The Mental Health Foundation has launched Opening Doors, a video examining the use of seclusion and the long-lasting trauma it can cause to both patients and staff. Visit the Mental Health Foundation website for more information.
Category Archives: Online Resources
Family Violence Resource from the Office of Ethnic Affairs
Family violence speaks many languages, has many colours, and lives in everyone’s community.
The Office of Ethnic Affairs understands that family violence is a difficult thing to talk about.
It can arouse fear of alienation and stigmatisation. A critical step in its reduction is to ensure that family violence can be discussed without fear and that offenders and victims can seek help.
The Office of Ethnic Affairs has developed a guide called Speak up Seek help Safe home to help women from diverse cultures and their families live without violence at home.
Link to the office of Ethnic Affairs website: http://ethnicaffairs.govt.nz/story/family-violence-and-ethnic-communities%20
Take It From Us in Top 3 at Annual Micie Awards
In the annual PlanetFM Micie awards last night, mental health radio Take It From Us placed in the top 3 for “hits” on the PlanetFM website, planetaudio.org.nz. That’s three places better than the show’s 2011 Top 10 ranking of sixth, and is a credit to the enthusiastic work of technical assistant, Declan Curran, in establishing a Facebook presence, and separate email to promote Take It From Us, and emphasise the on-line opportunities for listening to broadcasts.
Take It From Us has won six Micies now in six years, and host Sheldon Brown sends out a big thank you to all our guests, listeners and supporters.
Listen live on 104.6FM at 12.30pm every Tuesday or online www.planetaudio.org.nz
OR if you missed the broadcast, listen for the next seven days @: www.planetaudio.org.nz/takeitfromus
Catch up on the last four shows online: www.likeminds.org.nz
And don’t forget our new Facebook page @ Facebook.com and type take it from us in the search box; our email is takeitfromus@mail.com for any feedback and comment/suggestions for shows
The Great NZ Science Project: What Areas of Research Are Important to You?
Now’s your chance to get behind science and help New Zealand decide how we use it to invest in our future. Explore areas of interest and join the debate. The future of science in New Zealand is in your hands.
Science is not just beakers and Bunsen burners, it’s a multi-billion dollar industry of state-of-the-art research and invention. That’s why we’re partnering some of our top scientific minds with a few of the best open-minded, free-thinkers we know: our children. Result? A chance for all of us to shape our own future.
Register to give your views!! [Get mental-health research on the agenda!]
Recent Research Online
1 in 5 Kiwis Experienced Stress in the Past Year
The latest Roy Morgan survey shows that 628,000 – or one in five – New Zealanders over 14 have experienced stress in the past year
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/lifestyle/news/article.cfm?c_id=6&objectid=10850085
The relationship between adult learning and wellbeing: evidence from the 1958 National Child Development Study
In terms of the contribution of lifelong learning to wellbeing and health-related outcomes, we find that there is evidence of statistically significant and robust effects of participation in lifelong learning.
The cost of child health inequalities in Aotearoa New Zealand: A preliminary scoping study
This preliminary study suggests that health sector spending is skewed towards non-Maori children despite evidence of greater Māori need. Eliminating child health inequities, particularly in primary care access, could result in significant economic benefits for New Zealand.
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22640030
Metro-Auckland Pacific population health profile
The Pacific population health-profile presented in this report provides a “snapshot” of Pacific health in metro-Auckland. www.hiirc.org.nz/page/36556
Media Reporting of Global Health Issues and Events in New Zealand Daily Newspapers
Global health has received considerable attention over the past 20 years, with increased investment from some governments, nongovernment organisations and private philanthropists.
www.healthpromotion.org.au/journal/journal-downloads/article/1-hpja/435…
Risk Factors for Neuroleptic Malignant Syndrome
Antipsychotic dose escalation as a trigger for Neuroleptic Malignant Syndrome (NMS): literature review and case series report
Langan J, Martin D, Shajahan P, Smith DJ
BMC Psychiatry 2012, 12:214 (29 November 2012)
[Abstract] [Provisional PDF]
Newsletter from The New Zealand Organisation for Rare Disorders
NZORD – the New Zealand Organisation for Rare Disorders
NZORD Newsletter 2012 #6 — 28 November 2012
In this issue:
1 – Putting patient and family interests into newborn screening criteria.
