From the CEO
Hello everyone
We’re just 6 weeks away from our annual Symposium and now is the best time to purchase your ticket, with Early Bird prices ending soon! On World Schizophrenia Awareness Day, 24 May, our Symposium will focus on the theme, ‘Rebuilding a better mental health system together’. With a major external review of the NDIS underway, this is a chance for the One Door community to hear expert insights into how we can ensure the NDIS provides adequate supports for people living with serious mental health challenges and psychosocial disability into the future. Our speakers will focus on the following topics:
- The Power of Love: How it Preserves Mental Health and Aids in Recovery from Mental Illness – Dr Richard Schweizer, Policy Officer One Door Mental Health.
- Transforming lives of children, families and communities through music, art, drama and play therapies - Margo Ward, CEO & Founder at KidsXpress.
- Reducing loneliness and improving well-being through connection, place and things that matter - Meredith Coote, Social Impact Leader.
- The Haven Foundation: Integrated social housing and support - Mark Heeney, Executive Director Housing Strategy at Mind Australia.
- Reducing relapse in young people with mental illness - the unWIRED study – Prof Anthony Harris, Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Sydney and Chairperson at One Door Mental Health.
- ALIVE Network: Transforming mental health through co-design and primary care – Research Fellow in the Priority Populations Research Program of the ALIVE national centre for mental health research translation.
Additional topics may also include NSW policy direction for mental health, Psychedelic-assisted therapy, and a session where participants will get to provide input into the NDIS review process.
Along with my fellow CEOs in the Australian Psychosocial Alliance, One Door will continue our advocacy in this space. We hope that under the new state Labour government we will see those now in power focus on improving the lives of people living with complex mental ill-health and their families and carers – both within and outside the scope of the NDIS.
One Door is, and always will be, committed to providing a workplace and services where everyone is welcome. At the end of March, the team at One Door recognised Transgender Day of Visibility. Along with greater awareness of queer diversity as part of Sydney World Pride 2023, the day was an opportunity to focus on celebrating the experiences and achievements of our trans and gender-diverse community. You can read more from our team here.
NSW Youth Week is also coming at the end of this month. One Door supports young people across many of our services, including headspace Campbelltown. We know that current research indicates a worrying downward trend in the mental wellbeing of young people since the COVID-19 pandemic, so we hope that NSW Youth Week will provide opportunities for us to reach out to more young people, schools, and families, to improve understanding of mental health issues and raise awareness of supports out there for young people. Read more about our headspace Campbelltown’s youth services here.
Until next month…
Kathi