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In this edition:

• Occupational Therapy Week
• Complete a survey to support children’s mental health
• Follow Chris Boyd-Skinner’s Churchill Fellowship journey
• Tips to Stay Well During the Voice to Parliament Referendum
• eMHPrac Podcast – Season 3 Episode 6
• Live Webinars from BDI
• WellMob – new blog post
• See the eMHPrac team at these upcoming conferences
• Read the latest dMH research articles
• This month’s featured service: Healthy Mind

23 – 29 October

This OT Week we’re celebrating the theme of Unity Through Community.

Occupational Therapists (OTs) are a core part of the Australian mental health workforce and play a vital role in helping people engage in their communities in meaningful ways. OTAUS have compiled several helpful resources for OTs looking to integrate a broader focus on mental health in their practice.

Emerging Minds is inviting health and social services workers to complete the 2023 National Workforce Survey for Child, Parent and Family Mental Health. The survey is now open and closes on Wednesday, 15 November 2023. The survey captures current capabilities, practice challenges and learning needs for a broad range of workers in understanding and supporting the mental health and wellbeing of children and families.

Investigating safety and quality improvements in digital mental health in Australia

Chris Boyd-Skinner (Engagement Manager at the Australian Digital Health Agency) recently embarked on a ground-breaking journey across the world as part of his Churchill Fellowship. He will be meeting with international experts, policy specialists, government representatives, tech entrepreneurs, and advocacy groups to examine the international experience on safe provision of digital mental health services and bring this knowledge back to Australia.

The WellMob team have developed a valuable resource, “Tips to stay deadly during the Voice to Parliament Referendum”, to support Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People during the Voice to Parliament Referendum. It has links to online resources relevant to each tip, including useful webpages on the WellMob website for online safety, strong minds and culture and identity.

Season 3 Episode 6 – Dr Lou Farrer on the clinician attitudes and behaviours that shape digital mental health use in Australia

Guest: Dr Lou Farrer, Clinical Psychologist and Senior Research Fellow, ANU Centre for Mental Health Research

“What I wanted to understand is what is the on-the-ground evidence, what is the everyday experience of clinicians who are using digital tools in their practice? And on the other side, what’s getting in the way of clinicians being able to effectively use these sorts of tools in their practice?”

In this episode of Digital Mental Health Musings, we talk to Dr Farrer about what she has learned about how clinicians responded to the implementation of telehealth through the qualitative survey responses of more than 500 mental health professionals. We talk about what those findings can reveal about the adoption and roll out of digital mental health more broadly and the types of clinician attitudes and perceptions that can lead to greater engagement and integration of digital mental health in the clinical setting to optimise its use in the community. Dr Farrer also explains how clinician knowledge and attitudes around digital mental health can play a powerful role in who gets to access mental health.

Watch or listen to the podcast episode here and catch up on past episodes here.

“Understanding Social and Emotional Wellbeing; What does it mean for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People?”

When: Online, 24 Oct 12:30pm and 6pm AEST

For this brief webinar, Dr Jan Orman will be joined by Angela Sheridan, a Wiradjuri woman and member of eMHPrac’s WellMob website team to discuss what Social and Emotional Wellbeing means for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. They will comment on how connection to culture, country, and community can be a protective factor to tap into for your Indigenous patient’s wellbeing.

“Using Social and Emotional Wellbeing Tools with First Nations Peoples”

When: Online, 23 Nov 1pm and 8pm AEST

The WellMob website is a digital library with links to over 350 online resources to support the social and emotional wellbeing (SEWB) of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. Using the example of an Indigenous client presenting with depression, the webinar will explain how the SEWB framework is relevant to clinical and community practice and show how to find and effectively use WellMob resources.

Our WellMob team have developed a series of Resource Sheets of Workers that are a shortcut to the best resources on the WellMob website for that topic. The Understanding Social and Emotional Wellbeing Resource sheet aims to build workers’ knowledge of social and emotional wellbeing to better culturally inform work with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander clients.

