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Author name: Kirstie Edwards

Sporting Peer Program off to a flying start

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What is it again? The Sporting Peer Program enhances the wellbeing of young sports people by integrating A Path To Follow’s peer program into existing structures within sporting and/or recreational settings. The program aims to: enhance community connection and prevention of mental wellbeing challenges in young people. support the development of important skills in participants required for increased confidence and leadership within their sporting setting and life. Develop and maintain a sustainable coaching model within the associated settings The Sporting Peer Program has been unanimously supported by the committee to run again in 2021. All sporting clubs rely heavily on volunteers to coach and OJFC is no different. This program aims to train, support and retain our young coaches, in line with the club philosophy of welcoming all abilities, genders and cultures and to reduce the reliance on parental volunteering. Our Senior Coaches (Mentors) play an integral role in mentoring our Junior Coaches, to become the best, the fairest and happiest coaches and community members they can be. The Sporting Peer Program will support participants via on the ground support, observational feedback, tip sheets and participation in training. This season we are excited to welcome A Path To Follow’s first employee, Aedan, to the program. Aedan is our Senior Peer Leader at Auskick and will support the Junior Coaches.  Aedan comes well versed in all areas of football at Ormond JFC. His dad was integral in the Auskick Program launching at Ormond, he has played all his junior years there and has now graduated the APTF  Sporting Peer Program to become an Assistant Coach, alongside his long time Mentor, Warren Bailey. 2021 18 Junior Coaches across Auskick to U13s at Ormond Junior Football Club. 10 from previous seasons and 8 new to the program All Junior Coaches have set Coaching Goals and Life Skill goals to attain through out the season.              

What’s the Difference? Mental Health Professions Explained

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Where to turn when we require professional mental health support? Many people are becoming more and more aware to attend their GP in the first instance when seeking professional mental health support.  This is a great practice we encourage in terms of initially looking after one’s mental wellbeing.  I think we can also confidently say that your GP will, most likely, complete a mental health care plan and a referral to a Psychologist.  Again, potentially, another very good step.  However, it also depends on your GP’s knowledge, experience and connections to the mental health services around them.  Without knowledge and connection to the right provider, you might be end up having to source your own Psychologist. We want you to know, while Psychological Therapy may be the correct service type for you, there are also many other alternatives. This post explores the true diverse nature of services available, the differences between them and how to check professional registration and rebate statuses of those you are looking to work with. Each day we will introduce a different mental health support type to you. It is important for you to know each profession so you can make an informed decision about the care of yourself or a loved one. At A Path To Follow, we support communities members to find and engage in specialised mental health support. Please reach out if you require support with finding an appropriate and reputable mental health specialist for your or someone you know. Psychologist A Psychologist is a professional trained in the science of how people think, feel, behave and learn. Psychologists work to assess and provide therapy for people struggling with mental health or psychological issues by helping them to understand how their own brains work and its relationship to their feelings and behaviours. Psychologists are regulated in Australia, meaning that for someone to call themselves a Psychologist they must be registered with the Psychology Board of Australia and be listed with the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency. (APHRA) A registered Psychologist will have had 6 years minimum university training and supervised experience.  They can be general providers, with sound knowledge across a broad range of mental health challenges and/or illnesses, or they may specialise in a certain area or areas.  A Clinical Psychologist will attained further qualifications to enable them to participate in research, teaching supervision, etc.  In practical terms their therapy is based in session to session talking, without their role extending to outside session work on behalf or for the client.  For more information on the different forms of Psychology, see here. Medicare and Private Health Psychologists offer Medicare rebates. The gap (amount you will pay), will vary from professional to professional.  Some may offer Bulk Billing if you hold a Health Care Card or Pension or can prove financial hardship. Private Health: Check your fund, type and level of cover. Psychiatrist A Psychiatrist is a medical doctor who has undergone additional training to be qualified to practice Psychiatry and must be registered with the Medical Board of Australia via APHRA.  They have the capacity to complete thorough Assessments, especially for those more serious and complex mental health challenges. A person may have both a Psychologist and a Psychiatrist as part of their care team. While the Psychiatrist may prescribe and manage medication, the Psychologist may use evidence based talking therapy models to assist the client. Medicare and Private Health Psychiatrists offer Medicare rebates. The gap (amount you will pay), will vary from professional to professional.  Some may offer Bulk Billing if you hold a Health Care Card or Pension or can prove financial hardship. Private Health: Check your fund, type and level of cover. Social Worker Social Workers are trained at university in human behaviour, families, social justice and human rights. They can assist people with a range of challenges that may come about for reasons other than mental health challenges. At this stage Social Work is not a registered industry in Australia at the moment. There is a peak body, Australian Association of Social Workers (AASW), but membership with this body is voluntary. At the very least we advise people to ask if their Social Worker would be “eligible” to become a member with the AASW; this ensures they meet the same requirements that paying members have to. Social Workers can provide counselling to individuals in addition to advocacy, referrals and the coordination of services for their clients. Medicare and Private Health                                                                                                                                              No, not at this time.                                                                                                                                    Mental Health Social Worker A Mental Health Social Worker is a Social Worker with additional qualifications in mental health that prepares them to deal with issues relating specifically to mental health challenges and/or illness. Mental Health Social Workers generally have experience in assessing and diagnosing people experiencing mental health related stress and other life challenges.  Mental Health Social Workers are accredited via AASW. Medicare Yes Private Health No   Counsellor A Counsellor works with clients to promote mental health and wellbeing, enhance self-understanding and resolve identified concerns via talking therapy. In Australia you do not have to be registered to practice and there are many different counselling qualifications available. We recommend that you check if your Counsellor

