1. health and fitness

Issue 30, Summer 2013/2014
The Creativity Issue
How does producing or consuming creative works
impact our health and wellbeing?
PAGE
6
A new online art
showcase for artists
with CPTSD
PAGE
12
Young Adult Fiction
and ‘Sick Lit’
PAGE
22
Willpower: Are new
years resolutions
even possible?
MESSAGE FROM THE CEO
Dear Readers,
Welcome to the first edition of Mental Health Matters for
Issue 30, Summer 2013/2014
2014. I hope you had a break over the Christmas period,
Mental Health Matters magazine is published quarterly
by MHA (the Mental Health Association of NSW).
Membership with the MHA includes a subscription to the
magazine. Membership can be renewed by contacting
MHA directly.
Mental Health Association NSW
and that you’re feeling refreshed and eager for the year
ahead.
Sadly, though, I am writing this after listening to the sad
story behind the tragic death of Luke Batty, the 11 year
old boy killed by his father - who is reported to have had
a mental illness. I am thinking how we as a community,
despite all our best intentions, let down many of those
Phone:
(02) 9339 6000
Fax:
(02) 9339 6066
people with severe and complex mental health problems
Email:
[email protected]
are unable to access appropriate services. It is rare for the
most in need. It is obviously a complex issue; one where
Address:Level 5, 80 William St, East Sydney 2011
consequences to be so dire, but complex cases are too
often put in the too hard basket and services are either
unable or unwilling to deal with cases where there is
Website: www.mentalhealth.asn.au
this level of complexity and where a coordinated, across
Twitter: @mentalhealthnsw
government, across services approach is needed.
Facebook: www.facebook.com/mentalhealthnsw
This
means we end up being reactive rather than proactive.
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We do not anticipate the possible consequences of our
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the worst scenario occurs.
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current system, but rather provide a band aid if and when
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Email
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It is time that the Council of Australian Governments
(COAG) takes action and set a clear national direction for
mental health reform. There is an important draft reform
agenda on their desks. It has been put together with the
input of consumers, carers, service providers, NGOS, and
other experts; it is backed up by evidence. It just needs a
commitment to action by those with the authority to make
a positive difference.
Everything is in place for 2014 to be one of those years that
Editor: Ci’an Kemp
Readers are invited to submit article proposals
and suggestions. Contact the editor at
[email protected]
All articles are reproduced with permission. The
views expressed are not necessarily those of the
Mental Health Association NSW.
Copyright Mental Health Association NSW.
All rights reserved.
2 | mental health matters
we celebrate as a significant milestone in mental health
reform. It is now up to our elected
politicians at a State and National
level to make that happen.
Liz Priestley
Chief Executive Officer
Mental Health Association NSW
Contents
Spotlight on: Active Memory ........
4
Spotlight on: Light f rom the
darkness of CPTSD ..................
6
Personal Story: Why I Find Acting
Intriguing ...............................
7
MHA Calendar of News and Events ...
10
Young Adult Fiction and SickLit .........................................
12
Book Review: The Shadow Girl .....
14
Personal Story: The Good Boss ...
16
The Appeal of Violent Vide o
Games to Teenagers with Low
Levels of Empathy ....................
19
Willpower and Making Changes:
New Years Resolutions ...............
22
Spotlight on: Walk Your Blues Away,
a community walking group .........
26
Mental Health Association NSW
...who we are and what we do
We play a vital role in the development
of mental health initiatives which
result in increased community
awareness and knowledge of mental
health issues.
With the support of our Board, staff,
members, volunteers and students,
we work towards a society free from
prejudice and discrimination against
people living with mental illness.
We strive towards a community that
embraces and maintains mental,
social and emotional wellbeing for
all people.
We are a communit y-based
organisation and registered charity.
In 2013 we celebrated our 80th
birthday.
MHA’s programs are funded by NSW
Health and other agencies, plus
private donations and bequests
To make a donation please go to our
website www.mentalhealth.asn.au
or phone (02) 9339 6000.
All donations over $2 are tax
deductible.
mental health matters
|3
Spotlight on: Active Memory
We speak with Professor Robert Wood from the Florey Institute of
Neuroscience and Mental Health at Melbourne University about the
new Active Memory brain training program.
What is Active Memory?
In late 2013 the ABC launched Active
Memory, a new website that provides users
with a scientifically structured and personally
tailored brain training experience online. The
program has been developed in partnership
with the Florey Institute of Neuroscience and
Mental Health, and exercises four functions
in our brain that are critical to everyday
living: memory, flexibility, attention, and
knowledge.
Active Memory is programmed to continually
measure a user ’s performance with a
statistical model that adapts to best meet
their current mental ability, motivation, and
confidence.
“With a lot of traditional brain and memory
training the focus is on a specific cognitive
function such as attention,” says Professor
Wood. “However, if you strengthen just an
isolated cognitive function, it needs to be
fitted back into the broader complex of skills
people use every day.”
Active Memory doesn’t just focus on
strengthening specific cognitive abilities in
isolation, but runs them in combination. One
task might require a mixture of attention
and working memory, while another uses
attention and flexibility, or flexibility and
numerical reasoning. Professor Wood likens
this to the difference between learning to
hit a tennis ball, and learning to hit
the ball while simultaneously moving
around the tennis court.
How
w i ll A c t i v e
Memory lead to further
research?
The Florey Institute will also be
using the brain training program
to conduct further research into
the impacts and benefits for
users, what works for different
populations, and whether there
are noticeable changes in the
processing of the players
brains.
The Active Memory website can be viewed at
www.activememory.com, free 14 day trials are available
4 | mental health matters
“We’re looking at what the ecological impact
is. Does it change people’s behaviour, and
if you improve someone’s attention does it
also improve everyday tasks where they use
that attention?”
Initially the research will be focusing on
people 50 years and older, exploring different
stages in cognitive development and decline
to see whether brain training can make a
difference to ageing related loss of brain
function. However, the website does not
exclude younger people from registering for
the program. Over time Professor Woods
hopes the research will be expanded to other
population groups.
How can Active Memory
impact mental health and
wellbeing?
Rather than over-challenging and causing
stress in the player, Active Memory challenges
them at a level that the individual feels
is achievable. Based on a person’s initial
performance in the program, an algorithm
will begin to allocate tasks in incremental
degrees of difficulty. If the player reaches a
point where they begin to fail, the program
will reassign them another set of tasks where
they are more likely to succeed.
In addition to improving task performance,
Professor Wood says that brain training can
have a flow on effect for wellbeing. This
could take the form of increasing someone’s
likelihood to remember to take medication,
stay focused on exercise, or capability to
accomplish tasks that require them to switch
their attention.
