Mental Health Matters Awards 2019
Mental Health Matters Awards 2018
Award Winners 2018
Aboriginal Social and Emotional Wellbeing Award
Red Dust Healing
Red Dust Healing is a specific cultural healing program, written from an Indigenous perspective, targeted at Indigenous men, women and families to address family and community violence, suicide, rejection, addictions, grief and loss, and mental health issues. The program encompasses visual holistic learning modules, linking Indigenous and non-Indigenous cultures, to help participants with their individual insights and the journey of personal growth and wellbeing. By individualising and personalising the program through a series of cultural modules targeted at real issues that affect the lives of the participants, it makes it easier for them to engage in the program.
The Red Dust Healing program has been delivered to over 15,000 people in over 300 communities in Australia and overseas.
Tom Powell is the Founder of the Red Dust Healing Program. Tom is a Warramunga Man from the Wiradjuri Nation in NSW. Tom’s working life began at his father’s earthmoving and road construction business. Following his father’s death, in 1985, Tom continued to operate a grader business, studying community welfare through Dubbo TAFE College at night. In 1995, Tom commenced work with the NSW Department of Juvenile Justice as an Aboriginal Programs Officer, based in Taree, NSW. After 13 years with the Department, Tom left his position in order to deliver Red Dust Healing.
Excellence in Service or Program Delivery Award (Joint Winner)
Connect for Kids
Royal Far West and Murrumbidgee PHN
Connect for Kids is a multi-disciplinary mental health service delivered by Royal Far West’s globally recognised telecare for kids program. The service is helping to connect children aged 0-15 years outside major cities to mental health facilities for behavioural issues, anxiety, conduct and mood disorders, and giving rural and remote areas access to early intervention, affordable and specialised paediatric health services through video technology. The program’s structured, whole-of-child approach works with family and caregivers to assist them in providing better support to the child. The program is funded under the Commonwealth’s Primary Health Networks program (PHN) by South Eastern NSW PHN and Murrumbidgee PHN and covers assessment, therapy and capacity building across psychology, paediatrics, speech and occupational therapy.
Excellence in Service or Program Delivery Award (Joint Winner)
Bright Minds: Connected Communities
CALM
Bright Minds, Connected Communities is an extension of a grassroots project/campaign developed by dedicated young people in Lake Macquarie who identified a need for additional support for young people experiencing poor mental health and/or at risk of suicide. Through their hard work and enthusiasm, the project is now funded by the NSW Ministry of Health and involves a three-tiered approach to suicide prevention and intervention.
A Youth Support Pack to provide advocates and workers supporting young people with appropriate information and services available for referral.
Delivery of ASIST (Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training) and SafeTALK (suicide alertness training) workshops to those living with or working with young people.
Delivery of Wellbeing Workshops and Focus Group Education Sessions to students in year 7 and 9 in secondary schools.
Mental Health Promotion and Wellbeing Award
Solace Place at Iluka reserve
Port Stephens Suicide Prevention Network
Port Stephens Suicide Prevention Network is a local initiative funded by donations and created to raise awareness about the impact of suicide on loved ones and to bring our community together to inspire love, hope and remember lives lost. Members have restored a rugged neglected headland, built a seat and memorial plinth and developed walking paths. Each year people are invited to ‘Walk With Us’ in a friendly community environment, to start the conversation about our emotions and fears, and support those who have lost loved ones through a suicide. Port Stephens Suicide Prevention Network also supports suicide prevention training programs from Wesley and Lifeline, provides information about mental health services and are building a labyrinth as a “walking meditation” mindfulness space, to aid people in need of stress and anxiety reduction.
Lived Experience Participation and Leadership Award
Mental Health Recovery Program
Wagga Wagga Mental Health Recovery Unit
The Wagga Wagga Mental Health Recovery Unit provides a free, residential, voluntary program of psycho-education, care and support for people with a mental health issue. Referrals are accepted from any source including GPs, community mental health teams, non-government organisations and the acute mental health service. People can also self-refer. Consumers benefit from a holistic approach that includes interventions on sleep, diet, exercise, communication, relationships and emotional wellbeing. The course includes the core subjects of self-esteem, assertiveness, mental health, healthy eating, distress tolerance, cognitive behavioural therapy, living skills and personal recovery. The multi-disciplinary team includes full time Peer Support Workers who “walk beside” current consumers on their journeys to recovery. Consumers also benefit from graduates of the program who return as volunteers. Consumers are placed at the centre of their own journey through the program; this means they set their own goals, write their own weekly reports and run their own meetings.
Media Award
SBS Punjabi Program
The SBS Punjabi program is broadcast every weeknight from 9-10pm, and enjoys a committed audience on-air and online. It has a significant digital footprint, with over 180,000 people following its Facebook page.