WONCA (World Organisation of Family Doctors)

26-29 October 2023, ICC Sydney, Sydney NSW

Workshop

Recovery, reconnection, and revival. A celebration of primary care.

See Dr Jan Orman from the eMHPrac team at Black Dog Institute and Dr Phoebe Holdenson-Kimura present the workshop: ‘Online therapy programs – can they help improve mental health care delivery in primary care?’

Indigenous Wellbeing Conference

30-31 October 2023, Darwin Convention Centre, Larrakia Country, NT

Presentation and Trade exhibit

Our Voices | Our Solutions | Our Decisions | Our Time

Improve the social and emotional wellbeing of First Nations Australian, Māori and Pasifika people at the Indigenous Wellbeing Conference.

See Dr Michelle Sweet and the eMHPrac Team at Menzies School of Health Research present on: ‘What are the Youth saying! – Innovative digital solutions for improving Wellbeing in community’. Also catch Sharnie Roberts from the eMHPrac Team at the University Centre of Rural Health present on” ‘WellMob: A digital library of online well-being resources for our deadly mob’.

Rural Mental Health Conference

8-10 November 2023, Commercial Club, Albury, NSW

Presentation and Trade exhibit

Feeling isolated? Hard to see the difference you’re making? Join us at the Rural Mental Health Conference and connect to your sector and peers like never before.

See eMHPrac Director Heidi Sturk present on ‘Finding Human Connection Amidst the Digital Mental Health Revolution’ and visit the eMHPrac team at their trade exhibit. Also catch David Edwards from the University of Sydney eMHPrac team present on ‘Exploring the WellMob website: a digital library of wellbeing tolls for health workforce and mob’.

STOP Domestic Violence Conference

27-29 November 2023, Hotel Grand Chancellor, Hobart, TAS

Presentation and Trade exhibit

The generation that ends Domestic Violence: It’s everyone’s responsibility. What role do we all play in creating safer communities, schools, work and home environments?

See eMHPrac’s Senior Training Facilitator Carol Purtell present on ‘Navigating Online Support for Domestic Violence and Mental Health’ and visit the eMHPrac team at their trade booth.

Internet-based and mobile-based cognitive behavioral therapy for chronic diseases: a systemic review and meta-analysis

Tao, T. J., Lim, T. K., Yeung, E. T. F., Liu, H., Shris, P. B., Ma, L. K. Y., … & Hou, W. K. (2023). Internet-based and mobile-based cognitive behavioral therapy for chronic diseases: a systematic review and meta-analysis. NPJ Digital Medicine, 6(1), 80. Doi: 10.1038/s41746-023-00809-8

Trends in mental health inequities for people with disability, Australia 2003 to 2020

Bishop, G. M., Kavanagh, A. M., Disney, G., & Aitken, Z. (2022). Trends in mental health inequalities for people with disability, Australia 2003 to 2020. Australian & New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry. Doi: 10.1177/00048674231193881

The Involvement of Service Users and People With Lived Experience in Mental Health Care Innovation Through Design: Systematic Review

Veldmeijer, L., Terlouw, G., Van Os, J., Van Dijk, O., Van’t Veer, J., & Boonstra, N. (2023). The Involvement of Service Users and People With Lived Experience in Mental Health Care Innovation Through Design: Systematic Review. JMIR Mental Health, 10, e46590. Doi: 10.2196/46590

About Healthy Mind

Healthy Mind is an online Easy Read tool by Black Dog Institute designed to help people with an intellectual disability to recognise and regulate their thoughts and feelings.

There are five online learning modules to choose from:

1. Breathe and relax – a series of short videos on how to breathe deeply and relax your body
2. Tackling unhelpful thinking – a series of short activities to recognise unhelpful thought patterns.
3. Having more fun – an activity planner to schedule more enjoyable activities into your week.
4. Taming anger – a series of short videos and activities on how to recognise and regulate anger.
5. Recognising feelings – a series of short videos and activities to help understand your emotions.

Who is Healthy Mind for?

Healthy Mind is aimed at adults with a mild to borderline intellectual disability.

Is there a cost to use Healthy Mind?

No, there is no cost to use Health Mind.