Marching into 2021 with a Not For Profit Purpose

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Marching into 2021 with a Not For Profit Purpose Join Us APPLICATIONS EXTENDED UNTIL JAN 29TH 2021 After much pondering, mixed with a fair dose of frustration and followed by a renewed determination, I have decided it is time to take APTF into the Not For Profit world? We need like minded and supportive people to join us on our Board of Directors. Is that you? Why? Long story short? Yep, of course, no one really likes the long story. Short story is that I want to be able to throw our very valid and worthy hat in the ring when it comes to government and related funding opportunities. Currently most of the these grants are only open to those organisations who are incorporated.  I cannot continue to devote so much time to securing sponsorships and donations and I choose not to continue to hit up those same type of people who enabled support to our clients this far. Once I began my preparation, I also ran headfirst into another reason; the flip side of a reason I was actually avoiding the NFP status. I have loved the independence and autonomy of having my own business and not having to answer to anyone else. Then I got lonely and then I got real. Not only is it selfish and unrealistic to think I can achieve our vision on my own; it ignores a core strength of my work ethic. I love team and I love leading and participating within them. Through registering as a NFP I get to gather and collaborate with a team of individuals with like purposes and philosophies around mental wellbeing. Interested? We need to fulfil the mandatory roles of President, Vice President, Secretary & Treasurer. There are also general Director positions available. We welcome ALL people who can fulfil the stated criteria to apply and especially welcome young people, and people with lived experience of mental health challenges or carers thereof. When?  Nominations to be on the Board of Directors closes COB January 29th 2021. First Meeting- Feb 17th (time tbc) Where?  Via Zoom How?  Email your nominations to kirstie@apathtofollow.com.au Advertisement Board Code of Conduct Nomination Form Never miss out on your news, sign up here.  