Manpreet Kaur Singh, the Executive Producer, has been with SBS for over 25 years. She is a Walkley-nominated journalist-broadcaster who has highlighted the history, achievements and major issues concerning Australia’s Punjabi community, winning several national and international awards for her investigative reporting.
Preetinder Singh Grewal, the Digital and Audio producer, joined SBS Punjabi in 2013. He is a cancer research scientist who completed a PhD in medicine from UNSW. A very popular broadcaster, he has covered a wide variety of stories pertaining to health and lifestyle, visa and migration, human rights, racism and entertainment.
Mental Health Promotion Workplace Award
RAW Mind Coach
RAW Mind Coach is an online learning program designed to build psychological resilience. This year the evidence-based program was rolled out to more than 5000 workers at NSW Ambulance. Proactive and preventative in nature, RAW Mind Coach performs a vital role in supporting frontline staff, through teaching mindfulness and a range of other essential skills and strategies.
RAW Mind Coach was developed by psychologist Sadhbh Joyce, following research conducted as part of the UNSW Workplace Mental Health Research Team and the Black Dog Institute. RAW Mind Coach includes ten short interactive learning sessions, a selection of guided mindfulness exercises and a large library of resources for ongoing learning. The customisable online program has already been adopted by a number of major employers internationally, helping support workers across a wide range of challenging roles.
NSW Mental Health Commissioner's Community Champion Award
Thi Minh Tam Nguyen
Thi Minh Tam Nguyen’s first job in Australia was at the Indo-Chinese Women’s Refuge. This work was controversial as it went against traditional values of the Vietnamese community. After some time, Ms Nguyen qualified as an interpreter and began working with Vietnamese people living with mental health difficulties.
Through her work as a bilingual health educator in a mental health inpatient unit, Ms Nguyen runs various activities and teaches communication skills. She also shares the benefits of meditation with her clients. In 2007, Ms Nguyen was one of five Vietnamese health workers to receive a scholarship from South Western Sydney Health promotion to become a Vietnamese Mental Health Instructor. Since then, Ms Nguyen has delivered more than thirty courses for the Vietnamese community with nearly 700 attendees. She finds that even simply talking about mental health helps to break down stigma and misunderstanding of mental llness.
Ms Nguyen is a member of a Vietnamese interagency workers group that meets regularly to brainstorm solutions and projects to meet the needs of the community. Ms Nguyen is currently working on a directory of Vietnamese mental health professionals.
“Share a” campaign
Photography by Wiradjuri artist Willurai Kirkbright
Painting by Bundjalung artist Ruby
You can find all downloadable resources HERE
Downloadable Resources 2018
Share A Cuppa
Share A Task
Share A Yarn
Photography by Wiradjuri artist Willurai Kirkbright
Painting by Bundjalung artist Ruby
Share A Stroll
Share A Tune
Share A Memory
Share A Hug
Share A Meal
Mental Health Matters Awards 2016
The 2016 Mental Health Matters Awards were presented at NSW Parliament House on September 29th, at the launch of Mental Health Month.
The NSW Community Champion Award went to Barry Taylor for his role in developing the South Western Sydney Local Health District Wellbeing Collaboration and the Five Ways to Wellbeing initiative.
The South Western Sydney Wellbeing Collaboration is about local councils and community groups across the area working together to address issues like anxiety, depression and suicide and help improve the general wellbeing of the community. The Five Ways to Wellbeing initiative is a five-point strategy that underpins the collaboration - Connect, Give, Keep Learning, Be Active and Take Notice.
These are the 2016 Mental Health Matters Award winners
Excellence in Service or Program Delivery Award
Joint Winners: The Centre for Emotional Health, Macquarie University
The Centre for Emotional Health (CEH) is a Macquarie University Research Centre focused on the understanding, prevention and treatment of emotional health problems in children, adolescents and adults. Their vision is “ to build an emotionally healthy community through science and practice”. The psychologists at the centre use a combination of theoretical research and practical application and it has resulted in several ‘world-first’ findings. Some of their areas of treatment include anxiety, autism, depression and social anxiety.
Psychogeriatric SOS, St Vincent’s Hospital
Psychogeriatric SOS is a web conferencing clinician-to-clinician service run by St Vincent’s Hospital Psychogeriatric Mental Health and Dementia Service that allows clinicians practicing in rural areas to access resources and training that they would otherwise struggle to access. The project has made many successful improvements to the quality of mental health services for rural-dwelling older people in areas, resulting in higher diagnostic accuracy, increased clinician confidence, better patient outcomes and less referrals to specialists.
Watch their video below to see why it is such a successful program.