Are these games suitable
for people experiencing
depression, anxiety, stress,
or other impacts on their
wellbeing?
“I think the answer to that is yes,” says
Professor Wood. “It requires minimal
engagement and attention processes initially.
That’s the way it’s built.”
“It does depend on the nature of an illness.
If a person is so lethargic they can’t engage
with anything, then it probably isn’t suitable,
but you might assist them in a clinical setting
to get started with the game and see if they
respond well to it. If you can shrink the
world to something small and enable them
to demonstrate some success, it may have
a short term beneficial effect.
“The progressive mastery is designed to build
people’s confidence, and it’s a low cost option
that doesn’t seem to have any adverse side
effects.”
How can people get involved?
Visit www.activememory.com for more
information about the program. Anyone
interested in the research can contact
Professor Robert Wood or Dr Damien Birney
at the Florey Institute via the Active Memory
website.
Written by Ci’an Kemp.
Professor Robert Wood is a professor of psychology
at Melbourne University and researches the
cognitive and motivational dynamics of learning and
problem solving on complex tasks.
Ci’an is the Senior Project Officer for
Communications and staff representative on the
board at MHA. She is completing her studies at
Macquarie University and has an interest in the use
of creative media to combat stigma.
mental health matters
|5
Spotlight on: Light from the
darkness of Complex PTSD
We speak with Jacqueline King, a contemporary glass artist and
sculptor who has launched an online showcase at CPTSDLight.com
of artwork made by people who have experienced CPTSD.
Jacqueline King is a glass artist and sculptor,
mother, speaker and advocate living and working
in regional northern NSW. She also lives with
Complex Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (CPTSD).
Her journey with creativity began in 2006 after
a trauma injury and CPTSD diagnosis.
How does your creative process
assist with your mental health?
I once heard an interview with a leading UK
Trauma Psychiatrist who described CPTSD
something like this...
Imagine you are a beautiful hand blown glass
vase with exquisite colour and form sitting
on a sideboard and much admired. When
major trauma happens the beautiful glass
vase that you are gets knocked off the table
and smashes on the floor splintering into
thousands of pieces. Most rush quickly to
gather the pieces and try valiantly to hold it
all together, to appear like they used to be by
holding all the pieces together with anything
they can. But there is no way to do this of
course. Some, with good therapeutic support
coupled with the support of loving family and
community, will slowly learn that there is
no becoming what they were...but they just
might become a beautiful
mosaic instead!
I like t h a t met a ph o r,
especially as I now find
myself a practising glass
artist and sculptor. I came
to glass as a form of therapy
without having shown any
meaningful creative talent
in the past. It taught me
to breathe, to be still, to
develop patience, and to
see beauty in and around
One of Jacqueline’s
artworks displayed in
the online showcase.
6 | mental health matters
Personal Story: Why I Find Acting Intriguing
Having arrived late to the ADD table (yes I’m
taking my dexies), this writer didn’t realise just how
important creativity was. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve
loved the arts since primary school, but mainly from
the perspective of the passive consumer. Cinema,
art galleries, books. I’ve easily surpassed Malcom
Gladwell’s ten thousand hour rule of immersing
yourself in your passion. But, like misplacing your
glasses, only to realise they’ve been on your head
the whole time, the thought of creating art never
occurred to me until about two years ago.
Having dabbled in painting and writing, it was
amateur theatre that I found to be the most
psychologically intriguing.
Once you get over the initial jitters, acting can help
the ADD/ADHD sufferer. Not only can it be an outlet
for energy and tension and a means of experiencing
the feeling of ‘being in the zone’, but it can help
you to reinforce positive emotions. For instance,
if you are someone who is afraid of snakes, acting
gives you the opportunity to play a role where the
character is brave about snakes. Fake it till you
make it.
Peter Sellars is one of my favourite actors, and
having read his biographies and seen his films
me. It also offered me peace and meditation,
and a sense of the power of the present
moment. It was a voice when I had no other
way to express myself, and it ultimately became
my obsession and my salvation. Time and again
it has provided me a reason to live and abated
the voice of self-harm.
It also helped build new brain synapse
connections necessary for healing after a brain
injury… and I can assure you chronic CPTSD
is a brain injury in every way. The building of
these new neural pathways was exhausting,
(watch The Party, it’s hilarious)- one thing is a certainty.
When he was not playing a role Sellars was a different
person. Different, in fact, from his own self-reflection.
Unfortunately, having read anecdotes from people
around Sellers, he may have been experiencing ADD/
ADHD and depression before science knew what it was.
From my layman’s POV, what separates this acting great
from your run-of-the-mill thespian was that he used
acting as therapy first, and fun second; a dangerous,
unconscious means of dealing with reality, instead of
playing with and enjoying the company of others for
its own healthy sake. If you do it for fun first it is more
than likely you’ll receive the therapeutic benefits later.
Sellers’ purpose for acting came from a place of dark
pain instead of joy.
If you’d like to try acting, but feel anxious, bring along
a friend who’ll hold your hand. Tell them you need their
company while you do something anxiety-provoking.
Even borrowing a play from your library and acting it
out at home with that friend or a relative can work.
I’ve tried it.
Because you never know, you might entertain yourself
and have some fun.
Written by Hugh Widjaya.
as they are for newborns learning to interact
with the world and use their bodies, or those
with acquired brain injuries such as those
traditionally attributed to a physical cause like
an accident, injury or stroke.
CPTSDLight.com is an amazing
online collective, why did you
reach out to others?
On my journey to understanding CPTSD and
learning ways to live with it I became driven to
advocate for public education on mental health
mental health matters
|7
issues, particularly
CPTSD. I have been
fortunate to deliver
many presentations
to varied audiences
from medical staff,
to community groups,
to the Arts sector,
and to artists with
disabilities. This road
has brought me into
contact with many
o t h e r s w h o h ave
utilised creativity to
help them cope with
various challenging
life circumstances.
Given my own life
experience, I was particularly captivated with
those who identified as living with CPTSD and
so a tiny seed began to germinate around
what it might mean to me and to others if
the lighter side of CPTSD was showcased, if
others could see the amazing creative voices
who can courageously shout out the beauty
in their souls through all the darkness.
The concept grew towards a ‘coming out
and coming together’ of
those living with CPTSD
to serve as a source of
inspiration and courage to
those managing their lives
with similar experiences,
and to shed some much
needed light on what
it is to have CPTSD. I
belong to various online
support platforms for
those with CPTSD and
so I put out the call for
expressions of interest
and was able to launch
the site in August 2013
with six collaborators.
What is CPTSDLight.com?
Now the site includes fourteen artists from
all parts of the world: Norway, Alaska, New
Zealand, UK, Australia, USA, and Germany.
