QMHC eNews - Issue 42

The University of Queensland’s Institute for Social Science Research (ISSR) has commenced research into service user experiences of service integration and referrals in North West, Central West and South West Queensland on behalf of the Commission.

As well as a literature review and policy analysis, the ISSR will interview people with a lived experience of mental health difficulties, mental illness and problematic alcohol and other drug use who have accessed (or attempted to access) human services in the three regions. The research will identify:

• things that support service users to take up referrals between services
• barriers to service users taking up referrals
• what individuals want, with a focus on meeting their needs holistically
• what good integration and referral processes mean to service users.

A Project Advisory Group, with members from government and non-government agencies, has been established to provide oversight and guidance to the project.

The research will be completed by early 2018.

Although the new Mental Health Act 2016 seeks to strengthen human rights protections, there is a need to ensure these rights are made a reality and can be enforced.

The Minister for Health has committed to reviewing the new Act after two years.

To prepare for the review, we have commenced a project to examine human rights and oversight protections for people receiving involuntary treatment.

We have engaged The University of New South Wales in partnership with Griffith University and The University of Sydney to undertake this research. The research will include case studies examining the experiences of people who have received involuntary treatment in hospital and in the community under the new Act and will inform our input into the review.

The Council met again in June 2017. The meeting focused on the renewal of the Queensland Mental Health, Drug and Alcohol Strategic Plan 2014–2019, however Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD) and emerging risks to reform were also discussed.

The meeting communique will be available on our website soon.

Information on nearly 24,000 Australians' use of—and attitudes toward—alcohol, tobacco and other drugs has been released.

The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare’s report presents results from the 2016 National Drug Strategy Household Survey.

Key findings

• Young people (under 30) were smoking less, drinking less and using fewer illicit drugs in 2016 than in 2001
• More people in their 50s were consuming 11 or more standard drinks in one drinking occasion in 2016 than in 2013
• The proportion of Australians who smoke daily nearly halved from 24% in 1991 to 13% in 2013, but showed little change from 2013 to 2016 (12%)
• Overall, the most common recently used drugs were cannabis (10%), misuse of pharmaceuticals (5%), cocaine (3%) and ecstasy (2%)
• Declines in recent use of some illegal drugs in 2016 including meth/amphetamines (from 2.1% to 1.4%), hallucinogens (1.3% to 1.0%), and synthetic cannabinoids (1.2% to 0.3%).

Read more key findings

Results have also been released from the 2017 Global Drug Survey and 2017 FARE Annual Alcohol Poll

On 16 May, we held targeted consultations with key stakeholders and agencies in the suicide prevention sector through two roundtables as part of the update to the Queensland Suicide Prevention Action Plan 2015-17.

The update will consider new opportunities and actions to achieve our shared goal of reducing suicide and its impact in Queensland.

An energetic group of people with a lived experience of suicide and representatives of community networks and services from across Queensland participated in the first roundtable, providing a broad range of issues and ideas to consider for the Suicide Prevention Plan update.

The second roundtable involved members of the Queensland Suicide Prevention Reference Group, Queensland Advisory Group on Suicide Information and Data, and the Co-chairs of the Suicide Prevention Health Taskforce who worked together to identify opportunities to strengthen the plan into the future.

The updated Suicide Prevention Plan is due to be publicly released in 2017-18.

Parents, community members and community centre staff have learnt how to be happier and improve their health and wellbeing in simple, everyday ways over seven weeks at Kingston State School.

Using the Wheel of Wellbeing (WOW) framework, participants explored the six key areas of Body, Mind, Spirit, People, Place and Planet to support happiness and wellbeing for themselves and their families. Here’s what one of them said:

“Basically, you don’t know what you don’t know. It takes knowledge and experience to get a different perspective. I thought I was happy before [I did this training] but now I know there is another whole dimension to happiness.”

The WOW training was provided through a partnership of the school, Kingston East Neighbourhood Group, the Benevolent Society and the Logan and Southern Moreton Bay Islands Mental Health and Wellbeing Hub. More WOW initiatives are being planned in partnership with community across the State.