Aboriginal Social and Emotional Wellbeing
SistaSpeak and BroSpeak Cultural and Mentoring Programs– Moree Secondary College
SistaSpeak and BroSpeak are 10-week programs for indigenous students run during the school term. The programs consist of guest presenters from local organisations and businesses coming in and talking about various social issues likely to impact the students’ lives, such as drug and alcohol abuse, body image, domestic violence and dealing with grief and loss. The program also has a cultural component to it, allowing the students to reconnect with Aboriginal culture as well as learn important life skills. At the end of the program, they hold a formal graduation ceremony for the students who have completed it. The programs have received “universally positive” feedback from everyone involved, from the students themselves to parents, teachers and the presenters.
Watch their video below to see why it is such a successful program.
Mental Health Promoting Workplace
Healthy Minds - Optus
Healthy Minds is a workplace wellbeing program implemented by Optus, with the aim of creating a psychologically healthy workplace as well as reducing the stigma surrounding mental illnesses and encouraging early support and intervention. It consists of a range of health services such as GPs, nutritionists and psychologists available both onsite and via phone and web chat, as well as regular wellbeing initiatives like heart health checks, flu vaccinations and positive psychology workshops.
Cross Sector Collaboration
‘Meet Jessica’ , Department of Psychological Medicine, The Children’s Hospital at Westmead
‘Meet Jessica’ is an animated short film designed to raise awareness around the mental health of children with intellectual or developmental disabilities, who experience high rates of severe emotional and behavioural problems. The film was a collaboration between NSW Health, disability and educational sectors, and was released in conjunction with a ‘train the trainer’ workshop which was run in 28 locations across NSW. Both the film and the workshops have contributed to a much-needed conversation around adjustments that can be made in schools to promote positive mental health and wellbeing.
Mental Health Promotion and Wellbeing
Mental Health and Wellbeing Student Ambassador Program, Western Sydney University
Western Sydney University’s Mental Health and Wellbeing Student Ambassador Program (SAP) adopts a student-led approach towards mental health and general wellbeing in a university environment, with the goal of reducing stigma and raising awareness about positive mental health. Not only do the students involved in the program gain valuable experience, but the program also gives other students who may be struggling with these issues positive role models that they can relate to, and go to for help when they need it.
Watch their winner's video below
Quality Improvement
Filling the Hawkesbury Gap, St John of God
The Filling the Hawkesbury Gap project was created to identify gaps in the mental health services available to people in the Hawkesbury region. The project consisted of contacting clients who had reported mental health concerns to the Emergency Department and ensuring that they received appropriate follow up care after their discharge, rather than waiting for these clients to get to a point where they need emergency services again. Overall, the clients’ feedback about the follow up care they received was positive.
Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Communities
Evaluation of the Arabic Mindfulness Intervention
In 2013, bicultural psychologist Hend Saab developed the Arabic Mindfulness CD to help some of her Arabic-speaking clients, particularly those suffering from anxiety disorders. Together with a team of researchers, she conducted a study to test out the CD’s clinical effectiveness and cultural acceptability in the Arabic-speaking community in the St George area. The study consisted of 70 participants from Arabic backgrounds, all of whom identified as being Muslim or Christian, who were asked to listen to a couple of tracks from the CD every week and provide feedback about how they felt afterwards. On average, the results showed “statistically significant improvements” in the participants’ mental health levels after listening to the CD, and 94% of them continued to practice mindfulness after the study ended.
Media - National or State
Luca's Legacy, The Project, Channel 10
'Luca's Legacy' was a story that appeared on Channel 10's 'The Project', featuring an interview with Julia Trinne, a woman whose 4-year old son Luca was killed by her husband Dave during a psychotic episode. Dave had been battling bipolar disorder but was otherwise described as a loving husband and father. The story was led by field producer Kate Mellis, with Carrie Bickmore performing the interview with Julie. Not only does the story honour Luca's memory, but it also raises awareness around mental illness and the resources available to treat it.
Consumer Involvement and Participation
Taking a qualification to the Peer Workforce, The Mental Health Coordinating Council
The Mental Health Coordinating Council is the peak body for non-government mental health organisations, and their vision is that "people with lived experience are the drivers of positive change in all mental health services and mental health reforms." One of the ways that they have helped realise this vision is through the creation of a Certificate IV in Mental Health Peer Work, which was developed through close consultation with both consumers and carers in the mental health industry.
Older Persons Mental Health
Environmental Design Education Service, NSW/ACT Dementia Training Study Centre
Created by Professor Richard Fleming from the University of Wollongong, the aim of the Environmental Design Education Service is to give older people a better quality of life. The service brought together clinicians, architects, town planners as well as consumers to help design new spaces like aged care facilities, as well as updating existing spaces such as shopping centres and airports to make them more older-people friendly. The program uses a combination of handbooks, workshops, consultancy and even a smartphone app to evaluate existing buildings as help with planning new developments.