Mediums vary from short film to poetry, glass
to paint, to digital art, and photography. Some
are self-taught, others formally trained, some
emerging, and others are mid-career, but
all are willing to publically identify as living
with CPTSD. They all want
to help break down the
A photograph by
Joe Losinski (left), a
painting by Rhonda
Baker (above), and
another glass artwork
by Jacqueline (right),
are also displayed in
the online showcase.
All artwork is
copyright to their
respective creators.
8 | mental health matters
social stigma, and have provided images or
files of their work, and importantly a short
biography about their experiences including
how creativity helps them manage their lives
with CPTSD.
The decision to include some health information
on the site was reached as we all also believe
it is critical to improve understanding within
our communities and who better to speak
and provide insight than those who live with
CPTSD.
What has the response been
like since you launched last
August?
The response has
been overwhelming
for all involved. I
have received
emails and phone
calls from all around
the world with
heartfelt thanks for
helping people feel
they are not alone
and for putting into
words, images, and
experiences, what
they cannot voice
themselves.
Tears have been
shed in intimate
phone
calls
of profound
and humbling
appreciation for the
site. We have a closed group on Facebook for
those artists who are involved or interested
in becoming involved, which also serves to
benefit our creatives. Whilst it is not at all
a support group in a traditional therapeutic
sense, it is a safe place to share creative
concepts and what we are all up to in our
creative endeavours. It serves as a more
immediate reminder to the artists involved as
to the difference they are making in the world
by bravely shining their own light.
Why did you decide to create
a website, rather than put
together an exhibition event?
I decided on a website for its accessibility,
permanence, and adaptability, as I can add
artists and update information as required.
An exhibition event would only serve a small
area, while the website
serves the world...or at least
the online world. Having
said that, it is also a goal
for me to obtain funding
for a physical exhibition. It
could potentially become a
touring exhibition, so that
we can showcase the stories
and the creativity in a much
more tangible way across
many locations.
What’s next for
CPTSDLight.com?
The more exposure we have
of the site and its artists
the further the message is
sent and the more people
will hopefully join until our
collective voice is strong and
understanding is achieved.
Written by Ci’an Kemp
Find out more about the CPTSD Light Showcase
project by visiting www.cptsdlight.com, or you
can also find out more about Jacqueline King at
www.jacquelineking.com.au
mental health matters
|9
MHA Calendar of News and
Upcoming Events
New Self-Help Groups
New Anxiety Support Groups
Our self-help groups are free to attend
and are based on an effective, 12
week, self-treatment behaviour therapy
program.
Our monthly Anxiety Support Groups are
currently held in a wide range of locations,
across NSW, including:
New self-help groups will start in a range
of areas during March across the greater
Sydney area. Suburbs include:
• Bondi Junction
• Bega Valley
• Epping
• Clovelly
• Bankstown
• Crows Nest
• Moss Vale
• Glebe
New groups are also starting in:
• Leichhardt
• Dapto
• Merrylands
• Springwood.
• Mt Druitt
For more information contact Rachel on 1300
794 991 or visit our website for updated
dates and times of the next meeting in each
location.
• Parramatta
• Surry Hills
• Waverley.
For more information contact Linda
on (02) 9339 6093 or via email at
[email protected] or visit our
website for an updated list of upcoming groups.
Want to find out more about any of
our news and events items or sign
up for our eNews? Check out our
website www.mentalhealth.asn.au
10 | mental health matters
Volunteer with MHA!
Staff for our WayAhead Directory are looking
for fundraising and marketing volunteers to
assist us with sourcing funding for launching
WayAhead online.
Duties will include researching, calling, and
sourcing opportunities to find funders for our
very popular and vital directory.
Find out more by visiting our website at
www.mentalhealth.asn.au/get-involved/
volunteer.html
1
New Workplace Health
Resources Sec tion
l a u nc h e d f o r W H P N
members!
In the last edition of our magazine, we
mentioned that our Workplace Health
Promotion Network (WHPN) would
be launching an online directory of
resources, available to members of the
network.
We’re pleased to announce that the
resource section has launched! Jump
to page 17 to find out more.
Upcoming Anxiety Forum
MHA will be holding a free public forum
about anxiety in Port Macquarie on the
17 March 2014.
The forum will be hosted at Charles
Sturt University and will commence at
7pm in Room 115 at 27 Grant St.
Find out more by visiting our website.
Attend the Happiness &
Its Causes Conference in
May!
MHA has partnered with the Happiness
& Its Causes conferences again in 2013.
Members and stakeholders are entitled
to a discount off their registration fees.
In addition to your membership
discount, there is an earlybird discount
if you register by or beforethe 28 March
2014.
Jump to page 25 to find out more on
the discount and how to redeem it!
MHA Staff Profile:
Rachel Flint
MHA has been pleased to start the new year by
welcoming Rachel Flint as part of the team here in
our Sydney based office.
Rachel is the new Support Group Co-ordinator, and
will be running our anxiety groups program as well as
answering the phones for our Mental Health and Anxiety
Information services.
First starting out with MHA as by attending one of
our anxiety groups, Rachel was inspired by seeing
the great things that happened within the group and
became a volunteer facilitator. She is passionate about
seeing people recover from anxiety, and her positive
experience as a facilitator led her to apply for our coordinator role late last year.
Rachel’s hobbies include gardening, reading, meditation,
and yoga, and she says that she’s been really impressed
to see the work that goes on at MHA and the lovely
approach staff have towards each other and our clients.
To f i n d o u t
more about the
anxiety groups,
visit our website
or call 1300 794
991.
Ke ep a n eye
on this space
for future staff
profiles and to
learn a little bit
more about the
people behind
MHA!
Rachel hard at work at her new desk in the office at MHA!
mental health matters
| 11
Young Adult Fiction and Sick-Lit
A new troubling phenomenon, or educational and honest fiction?
to gender, sexuality, able-bodiedness and
In today’s contemporary society, there is
emotional management. British novelist and
continual debate regarding the potentially
reviewer Amanda Craig has been incredibly
negative influences that are readily accessible
vocal about her stance on this genre, stating
to younger generations. Although the impact
that the rise in popularity of these books is
of visual media and social networking
partly a trend wherein the previously popular
platforms have been thoroughly evaluated
tales of vampires and werewolves have been
in recent years, the emergence of a genre of
replaced by contemporary stories of hospitals
young adult fiction known as ‘sick-lit’ now
and suicide pacts (Smith 2013).
seems to have taken centre stage. Portraying
dark yet realistic stories within the context of
In an interview with CBC’s radio show The
adolescent mental illness and
Current, Craig stated that there
physical sickness, these novels
“young readers are are ‘a lot of very depressed
detail youth experiences with
at a greater risk
young people, very aware of
self harm, depression, disease
of experiencing
the hopelessness awaiting
and terminal illness (Nagy
negative emotions them’ (Tremonti 2013). Having
2013).
