NEWSLETTER APRIL 2015 Welcome Date Claimers See group61.org/calendar for info A warm welcome to our new Group61 Volunteers; Glaucia Barbosa, Tammy Barker, Cerise Christiansen, Joydeep Daas, Janelle Dixon, Ron Dutt, Briony Fawke, Jason Galavin, Chandni Kundandas, Princess Lakshman, Georgia McMahon, Raagini Poonan, Kristen Powles, Lauren Sandstrom, Carmel Schneider, Jayzer Wilson and Jenny Xu. Area Coordinator Update We are delighted to welcome two new Area Coordinators for the Southside region; Robyn McNeill and Sheena Cranwell. We will be redistributing the Southside region into smaller areas for it currently covers a large geographical area experiencing growth in membership. We also welcome Lauren Sandstrom, our new Deputy AC for North region. We need Coordinators for North West, Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast regions. 10am Wednesdays 6 & 20 May @ Grinstead Park, Alderley contact Marie on 3353 4616 10am Wednesdays 29 April and 13 & 27 May @ Pine Rivers Park, Strathpine - contact Lexie on 3353 5624 BBQ Sponsored by City North Baptist Saturday 13 June @ Raven St Reserve, Chermside Enter via Rode Rd entrance. Please bring your own meat, mug & chair. All welcome including family & friends. Phone 3254 4000 if transport is required. Please note BBQs are now held on the second Saturday of the month. Level 1 Mental Health Training Course for Volunteers 9am-3pm Saturday 20 June @ Chermside Kedron Community Church, cnr Gympie & Rode Rds, Chermside. Morning tea and lunch provided. Phone 3254 4000 or email [email protected] to register. April Volunteer Meeting 6.30pm Tuesday 28 April @ Chermside Library, 375 Hamilton Road, Chermside. Topic will be ‘Mindfulness’. See page 3 for details. May Volunteer Meeting 6.30pm Tuesday 26 May @ Chermside Library, 375 Hamilton Road, Chermside. Topic to be advised in May newsletter. Fishing Trip to Bribie Island New Group61 Location Group61 has moved to New Farm Neighbourhood Centre at 967 Brunswick St, New Farm 4005. Please note our new office phone number 3254 4000 and new postal address PO Box 1602, New Farm 4005. Our mobile number remains as 0422 456 475. PO Box 1602 New Farm QLD 4005 New Farm Neighbourhood Centre 967 Brunswick St, New Farm QLD t: 3254 4000 e: [email protected] w: www.group61.org Morning Tea Cluster Groups Saturday 2 May 2015 For our second fishing trip we will be going to Bribie Island. For Friends who use public transport we meet at Wooloowin Station at 10am otherwise we can pick up Friends who live on the Northside, close to the Bruce Highway. This is a popular outing and will be limited to seven Friends only so please RSVP by Wednesday 29 April. Phone 3254 4000 or email [email protected] to register. Printing courtesy of Teresa Gambaro MP RBWH Pilot Community Connection Program Safelink Tenant Mentoring Project March has been the month where the RBWH project has really gained momentum and many new inpatients have joined the program. A volunteer/inpatient community connection focus has evolved in the wards with up to 5-7 volunteers participating in the popular Bingo activity or one-on-one chat sessions five nights a week and daytime sessions on Saturday and Sundays. A steady flow of new volunteers have joined the program and our existing volunteers have continued to give their time generously, visiting in the wards and supporting the patients in their transition to home. The pilot program officially concludes at the end of April however we are seeking further funding through the 2015/16 Partners in Recovery Innovative Fund to continue the program. We should know early June if we are successful with our submission. In the interim we hope to continue the important voluntary support in the wards. The Safelink program officially finished on 20 March with a celebration breakfast BBQ at New Farm Park with volunteers, tenants and staff of Group61 and Churches of Christ Care (CoCC). Group61’s volunteers will continue to provide friendship support to the 7 tenants as part of Group61’s mainstream community program. Group61 partnered with Churches of Christ Care Housing Services to implement the ‘Safelink Tenant Mentoring Project’ to assist residents with mental health issues in two inner north unit complexes. Photo: Safelink Volunteers with CoCC & Group61 staff at Celebration Breakfast Aftercare Northside The Margate/Redcliffe Community Befriending Group, organised by Aftercare Redcliffe, have identified a need to expand volunteer numbers to better assist the growing community need for friendship support in the Redcliffe area. Many other community organisations are involved in the program, including QLD Health, Moreton Bay Regional Council and LNP member Kerri-Anne Dooley. Partners in Recovery Aftercare have secured funds so Group61 can recruit a ‘Project Support Coordinator’ to oversee and further strengthen our existing Group61 service. It is anticipated that we run a 3 month pilot scheme and employ a Case Manager/Project Support Coordinator for 1 day a week to enhance and foster Group61’s presence in the Redcliffe area. The Community Befriending Group collectively have access to a pool of volunteers and wish to harness this resource with the growing demand for friends in the Redcliffe area. Level One Volunteer Training Our next training course will be held on Saturday 20 June from 9am to 3pm. Please mark this important date in your diary as we would encourage all volunteers to attend these informative sessions as it is a mandatory requirement. The course assists new and experienced Group61 volunteers to feel empowered to share friendship through: Enhancing confidence and skills to demonstrate empathy and to focus on the ‘friend’ Increasing knowledge of Group61 and mental health issues Reawakening knowledge of your own skills in forming friendships and dealing with people and their problems Outlining mandatory requirements of volunteers. Dates scheduled for the remainder of the year are 15 August, 17 October and 5 December. 