The Logan and Southern Moreton Bay Islands Mental Health and Wellbeing Hub, managed by Relationships Australia (Queensland), contributes to the Queensland Government’s priority to improve the mental health and wellbeing of all Queenslanders and is funded by the Commission.

Read more about the Hubs Initiative or contact Jan Elston, Relationships Australia, for more information about the Logan Hub at JElston@raq.org.au

• Local Drug Action Teams – Become a Local Drug Alcohol Team and help prevent alcohol and other drug harms in your community. Read more
• Empowering Families Innovation Grants – Funding is available for bold, new ideas that will make a difference to the lives of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and their families. Apply by 14 July. Read more
• ANZ Staff Foundation – The Foundation aims to support projects run by charitable organisations which offer a direct and tangible benefit to local communities. Apply by 15 July. Find out more
• Bennelong Foundation – To help guide the distribution of grants, the Foundation has identified seven key areas of focus. Out of these seven key areas, the current priority focus areas for the Foundation are: education, training and employment; community health; and migrant and Indigenous community welfare. More information
• HESTA Community Sector Awards 2017 – The HESTA Community Sector Awards recognise outstanding service provision, advocacy and leadership in improving the lives of people who rely on access to the services of this sector. Overall winners will share in a $30,000 prize pool. Read more
• June Canavan Foundation – Grants available to organisations to support driving sustainable change through programs in sport, education, health and conservation. Find out more
• The Honda Foundation – Financial assistance for charities and organisations doing amazing work across a range of social and environmental issues. Read more
• Moreton Bay Regional Council Community Grants Program – Through the Grants Program the Council recognises leadership and individual achievement, and develops and actively supports community organisations and individuals to positively contribute to community wellbeing and the cultural life of the region. More information

• 26 June 2017 Suicide in the very old: The extremes of the gender paradox – A seminar by Emeritus Professor Diego de Leo. Read more
• 27 June 2017 Working with people of culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds – Interactive workshops for clinicians and administration staff working in primary health care. Register
• 30 June – 1 July 2017 Inaugural Australasian Mental Health and Higher Education Conference — An international conference open to researchers, practitioners, educators and students working in the higher education mental health space. Go to the conference website
• 26-29 July 2017 National Suicide Prevention Conference – Brisbane. The theme Relationships, resilience and respect: Responding to vulnerability in life will bring to the fore these thematic issues in suicide prevention and how they may help or hinder implementation of initiatives at the community level. Register on the conference website
• 27 July 2017 Gold Coast Hospital and Health Service FASD Seminar Child Development Service – Attendance is $85 for professionals or $40 for parents. For more information contact Sue or Naomi at FASDGCH@health.qld.gov.au
• 27-28 July 2017 Australian Winter School Conference — Explore the complex intersection alcohol and other drugs have with other sectors with the themes of Collaborate, Coordinate and Integrate at the 2017 AWS Conference. More information at winterschool.org.au
• 29 July 2017 Hepatitis C in Drug and Alcohol Settings Education Program – A free course designed to strengthen the capacity of clinical staff working in drug and alcohol settings, or working with people who inject drugs, to effectively test for, treat and manage hepatitis C. Register
• 8-9 September PTS2017 Conference – An international forum to explore and share knowledge and advancements in treatment for Post Traumatic Stress. Read more
• 4-6 October 2017 Global Alcohol Policy Conference 2017 – Melbourne. Join the world’s alcohol policy makers and researchers at this 3-day conference. This conference’s theme is Mobilising for Change – Alcohol policy and the evidence for action. Early bird registrations close 30 June 2017. Go to the conference website
• 16 November 2017 National NDIS Mental Health Conference – Organised with support from the National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA), the conference will bring Australia's mental health sector together to discuss the impact of the NDIS, learn about case studies where the NDIS has already been rolled out and plan for the future. Go to the conference website