and sitting with
them in solitude” refused to review the many
sicklit novels sent to her, she
Fiction addressing such issues
believes that there are highly
has always existed, growing
vulnerable individuals barely out of childhood
substantially in prominence during the 1980s
who would be adversely affected in very
(Elman 2012). These novels merged illness
significant ways by the consumption of such
and romance, and largely reinforced the
material. Although dark themes surrounding
interdependence of societal customs relating
sickness and mental illness are present in
many different forms of media,
she says that readers are ‘more
introverted, more vulnerable and
more private’ by nature (Tremonti
2013). Whilst films are commonly
a communal experience, young
readers are at a greater risk of
experiencing negative emotions
and sitting with them in solitude,
rather than seeking out support
from others in making sense
of their emotions. In finding
solace within a novel in which
teenagers experience similar
issues regarding relationships,
12 | mental health matters
sexuality, as well as their physical and
psychological wellbeing, adolescents
may isolate themselves further, feeling
as though they have found something
to validate their negative emotions.
In doing so, Craig believes that sicklit
novels encourage teens to wallow in
feelings of depression and suicidality,
rather than offering sensible advice in
regards to help-seeking behaviours.
The novelist said that she first became
acutely aware of the dangers inherent
within these books after Red Tears by
Joanna Kendricks circled through her young
daughter’s high school year (Tremonti 2013).
Although Craig believes that it triggered a
wave of self harm amongst the youth reading
it, this is not her only grievance with the
genre that has been criticised in the media
for trivialising serious issues in a ‘mawkish’
and ‘exploitative’ fashion (Whitby 2013). With
the overwhelming majority of protagonists in
these novels being young women, and many
of the plots centering on the need to find
romance or lose one’s virginity before death,
sicklit appears to have deeply concerning
thematic undercurrents in multiple regards.
A researcher at the University of MissouriColumbia recently published an article
reviewing and deconstructing many of the
problematic elements within teen sicklit, with
a focus on critiquing the ‘ableist and sexist
visions of disability and sexuality’ within these
novels (Elman 2012). In her article, Julie Elman
points out that in addition to the morbidity
of the subject matter within many of these
novels, they often reaffirm hetero-normative
gender roles and highly conservative political
and sexual agendas. In the work of famous
sicklit novelists such as Lurlene McDaniel,
damaging cultural stereotypes surrounding
the unattractiveness of disabled bodies are
clearly present. Within books such as Dawn
Rochelle, protagonists who eventually reach
remission from their illness customarily trade
partners for individuals who are also ablebodied, promoting a highly negative and
derogatory presentation of individuals with
either physical or psychological issues.
With this said, contemporary books such as
The Fault in Our Stars by John Green have
been received very positively by readers and
critics alike for their realistic and complex
portrayal of illness and disability. Within
such novels, the disabilities of the characters
have little impact upon the interpersonal
relationships depicted. In The Current’s
interview, seventeen-year-old Massachusetts
blog writer Robby Auld said that most sicklit
novels aren’t completely about sickness,
stating that ‘teenagers can find hope at the
end of the book and take that into their own
lives and own struggles’ (Tremonti 2013).
In this sense, these novels may provide a
platform for isolated young people to not only
gain a greater understanding of the issues
they themselves are encountering within
their lives, but to also translate the values
and positive philosophies within these texts
to their own situation.
With this said, concern has been expressed
mental health matters
| 13
Book Review: The Shadow Girl
We spoke with John Larkin about his young adult novel “The Shadow Girl”, categorised as
‘sick-lit’, about his experience writing and speaking about the novel with young people.
John Larkin, winner of the 2012 Victorian
Premier’s Literary award for Writing for Young
Adults for his novel “The Shadow Girl” is one of
many novelists who has recently found their work
falling into a growing subgenre of young adult
fiction referred to as ‘sicklit’. This relatively new
categorisation of fiction often follows children or
teenage protagonists that are experiencing mental
or physical illnesses, exploring the influence that
these adversities have on their life and coming of
age narrative.
When MHA sat down with Larkin to discuss
his latest published title, the Australian novelist
confessed to never having heard of ‘sicklit’ before
writing “The Shadow Girl”. The reality is, however,
that this growing genre of literature that follows
unwell teens, which includes well known and
critically acclaimed titles such as John Green’s
New York Times Bestseller “The Fault In Our Stars”
and locally grown authors such as Doug MacLoed
with “The Shiny Guys” may have arisen to fill a
very real need in the lives of young adult readers.
As somebody who has been affected by symptoms
of Depression throughout his life, Larkin is familiar
with the destructive and devastating effects
that mental illness can have on a person if left
untreated.
“The biggest mistake I made was not reaching
out,” Larkin said when describing the recent
difficulties he has been through.
Although he has unintentionally found himself
a part of the sicklit movement, Larkin, who is a
frequent guest speaker at local schools, agrees
that using fiction to talk about mental health
14 | mental health matters
issues is helping to demystify the subject with
young readers.
“I can go to the roughest high school, and when
I talk about Shadow Girl’s backstory you can
literally hear a pin drop.”
Speaking with school children about the issues in
his novels is a rewarding part of the job for “The
Shadow Girl” author. With his ability to openly
talk about his experience of mental illness he has
found that students are equally as keen to share
their own experiences, “and it’s not just the girls,”
he says, “it’s the boys as well who are quite happy
to open up about what they’re going through.”
It was during one of these visits to a high school
where Larkin met the person who inspired him
to later write the award winning novel - a 13
year old girl, homeless and living on a train,
who Larkin now recalls as being an incredibly
intelligent and articulate young lady.
The novel itself is a sad and suspenseful story
that deals with issues of abuse and suicide, and
chronicles the young girl’s efforts to succeed
against the odds. However, Larkin’s choice to
inject humour and light into his writing, focusing
on the protagonist’s intelligence and spirit, is at
the core of Shadow Girl’s story.
Written by Matthew Keighery and Isabel de
Vroom.