Emotional Language Development

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Teaching our kids emotional language is essential. Supporting them in the acceptance and exploration of ALL emotions, inclusive of those feelings that don’t feel great is extremely important to their development; it will provide them with crucial life long mental wellbeing tools. While as parents we are somewhat primed to mend that tantrum or flood of tears with a temporary fix, doing only this enhances the risk that they will not be able to identify, explore and express how they are feeling independently, without us to navigate that world for them. Why? 8 people a day die by suicide in Australia. 6 of those are men; men who are still told it is not manly to talk, it is not masculine to share or seek support for their mental distress. I wonder, out of those 6, how many were taught that it is ok to feel, explore and express their emotions… For those who want a nicer rationale, this image below from Kids Help Line is a great one. Our babies are born with a unique toolkit to communicate their emotions. They cry, they smile, they giggle, they frown. Somehow, as they grow, we (as a community) often fail to help them replace those basic communication methods with a language to match. Our children then become teenagers grappling to manage their emotions, let alone describe them. Our teens don’t become adults and suddenly evolve into a human with a customised boxed set of emotional intelligence skills. We need to teach it. Of course it is easiest to learn and teach as a baby grows, but you are never actually too old to learn this skill. I like to refer to this communication set as Emotional Language, but you could hear it referred to as Emotional Intelligence or Emotional Agility.  I can hear you saying, ok, if this is a learned skill and I don’t have it, how am I supposed to teach my kids?  Great point.  That is why the rest of this post is about sharing some tips and resources I have found useful in guiding our boys to develop their own Emotional Languages and for us, as their parents, to continue to develop ours. What? Start early. When that toddler cries, ask how that feels inside them. Physically, you might help them point to the part of the body where they can identify the upset? You might assist them to identify the source of their emotion and then talk about how it makes them feel.  Help them find the right words, if they cannot. “Oh, so you feel mad that the dog ate the cat’s food and that is why you are frowning? Point to your forehead. “You feel sad now that your brother has gone to school and that is why you are crying?” Point to the tears. Ok. Language part. Tick.  What now?  Well, certainly comfort them or reinforce boundaries with them, but try to make the focus talking with them.  Don’t rush or hush their emotions away. Teach them acceptance of their all their emotions; especially the anger, the fear, the loneliness. Teach them emotions are transient and not to be feared. If there emotions are triggering negative behaviours, apply this learning to the behaviour, not the emotion.  Eg:  “I can see that you are frowning. I can see that you are crying. I can see that your fists are clenched. I can see that you must feel very angry. It is perfectly normal to feel angry. Everyone feels angry sometimes. It is not ok to hurt people when we are angry though. Let’s talk about other ways you might feel better when you feel this again.” Help to brainstorm strategies for emotions that are distressing.  Could a run on the spot help?  What about screaming or punching into a pillow?  What about loud music and our favourite dance? Deep breathing or meditation might bring some calm?  Encourage them to try the strategies. Perhaps even practice with them. So, there you are; Teaching Emotional Language. Simple isn’t it?  Oh, hang on. Then… Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. And as you repeat over the years, adapt your emotional language to your child’s age and developmental level. You want this Emotional Language Toolkit to form the basis of all your communications. It doesn’t need to shine bright like a diamond, but it does need to be practiced and nurtured along the years. A child, a teen, an adult who then experiences mental distress and potentially a full and chaotic brain, will be able to reach this language with more ease, communicate it to seek the support they need and require. May it prove to be as positive in your family life, as it has in ours. Resources Other great resources for developing Emotional Language. Kids Help Line Beyond Blue Tuning Into Kids  -my favourite emotion research and practical strategies go to.  Great parent groups that are run by Tuning Into Kids, but also many other organisations now. Tuning in to Kids and the value of emotionally connecting with children

