+10:00June 9th, 2014|Categories: Society & Culture|Tags: , , , , , , , , , |

Not every private school kid emerges as a Ja’mie, a Danny, nor any of the other bitches and bullies portrayed in these fictions. But these fictions tell a certain truth: there’s much more to education than what’s taught in the classroom. If public schools are values-neutral, as John Howard (who attended one) famously suggested, private [...]

Commissioner Opens Generation Next Seminar To Support Youth

By |2014-06-03T09:30:45+10:00June 2nd, 2014|Categories: Mental Health & Wellbeing, Society & Culture, Technology|Tags: , , , , , , , , |

On Friday 30 May, NSW Mental Health Commissioner, John Feneley addressed teachers, nurses, social workers, police and mental health professionals as he officially opened the Sydney Generation Next seminar. Held at the Sydney Town Hall, the Generation Next seminar saw more than 1000 professionals from across multiple disciplines come together to learn how to support [...]

Kids’ Earliest Memories Might Be Earlier Than They Think

By |2014-06-02T00:55:19+10:00June 2nd, 2014|Categories: Mental Health & Wellbeing|Tags: , , , , , |

The very earliest childhood memories might begin even earlier than anyone realized – including the rememberer, his or her parents and memory researchers. Four- to 13-year-olds in upstate New York and Newfoundland, Canada, probed their memories when researchers asked: "You know, some kids can remember things that happened to them when they were very little. [...]

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