Matthew and Isabel were media and
communications interns with MHA during
2013 with interests in literature and written
depictions of lived experience.
that young adults with existing mental health
consensus suggests that cautions should be taken
problems might be triggered by particularly
in regards to the degree of parental involvement. If
graphic and detailed descriptions of similar
these books can be used as a forum for discussion
problems. Novels such as Wintergirls by Laurie
between parents and their children, they may in
Halse Anderson (2009) says pose such a risk,
fact help open lines of communication in relation
depicting the disturbing downward spiral of a
to sensitive and potentially isolating personal
young girl suffering from anorexia. The book
issues.
features protagonist Lia in a constant cycle of
starvation and over-exercising, chanting the
References:
mantra ‘I must not eat’ to herself
• Anderson, L. H. (2009). Wintergirls. New York, NY:
“teenagers
can
on a daily basis and at one point
Penguin Group (USA).
find
hope
at
reflecting upon whether she ‘wants
• Elman, J. P. (2012). ‘Nothing Feels as Real’: Teen Sickthe
end
of
the
to die from the inside out or the
Lit, Sadness, and the Condition of Adolescence. Journal of
book
and
take
outside in’. Lia’s best friend of ten
Literary and Cultural Disability Studies, 6(2): 175-191.
that
into
their
years, Cassie, also passed away as
• Kamouni, S. (n.d.). Don’t speak for us! Why sick-lit is
own lives”
a result of severe bulimia. Although
actually a good thing for young people. Whippersnap.
the novel offers insight into a
Retrieved from http://www.whippersnap.co.uk/dontserious psychiatric disorder and associated
speak-for-us-why-sick-lit-is-actually-a-good-thing-for-youngsymptomatology, there are concerns over
people/
whether such material is appropriate for
• Nagy, M, R. (2013, March 22). ‘Sick-lit’ popular among youth,
young adult readers.
raising alarms in literary circles. CTV News. Retrieved from http://
Although those who defend sicklit have often
stated that the majority of these novels aren’t
entirely about the illness or disability, and
that they frequently tell stories culminating in
hopeful and positive conclusions (Kamouni), it
is well documented that children between the
ages of eleven and thirteen are particularly
vulnerable and impressionable (Smith 2013).
Despite individuals such as Sarah Foster,
publisher of Walter Books Australia, believing
that not much can shock young adults in
today’s modern society (Williams 2013), not
everyone shares her opinion.
Although literature may appear to be one
of the safest places to explore the darker
aspects of relationships, illness and disability,
there are still concerns surrounding the
degree of appropriateness of such material
in relation to young children and teenagers.
Such novels may serve an important purpose
in raising awareness and educating young
readers on important life issues, but the
www.ctvnews.ca/entertainment/sick-lit-popular-among-youthraising-alarms-in-literary-circles-1.1208032
• Smith, R. (2013, February 13). Sick-lit: A symptom of publishing’s
decline. The Global and Mail. Retrieved from http://www.
theglobeandmail.com/arts/books-and-media/sick-lit-a-symptomof-publishings-decline/article8632529/
• Tremonti, A. M. (2013, January 15). Vampires make way for
sick-lit in young adult books. The Current @ CBC Books. Podcast
retrieved from http://www.cbc.ca/books/2013/01/vampires-makeway-for-sick-lit-in-young-adult-books.html
• Whitby, J. (2013, June 5). So-called ‘sick-lit’ only idolises
reality. The Under Age. Retrieved from http://theunderage.com.
au/2013/06/05/so-called-sick-lit-only-idolises-the-reality/#sthash.
onqamgnD.dpbs
• Williams, S. (2013, November 30). Art of darkness. The Sydney
Morning Herald. Retrieved from http://www.smh.com.au/
entertainment/books/art-of-darkness-20131128-2yavn.html
Written by Natalie Ippolito. Natalie is a film reviewer
for the Australian Council on Children and the Media,
works at the Schizophrenia Fellowship as a Telephone
Referral Information Support Worker, and is a medical
assistant at the Northside Clinic.
mental health matters
| 15
Personal Story: The Good Boss
Christopher Banks talks about his experience with successful
mental health management in the workplace.
Having been in employment situations before
where my mental illness has been used against
me, I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t concerned
about how I might be treated in a new job in
a strange land.
We’ve recently been through a period of
intense work for a very small team, and in
the middle of this period my aunt was dying
of cancer back in New Zealand.
When I returned from the funeral last week,
my coping skills were getting pretty low.
Management at my workplace are aware of my
mental illness – I disclosed it at interview – and
knew what had been happening family-wise.
This week has been a textbook example of how
to manage mental health in the workplace.
Firstly, there was a card signed by everyone
16 | mental health matters
in the office – a small gesture that meant a
great deal, particularly when the two company
directors signed off “we hope you adopt us as
your Aussie family”.
Secondly, my line manager sat down with me
to go over my current workload and asked me
to provide him with a list of all the current and
pending jobs that are on my plate. In order to
avoid me becoming overloaded in what is often
a busy workplace, he said he wanted to help
plan me a work schedule for the next month,
something that I said would really assist me to
remain stable and focused.
He asked if I wanted to draw up the schedule,
or if I would prefer him to do it. I asked if he
would mind doing it, and after providing him
with a list of jobs and the estimated number
of hours, he returned a short time later with a
Launch of new Workplace Health
Resources Section
The Workplace Health Promotion Network (WHPN) is proud to announce the launch of a new online
resources section available exclusively to network members.
The new section has been developed based on feedback from WHPN members, and was created to
provide members with information and tools to do their best possible work in workplace health and
wellbeing. Up until now the WHPN members only section had included all past speaker presentations
going back to 2006. This interesting library of speaker presentations included both Sydney and
Brisbane network speakers and covers a variety of workplace health topics.
In addition to the past presentations, the new resources section already has over 700 items and
continues to grow. Readers will be able to browse selections of articles, blogs, case studies, ebooks,
workplace health tools and evaluations, reports and research, as well as varied online, audio, and
visual resources. All resources are tagged by subject matter for easy browsing.
In the next few months a workplace health conference calendar and a yearly event days calendar will
be added to the resources section, and WHPN Co-ordinator Sharon Leadbetter will be continuing to
grow and expand the section based on members needs and feedback.
If you are interested in finding out more about the WHPN project or want to sign up to our free
eNews, please visit our website www.whpn.org. Membership to WHPN also includes attendance at
our quarterly events in your closest network city, and our annual Sydney Forum.
For more information or ito find out more about membership, contact Sharon on 9339 6008 or email
her at [email protected]
neatly planned calendar of work (with built-in
contingency timing) as we had discussed.
happy with the plan, and thirdly whether there
was any extra support I needed.
I could already feel the stress starting to lift. If
I was questioned at any time about what I was
doing, I would easily be able to refer to the
schedule without becoming flustered. Also, if
extra jobs came in that had to take priority, he
told me to adjust the list accordingly and move
tasks downwards to ensure that I didn’t exceed
my regular working hours.
At no point was I made to feel that I was under
pressure to perform, in fact the opposite: I
was told that if I were to need time off that
work would be taken care of. This in itself was
enough to ensure that I was supported, that
communication was open and I could trust that
I wouldn’t be pushed too far.