Alternative education with a well-being focus- A chat with Stella

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Differences between mainstream and alternative education; a well-being focus. This is an edited transcript of an interview our Social Media Volunteer, Kyle, completed with his school Well-Being Leader, Stella. Kyle attends Hestor Hornbrook, an education setting that achieves a positive balance between a student’s educational and mental well-being needs. Stella and Kyle chat about the differences between mainstream and alternative education settings and Stella’s role as Mental Well-being Team Leader. Big thanks to both Stella and Kyle for sharing this with us. Who are you and what is your role at Hester Hornbook? Rebecca Stella is the Well-Being Team Leader at Hester Hornbrook Academy. The Hester Hornbrook classroom is that of 1 Educator and 1 Youth Worker to approximately 12 students. Stella’s role is to coordinate the Classroom Youth Workers and oversee that student well-being needs are being supported. Stella provides supervisory support to the Youth Workers about well-being issues and certain crisis intervention strategies. In addition, Stella ensures she forms personalised relationships with students and is available to talk and provide support directly. Why did you choose to move into the Mental Health field of work? Stella started her career at the City of Port Phillip however she quickly saw this line of work wasn’t for her. She has experience working with young people with disabilities through the Joint Councils Access for All Abilities (JCAAA) program. There Stella found her passion for working with young people. Stella grew up with 8 siblings so working with young people seemed to come naturally to her. Soon after her work with JCAAA Stella completed her Youth Work Degree and decided this was the field she wanted to continue in. With her degree under her belt she linked in with St.Kilda Youth Services; an organisation who offers education for high risk young people. Through her work at St.Kilda Youth Services Stella’s passion for working with young people further increased. She saw first hand how young peoples’ experiences of mental health problems was impacting their educational options. Supporting students to manage mental health challenges first, helped them with school engagement, continuing their education and achieving their education goals. Stella found, and continues to find, great satisfaction in working with kids. She enjoys helping them realise their potential and watching them develop in their journey. Stella especially loves seeing the students with mental health obstacles find themselves.   Rebecca Stella-Well-being Coordinator at Hestor Hornbrook Academy What is alternative education in comparison to ‘mainstream education’ and what are the benefits? The main difference between Hester Hornbrook and mainstream education is the unique balance and prioritisation of supporting both student well-being and education. When getting to know young people who want to be a part of Hestor Hornbrook it is not simply about academic achievements and goals, it is about all aspects of a young person’s life. Hester Hornbrook looks to push young people to strive for their greatest educational potential, whilst also acknowledging a lot of young people have massive barriers to actually accessing that education. These barriers often lie within mental health, disability and/or other external challenges in a young person’s life, such as drug and alcohol challenges and trauma. Stella also reports Hester Hornbrook works really hard to build relationships with students on a more personal level; understanding problems that occur outside of academia. In the future do you see alternative education becoming the normality? Yes, more and more so. Because of recent events with COVID-19 community are beginning to understand that education can’t be delivered simply as a one dimensional program. Delivering only the academic side of the curriculum, as remote learning has done, has proved to have some negative effects on young people’s mental health. It has truly shown that well-being is an integral part of education and the development of young people. Alternative education often allows young people to open up more about their obstacles because of the personal relationship students share with educators. By making alternative education more accessible and known, it will allow more young people who may be suffering with mental health challenges to speak out and open up to their educators. What do you say to those people who say that alternative education doesn’t provide as thorough a curriculum as mainstream schools? Hester Hornbrook truly does attempt to provide the best possible education, starting with the great and professional educators who often have worked in a mainstream setting before and who have a great deal of experience.  Combining that experience with the well-being focus of Hestor helps young people who had not been engaging in mainstream education to still gain a high quality education. Hestor Hornbrook is able to provide education specific to a student’s needs, based on the level they are at. This structure is accompanied by a flexible mode of study that allows them to move at a pace they are comfortable with; something mainstream education struggles to provide in keeping a steady pace for the general population. What resources do alternative education providers provide that mainstream education providers don’t give? Post care is probably the greatest asset Hester Hornbrook provides in terms of additional resources. Hester Hornbrook has a 12 month period after a young person graduates where an Alumni worker supports that young person in all their well-being needs.  During that time there is also a Careers worker who consistently supports the young people to find a path beyond Hester Hornbrook. Generally students who are preparing to leave are identified about 6 months ahead of time. In that period the school works extremely hard in supporting the young person to achieve the goals they have set. This can include other pathways in the Hestor program and opportunities for scholarships that can help in overcoming barriers. What is the most challenging part of your role at the school? The dynamics of classrooms can be quite challenging. Having a group of people, who outside the classroom would have potentially never met, all together in one place and ensuring everyone’s safety and comfort, takes good