2 Mental Health First Aid Training Course in March Group61 the Winner at Grill’d Fortitude Valley! Julie Hall kindly donated her time to facilitate the Mental Health First Aid training for our RBWH volunteers held on 28 and 29 March. Of particular interest on the day was Julie’s extensive and reflective experience and ongoing learning/research in mental health. Sincere thanks are extended to Amanda Morris for her generosity in facilitating our first three trainings and cofacilitating the Feb 28/Mar 1 training with Julie. Group61 is extremely fortunate to have such high calibre and committed volunteer facilitators to ensure quality Mental Health First Aid training is provided to our RBWH volunteers. Group61 was the crowd favourite at Grill’d Fortitude Valley for the month of March. We received the most tokens hence we were honoured with the biggest donation of $300! Big thanks to all Grill’d diners and our members who voted for us. Being part of the Grill’d Local Matters program was a great opportunity to build awareness and support for what we do in the local community. Photo: RBWH volunteers at MHFA Training Torbul Fishing Trip in March The Pharmacy Guild of Australia has offered our RBWH volunteers two MHFA training opportunities; 14/15 April or 18/19 April. This offer was timely as our March MHFA training session was the last scheduled before the pilot program concludes at the end of April. Volunteer Meeting in April Be sure to come along 6.30pm on Tuesday 28 April 2015 to Chermside Library, 375 Hamilton Road, Chermside. Topic will be ‘Mindfulness’. Presenter Rosalinda Isorena will discuss Mindfulness - the new way of being in your everyday life. Mindfulness can help you cope with managing stress, challenging emotions, and increasing your general sense of wellbeing in a rich variety of ways. Re-ignite your perception of life. Discover how to live in the present moment in an enjoyable way rather than worrying about the past or being concerned about the future. At 9.30am on a clear Saturday morning, Friends met for the Torbul fishing trip at Wooloowin Station then drove to Brian (the bus driver’s) house. From there we picked up two other friends then made our way to Torbul. We reached our destination at 11am and enjoyed the morning tea provided by our very thoughtful Friend Julie. The fishermen then went to work while the others stayed in the covered BBQ area to chat. It was a pleasant partnership with whoops of joy from the fishermen and the occasional enquiry from the talkers. Most of us had delicious fish and chips from the shop across the road for lunch (see photo below). We made our way back to Brisbane at about 2 pm. All agreed it was a most enjoyable day and decided to have another fishing trip in May at Bribie Island (see page 1 for details). 3 A Weekend with Bill by Julie Richardson Normally my reading matter is fairly heavy. I read a lot about mental illness, the meaning of life and current affairs. Just recently I was looking through the book section at an op shop and spied Bill Bryson's "Down Under". I'd often heard about Bill Bryson's books but had never read any. After breakfast on weekend mornings I like to read while finishing my cup of tea. Last Saturday, however, my tea cup had been standing empty for some time because I was so engrossed in "Down Under". In the back of my mind was my promise to myself of a good clean up this weekend. My mop and broom had been leaning on the back wall for some weeks and I believe they had come to the conclusion that they had reached retirement age. As I read I kept telling myself that I would put the book down at the end of the paragraph, at the end of the page then at the end of the chapter but my self-discipline was wanting. At one stage I made another cup of tea and tidied up a bit while waiting for the kettle to boil then retrieved my book and read on. Bill Bryson is honest, forthright and extremely funny and, because I had visited or lived in many of the places he was describing, the book was much more interesting for me. I couldn't wait for him to reach Brisbane and was disappointed when I found out he didn't have enough time to visit our city. My housework was done after a fashion but not to the standard I had envisaged earlier in the week. A load of washing was put on and hung out hurriedly so that I could get back to my reading. The floors were swept and mopped but not thoroughly, even by my standards. When a friend visited on Saturday evening and when I visited my family on Sunday, Bill Bryson formed a large part of my conversation and I realised that I should probably continue to broaden my reading matter. My previous involvement in all things serious and heavy amounted to navel gazing and I had forgotten that some books can actually be fun. Bill Bryson takes an honest look at our country and, though he isn't always complementary, he is generally light hearted and accepts Australia and Australians warts and all. Perhaps because he is a man who can accept himself as he is. I would be the first to admit that I'm a poor housewife and I need to discipline myself in that area. I procrastinate. I close the door on untidy cupboards. I hang clothes carefully so they don't need ironing. I leave my clean laundry draped over the sofa all week. Reading Bryson's book however, made me realise that I still have a sense of humour and the laughter I enjoyed was probably better for me than a clean flat and extra discipline. At the Group61 office we have a small collection of books on mental illness but I might just sneak Bill Bryson's book into the pile in the hope that someone else might have a nice lazy weekend in his delightful company. We would like to recommend to all our members the http://www.abc.net.au/austory/ episode “The Fault in our Stars”. This program charts the story of Christopher 'Cricket' Newling and his younger brother Nic. It documents a remarkable journey back from the brink and a life now dedicated to helping others. Volunteer, Maddalena Turner, posted “What Group61 is all about” on facebook recently with this image.... …… appropriate wouldn’t you agree? 4
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