Finally, the director touched base with me to
see firstly how I was feeling, secondly if I was
In a test of the new system, a new priority
job came up the following day which required
a decent half-day’s work. It had a deadline
mental health matters
| 17
clash with another job. I
informed my line manager
about the clash, and the
schedule was re-adjusted
within the space of fifteen
minutes – no mess, no
fuss, no tears.
After hearing so many
h o r r o r s t o rie s about
workplace bullying, it’s
great to be able to share
a positive experience,
and I hope that some of
these ideas will assist you
to negotiate with your
employer during times
of stress about managing
your workload.
18 | mental health matters
Christopher Banks is
a filmmaker, journalist
and musician with
experience of bipolar
disorder. He blogs
at bipolarbear.com.
au and is host of the
weekly podcast That’s
Mental, available on
iTunes.
The Good Boss
was originally
published online in
November 2012, and
is republished here
with permission from
Christopher.
The Appeal of Violent Video Games
To Teenagers with Low Empathy
In 2011-2012, 95% of Australian homes
used video game devices (SMH, 2012), with
Australian consumer spending $1.1 billion
in 2012 on gaming devices alone (IGEA,
2013). This growing popularity of video
games in Australia has meant a growth in
the debate concerning the negative effects
that video games can have on consumer’s
mental health.
Gratification has been shown to affect
the choice of video game play (Chory &
Goodboy, 2011) and 43% of all video sales
are violent video games (Entertainment
Software Association website, 2013), so
whether this is good for humanity or not
was part of a controversial debate between
policy makers, parents, researchers and video
game producers about the effects being both
harmful and beneficial, especially as 90% of
children and teens reportedly play them in
the US (Anderson, Prot, McDonald & Gentile,
2012) and six of the top ten include violent
content (ESA, 2008). Moreover fuelled
the motivation behind the large body of
250 correlational and experimental studies
carried out over the past twenty years to
find out if exposure to violent video games
is positive or negative (King & Delfabbro,
2010), however the effects are complex and
be better understood as multiple dimensions
rather than simply ‘good or bad’ (Anderson
et. al, 2012).
These studies provided causal relationships
between violent video game exposure and
increased aggression, cognition and behaviour
of game players, especially adolescents and
shows exposure to violent video games lowers
empathy levels (King & Delfabbro, 2010). This
evidence is highly contested however, mostly
by the methodological limitations questioning
the validity of this link (King & Delfabbro,
2010), more frequently by those with a
conflicting interest such as the Entertainment
Software Association and researchers funded
by video game companies such as Texas
University where a leading researcher on the
subject works, Ferguson et al (2010) who are
in partnership with a television station which
sells videos, (Texas University website, 2013).
Additionally Lemmens & Bushman (2006)
found boys who scored low in empathy were
more likely to play violent video games.
The c or relation bet we en
behaviour factors and violent
video games
Multiple theories have tried to establish the
complex relationship between the effect of
violent video games and aggression in young
generation. One theory states that the choice
to play violent video games is dependent on
the consumer’s personality (Chory & Goodboy,
2011). Factors such as increased aggressive
behaviour, cognition and effect, reduced
empathy, and pro-social behaviour play a role
in aggravating the effects of violent video
games (Anderson et.al, 2012). However, the
evidence is contested due to methodological
limitations (King & Delfabbro, 2010) as can
be seen from the work of another group of
researchers who identified those who have a
family history and psychological predisposition
to violence, that influences their behaviour and
reaction to playing these games researchers
mental health matters
| 19
identifying those who have a family history and
psychological predisposition to violence, would
influence their behaviour and reaction to playing
these games (McLean & Griffiths, 2013, Markey
& Markey, 2010, Ferguson & Kilburn, 2008,)
which places less importance of violent media
in influencing violent behaviour (Ferguson et.al
2010, 2013).
We can however hypothesis that the violent media
may set off a person’s predisposition to violence
either genetically or developmentally.
In summary, a number of theories and variables
affect the choices and attraction of a person
to consume violent media (Weaver, 2011),
which explains why so many people play
violent video games and only a small amount
carr y out violent behaviours as a result.
Media Gratification
The media gratification theory proposes that
gratification seeking in humans leads to consumption
of different types of media which is impacted by
a person’s personality traits i.e. excitement, and
this media exposure then impacts the person’s
cognitive behaviours such as a rise in aggression for
example (Chory & Goodboy, 2011) whose research
showed extroversion trait correlated to a need to
consume violent media content in order to gratify
their need for sensation and sociableness.
This theory is used by software and game
developers and is exploited in gamification, which
is thought to encompass addictive properties
causing a desire to repeat the experience, and is
also found in social media platforms (Fang & Zhao,
2010). Conflicting evidence however was reported
by Collins & Freeman (2013) that personality
traits were not a factor of any game preferences.
Role of Empathy
Empathy is defined as the drive to detect emotions
and thoughts in other people and respond
20 | mental health matters
appropriately and plays an important role in
social relationships (Prot et. al, 2012). Based
on the above theories, one of the parallel
consequences of violent video games, besides
aggressive behaviour, is the decreasing of
empathy towards the victims (King & Delfabbro,
2010). Additionally, Lemmens & Bushman
(2006) found that boys with low empathy
were inclined to play more violent video games
resulting in high aggression, and this cyclical
effect may contribute to the addictive nature
of video games.
In fact a new study has shown psychopaths
switch off empathy in the brain as it is not
spontaneous like most people and has severe
violence disinhibiting consequences (Meffert,
Gazzola, Boer, Bartels & Keysers, 2013). Yet,
the proponents and beneficiaries of video games
have highly contested the inverse relationship
between empathy and exposure to violent video
games (King & Delfabbro, 2010).
Insufficient strong correlations between violent
media and empathy have yet been established
due to lack of complete control on media
conditions (Ramos et. al, 2013). More research
to study the effects of empathy in the video
gaming context is becoming a higher priority
with the growing depiction of violence and
could show significant influences on the usage
of violent video gaming.
In conclusion, scientific literature on social
personality traits and video game preferences
is to date lacking evidence in providing insight
into what makes people choose certain types
of video games in order to determine if the
games cause a change in their personality
character (Fang & Zhao, 2010), especially as
many causal and correlational studies focus on
the outcome of exposure to these games, one
being lower levels of empathy. This might be
because those who play violent video games
are low in empathy trait as a starting point
(Collins & Freeman, 2013),
as suggested by Lemmens
& Bushman (2006) who
discuss the implications
of boys low in empathy
and high in aggression
seeking out violent media
which increases their
aggression and lowers
empathy further and this
increasing use suggests
violence may contribute
to the addictive nature of
video games.