Mental Health System Experiences

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I Survived I am not ashamed. I will not sit quietly any longer. I am not ashamed to tell you my story. To tell you of my hospitalisation, where I experienced the very best and very worst of our mental health system, A system plagued with misunderstood children trying to be heard, A system full of passionate nurses working to help these children, A system that has failed so many in the worst way, A system that denies care to some of those who need it most, A system full of doctors who might tell me that my urge to kill myself and the voices in my head are just a product of my drug use and my friends that I “have to pull my socks up” and “just be positive” And that night I lost my faith, I said “I’m no longer believing in a system that tell me that my problems are just fake”. Kyle’s Journey-Part 1 My first brush with Emergency Mental Health That night I was brushed off and told to go home; “sleep it off”. Turned away by the system that is supposed to be there for those in need. Scared, suicidal and exhausted I left the hospital that first night with my mum feeling as though nobody even wanted to understand what was going on in my head. I left the hospital in the most chaotically peaceful state that one could find themselves in. Chaotic in the way that I was scared, sad. I felt betrayed by a system I always knew was not perfect but felt at least could do its job. The peace I found when I left the hospital was not that of serenity and calm, but rather a peacefulness within my brain that I had given up on myself, on my life. I no longer had anything to worry about because soon I would take my own life and this would all be over. My Family; My Life Line The coming days was a series of naps mixed with tantrums, panic attacks and whatever self-harm I could bring to myself without being caught by the watchful and caring eyes of my parents. I was compelled by the voices in my head to take my own life, that by me being gone, so would all the pain and destruction I bring to myself and those around me. That wasn’t my family’s plan though; they pushed me; they saved my life. The compassion and love I received from each of my immediate family members gave me some strength to continue on through my life, which at this point seemed to be a never-ending maze of sadness and sorrow. It wasn’t all up from there though; my time in the system had only just begun… I spent about a week at home before my first home visit from an outreach Psychiatric team (CATT). After a half hour talk with the two incredibly good men working for the outreach program it was decided that I should be taken back into hospital for further assessment and treatment. At this stage they thought I was experiencing early onset psychosis. A somewhat broken system with shining lights I was taken back to the same hospital I had been sent away from just the week before, although this time I was treated far better because of the call ahead by the outreach team. I spent one long night in the emergency room getting bits and pieces of sleep, an incredibly sarcastic smile and “back again?” from the mental health clinician who had turned me away last time. I was made to feel like a burden, like the bed I was taking was unjustified and could be better used somewhere else. And do I agree the bed that night could have been used better for someone else with a physical health problem? Yes, in an ideal world, a supportive and professional mental health system could stand alone and could have prevented my first and second presentation to emergency. We already tried the other options we had; private, public… Too risky, not risky enough… In an ideal world there would also be an emergency room just for mental health issues; in turn allowing the specialists from each hospital to focus on their actual specialist area, creating more opportunity for doctors to genuinely be able to treat an illness and traumatic incidents. Experiences, such as mine, might decrease exponentially. Austin Awesome The next morning I was transported to The Austin’s Children’s Psychiatric Ward where I would spend the next 4 days. As I arrived in the psych ward any cord in my jumpers and pants had to be removed, as well as all my shoelaces. My bag was searched and my Phone was taken. I remember looking at my parents. The look of distress on their faces, especially mum’s, made the situation even scarier. I spent my first night literally trapped inside a panic attack; crying and just wanting to be at home. Despite my troublesome first night and an urgent, pleading phone call to my parents to bring me home, my experience at The Austin, for the most part, was extremely positive. They boasted modern facilities, including a bedroom for each child, a small school and a decent sized outdoor area with tennis courts. There was a great games room with a pool table, massage chairs and gym equipment. As well as these facilities the case workers, nurses and doctors were incredibly good and clearly trained and experienced at dealing with and helping teens with mental health issues. The Austin provided me with an amazing team that, in my short time there, truly helped me and gave me some good strategies for dealing with my mental ill health. Unfortunately, these gems are very rare and can only benefit very few children, for too short a time. After 4 days at the Austin I felt as though I had started my journey to recovery and was looking forward to what

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