References:
• Anderson, CA., Prot S, McDonald KA, Gentile DA (2012): Video games: good, bad, or
other?, Pediatric Clinic North America., Vol. 59, No. 3
• Chory, R.M. & Goodboy, A.K. (2011): Is Basic Personality Related to Violent and NonViolent Video Game Play and Preferences? , Cyber psychology, Behaviour and Social
Networking Journal, Vol 14, no.4
• Collins, E. & Freeman, J. (2013: Do Problematic and Non-Problematic Video Game
Players Differ in Extroversion, Trait Empathy, Social Capital & Prosocial Tendencies?,
Computers in Human Behavior, Vol. 29, No. 5, pages 1933–1940
• Fang, X. & Zhao, F. (2010): Personality and Enjoyment of Computer Game Play,
Computers in Industry Journal, Vol 61, No. 4, Pages 342-349
• Ferguson, C.J. & Kilburn, J. (2010) Much Ado About Nothing: The Misestimation and
Overinterpretation of Violent video Game Effects in Eastern and Western Nations:
Comment on Anderson et.al. (2010). Psychological Bulletin, Vol. 136, No.2, 174-178
• Ferguson, C.J. & Kilburn, J. (2008) The Public Health Risks of Media Violence: A MetaAnalytic Review. Journal of Pediatrics Vol. 154, No.5, May 2009, 759–763
Written by Karyn Krawford.
• King, D. & Delfabbro, P. (2010), Should Australia Have an R18+ Classification for Video
Games? Youth Studies Australia, Vol. 29, No. 1
Kar yn has appeared a
number of times in the
Australian media. She is
completing her degree
in Social Sciences with a
specialisation in Counselling
and 3 years postgraduate
studies in Coaching. She
delivers regular learning
events to the public on
the ef f ec t s of digital
technologies on humans
and is the founder of a new
Australian Cyber Addiction
Recovery Center providing
treatments for those with
cyber addictions.
• Lemmens, J.S. & Bushman, B.J. (2006), The Appeal of Violent Video Games to Lower
Educated Aggressive Adolescent Boys from Two Countries. Cyber Psychology & Behaviour
Journal, Vol 9, No. 5
• Markey, P., M., & Markey, C., N. (2010). Vulnerability to Violent Video Games: A
Review & Integration of Personality Research. Review of General Psychology, 2010. Vol.
14, No.2, 82-91.
• McLean, M. & Griffiths, M. (2013) The Psychological Effects of Videogames on Young
People: A Review. Aloma Journal, 2013. Vol. 31, No.1, 119-133
• Meffert, H., Gazzola, V., den Boer, J.A, Bartels, A.A.J. & Keysers, C. (2013) Reduced
Spontaneous but Relatively Normal Deliberate Vicarious Representations in Psychotherapy.
Journal of Neurology: Brain. Oxford University Press.
• Ramos, R.A., Ferguson, C.J., Failing, K, & Romero-Ramirez, M., (2013) Comfortably
Numb or Just Yet another Movie? Media Violence Exposure Does Not Reduce Viewer
Empathy for Victims of Real violence Among Primarily Hispanic Viewers. Psychology of
Popular Media Culture, Vol 2, No.1, 2-10
• Weaver, A. J. (2011). A Meta-Analytical Review of Selective Exposure to and the
Enjoyment of Media Violence. Journal Of Broadcasting & Electronic Media,55(2), 232-250
• Interactive Games & Entertainment Assoication http://www.igea.net/2013/02/australian-video-games-industry-records-1-161billion-sales-in-2012/
• The Entertainment Software Association. http://www.theesa.com/facts/pdfs/ESA_EF_2013.pdf
• The Entertainment Software Association http://www.theesa.com/facts/
• The Sydney Morning Herald http://www.smh.com.au/digital-life/games/blogs/screenplay/new-statistics-reveal-the-face-ofaustralian-gaming-20120802-23g49.html
• The Huffington Post http://www.huffingtonpost.com/common-sense-media/10-most-violent-video- games_b_3480497.html
• Texas International University http://www.tamiu.edu/newsinfo/1-18-07/article3.shtml
mental health matters
| 21
Willpower and
Making Changes
With the new year and its accompanying
resolutions just behind us, we speak with
Professor Roy Baumeister about willpower
and how you might actually be able to make
a resolution that sticks.
Why doesn’t willpower
always work?
The first thing Roy Baumeister says is that
willpower works like a muscle: when you
use it, it gets tired, and then you have
to allow time for it to recover. He is also
quick to explain that the widely held belief
that it takes ‘30 days to make a habit’ is a
misconception.
“I’ve talked to the experts who do
research on habits and they say no, that’s
silly. Some habits are installed much
more rapidly than others, and some you
might struggle to do,” says Professor
Baumeister.
Generally, Professor Baumeister says,
failures in willpower and engaging in
self-defeating behaviour tend to occur
when there are both good things (such
as the pleasure from eating junk food
or smoking a cigarette or putting off a
chore) and the negative consequences
from doing the same thing – especially
if the good thing is immediate and the
harm is delayed.
“People who (struggle with
maintaining their willpower) tend to
not think about the future as much.
Another reason is people know what
they should do, but don’t follow
through and do it properly,” says
Professor Baumeister They might also
make a wrong assessment of what
will bring about success, continuing
to strive for a goal in the same way
even if their chosen method hasn’t
been working. How many of us might
maintain a gym membership we’re not
22 | mental health matters
using, or tell ourselves that we will start
something later?
So are resolutions doomed?
Like any form of habit change, New Year
Resolutions (or resolutions at any time of
the year) often involve self-control, and
therefore willpower. Professor Baumeister
suggests that January may not necessarily
be the best time to make a big change in
your life, especially if you are not used to
starting new habits or you have a lot of
other demands that are already draining
your willpower reserves.
The energy we use to exert our willpower
to create change is the same energy that
we use for lots of things on an everyday
basis – like making decisions, managing
our relationships, and getting our work
done. Even being sick can have a profound
impact on your ability to use your
willpower, as your immune system uses
that same energy to fight off illnesses.
“If people make five resolutions, each
resolution they make will detract from
their ability to do others since they all
draw on the same energy,” says Professor
Baumeister. “One of the reasons New
Year Resolutions have such a dismal
reputation is because trying to change
yourself in several different ways at once is
counterproductive. What would seem to be a
better strategy based on the research would
be to do them in sequence rather than all at
once.”
So put off some or all of your
resolutions, at least for a
little while.
Instead, you might want to start with
something that is small and easy and then
work your way up. The easier your first
resolution is to do, the more likely you are to
succeed. The sense of accomplishment you
gain from this first experience can then be
used to buoy your next change. As you work
on the easier habit, you’ll also be building up
your willpower ‘muscle’ to make your next
challenge easier to tackle.
Can strengthening willpower
‘muscles’ help our mental
health?
Professor Baumeister has recently been
researching ‘test anxiety’ for a paper that will
be published in the next few months. The
paper will explore the fear felt by a person
that a test they are taking will not go well.
“There are many studies about this but they
are quite inconsistent. A lot of them show
mental health matters
| 23
that if you have text anxiety you actually do
worse on the test, but there are also a lot
of studies that find no difference,” he says.
“We showed that when people had their
self-control – their willpower – intact, then
it doesn’t matter if they have anxiety or not
because they are still able to perform well.”
“Presumably they can push aside their fears
and concerns and they can concentrate on
doing the test. But we also showed that
when people’s willpower is depleted… then
the more anxiety they have on the test, the
worse they do.”
So, Professor Baumeister says, while
willpower doesn’t prevent you from
experiencing anxiety, it can help you
prevent the anxiety from interfering with
your life or your work.
Which change is the right
change?
“People have the impression that willpower
is mostly about eating and dieting,” says
Professor Baumeister. He goes on to explain
that given the influence of genetic factors,
the process of weight loss is often only
partly under our control, and is therefore not
an area that generates the biggest rewards
from stronger willpower. People are much
more successful applying willpower to work
or school, or picking out a smaller and more
easily controlled component of such a broad
goal like weight loss.
“Developing an exercise program is probably
at least as good for you as losing weight…
and it’s something that is much more
controllable,” Professor Baumeister says,
recommending committing to a short walk
every other day instead of dieting. “It makes
24 | mental health matters
you feel better, makes you healthier, and
it also in turn builds up your willpower to
tackle other challenges that might be more
difficult.”
“The key point is that using your will power
to establish habits is an important key to
success. Once something is a habit, then it
doesn’t take as much energy to do.”
So pick any single change that you feel
positive about, and make sure it’s small
and easily manageable. It doesn’t matter so
much what it is, whether it would be easy
or hard for someone else, or even whether
it is exercise based.
Once you’ve succeeded at your first small
change, pick another that’s a little bit
harder, and watch your willpower grow!
Written by Ci’an Kemp
Professor Roy F. Baumeister is currently
the Eppes Eminent Scholar and Professor
of Psychology at Florida State University.
He has over 500 publications and 31 books
including the New York Times bestseller
Willpower: Rediscovering the greatest
human strength (with John Tierney).
In 2013 he received the William James
award for lifetime achievement in
psychological science.
In May 2014, Professor Baumeister will be
speaking in Sydney at the Happiness & Its
Causes conference. MHA members receive
a discount when attending the conference,
use the code on the page opposite when
registering online at the website
www.happinessanditscauses.com.au to
obtain your discount.
Book before
28 March &
save $500+.
Use promo
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What makes
a goodlife?
The world’s leading happiness event is celebrating its 9th year! And to mark the occasion we’re
including some new, interactive and fun elements – a drinks party, HAPFEST powered by Pecha
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Professor Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, USA,
one of the greatest psychologists of our time,
pioneering researcher into optimal experience
or ‘flow’ on a rare visit to Australia
Matthieu Ricard, Nepal, inspiring
humanitarian monk and best-selling author
Happiness: A Guide to Developing Life’s Most
Important Skill
Dr Jane Goodal, DBE, UK, legendary
primatologist, environmentalist and UN
Messenger of Peace
Professor Jean Twenge, USA, psychologist
and leading researcher into narcissism and
youth mental health
Professor Roy Baumeister, USA, respected
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mental health matters
| 25
Walk Your Blues Away
Being healthy is about so much more than the absence of disease. We all want to
feel physically strong and fit, but our emotional and mental health is also vital for
maintaining an overall sense of wellbeing.
Cassia Community Centre at Pendle Hill is an organization that strives to improve
the quality of life for the people who live, work and study in the Holroyd local
government area by addressing all these elements of health and wellbeing.
With the belief that ‘Healthy Communities make Healthy Families’, Kerrie Denton
introduced a walking group to promote good mental health as part of the centre’s
term program.
The mothers were given information
packages regarding the benefits of
physical exercise in relation to mental
health and I encouraged them to do
further research on their own to learn
more about the mental and emotional
benefits of exercise, in order to empower
them during the experience.
So did the exercise really make a
difference?
In starting the walking group I targeted
mums with young children, who were feeling
socially isolated, depressed, and lonely, in
the hopes that it would get them out of
their lounge rooms and into the fresh air. It
would give them an opportunity for physical
exercise while increasing their self-worth and
confidence.
All the mothers who participated were
initially interviewed in order to establish
their suitability for the program and their
reasons for joining the walking group.
26 | mental health matters
On the first week of the eight-week
program, ten mothers and their children
set off for a one hour walk. I made it
perfectly clear that this was not a race to
the finish, but a steady pace so we could
all remain together, and that we could
stop whenever a child needed attention.
The mothers were all in agreement, and so
the walk began.
The very first week I noticed that most of the
women appeared to be extremely downcast,
and some even expressed that they were
feeling an overwhelming sense of sadness.
They said they all felt as if they could not be
bothered with anything at all and that they
literally had to force themselves to attend
the first walking session. I pointed out to
them that they should all feel very proud of
themselves for taking the first step. Joining
the walking group was an indication that they
were open to self-improvement and that they
wanted to experience first-hand whether
exercise may actually help them emotionally
as well as physically. Needless to say, it was
a very solemn, silent walk that first week.
However, the ten participants returned on
the second session, much to my joy. We
began by discussing how they felt after they
went home the first week. All of the mothers
said that they did not feel physically any
difference, but did admit to feeling a little
brighter and said it was much easier returning
the second week. I expressed my delight that
every one of them had decided to commit to
the group for the eight week term.
Slowly over time, I began to notice truly
remarkable changes in the group.
All the mothers said that they felt more
relaxed and a lot calmer. They slept better,
their concentration had improved, their spirits
were lifted, and they felt more motivated to
do other things as well. Even their diet had
become healthier.
In allowing the mothers the chance to breath
in the fresh air, chat with friends, and support
each other, the walking group became
something that was just for them. It was
their time out, even though we had children
with us. By being a member of the group it
gave each person a sense of belonging to
something that was worthwhile.
Most participants also said that they had
begun incorporating daily walks in to their
routine when the weather and circumstances
permitted. This was something that they
never would have considered prior to joining
the walking group.
I was very proud of each and every one of
them and I always say, why not try to it. You
may just feel a little better. You be the judge.
Written by Kerrie Denton. Kerrie is the
manager of the Cassia Community Centre at
Pendle Hill.
mental health matters
| 27
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