2 – Common themes as groups respond to Ministry consultation on payments to family carers.
3 – Two significant clinical trials with New Zealand connections.
4 – Plain packaging submission to Ministry of Health tobacco control team.
5 – Recommended reading: The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, by Rebecca Skloot.
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1 – Putting patient and family interests into newborn screening criteria.
Over a decade of NZORD’s advocacy for patient and family interests in health policy has taught us that talking the language of officials and professionals is an important step in having our messages taken seriously. So NZORD took the lead in publishing how family interests and ethics must influence screening policy. See Screening criteria: the need to deal with new developments and ethical issues in newborn metabolic screening. We are proud to have the valued support of the Save Babies Through Screening Foundations in the USA and UK, and the Genetic Alliance in the USA, in the preparation of this article, along with valued help from two New Zealand academics with editing and technical aspects.
The article is published online in the Journal of Community Genetics, October 2012. We propose that decision criteria for metabolic screening in the newborn period should be adapted to specifically include patient and family interests, community values, patients’ rights, duties of government and healthcare providers, and ethical arguments for action in the face of uncertainty. Here is an open access PDF version of the article.
2 – Common themes as groups respond to Ministry consultation on payments to family carers.
The Ministry of Health’s consultation on payments to family carers has now closed and decisions will be made over the next few months. Wide ranging discussions took place among support groups during the consultation period and there was widespread concern at themes contained in the Ministry’s document.
NZORD is concerned that the Ministry’s defeat on this issue at the Human Rights Review Tribunal, and in two major court cases, has negatively influenced the policy direction they are signalling, and even suggests an attempt to relitigate the case through the policy setting process. This is very disappointing. Family carers deserve a more respectful process that is based on sound principles. Read more about a better approach to this policy issue in the submissions made by the Carers Alliance and also by NZORD.
3 – Two significant clinical trials with New Zealand connections.
Possibly missed by many in the constant stream of news about research activities under way, is a planned new clinical trial by NZ-based Neuren Pharmaceuticals who specialise in drugs for brain injury and neurodegeneration. They have successfully completed a phase 1 safety trial and submitted for approval of their candidate drug NNZ-2566 for a phase 2 trial for Rett syndrome, a very rare neurodegenerative condition. It is exciting to see such projects emerging from New Zealand universities, and also great to see attention being paid to rare conditions. Read more in the Neuren press release.
Also this month, Living Cell Technologies received approval for a clinical trial of its porcine cell encapsulation technology for the treatment of Parkinson’s disease. This follows successful earlier trails of the same technology for the treatment of unstable diabetes. Read more about the ongoing diabetes trial. This is another project where the innovation and basic research originated in New Zealand.
4 – Plain packaging submission to Ministry of Health tobacco control team.
NZORD supports the introduction of plain tobacco packaging and the other recommendations set out in the proposal under consultation by the Ministry of Health. We support this proposal because the health outcomes of tobacco use, exert an indirect but significant impact on the rare disease population. Smoking is a significant risk factor for a range of diseases that are high on health priority lists and therefore take a significant slice of the health budget. As a result, patients with rare diseases are pushed further down the priority list. Here is our submission in Word and PDF.
5 – Recommended reading: The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, by Rebecca Skloot.
Her name was Henrietta Lacks, but scientists know her as HeLa. She was a poor Southern tobacco farmer who worked the same land as her slave ancestors, yet her cells—taken without her knowledge—became one of the most important tools in medicine. HeLa cells were vital for developing the polio vaccine; uncovered secrets of cancer, viruses, and the atom bomb’s effects; helped lead to important advances like in vitro fertilization, cloning, and gene mapping; and have been bought and sold by the billions.
Yet Henrietta Lacks remains virtually unknown, buried in an unmarked grave. Henrietta’s family did not learn of her “immortality” until more than twenty years after her death, when scientists investigating HeLa began using her husband and children in research without informed consent. And though the cells had launched a multimillion-dollar industry that sells human biological materials, her family never saw any of the profits. As Rebecca Skloot so brilliantly shows, the story of the Lacks family—past and present—is inextricably connected to the dark history of experimentation on African Americans, the birth of bioethics, and the legal battles over whether we control the stuff we are made of.
Intimate in feeling, astonishing in scope, and impossible to put down, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks captures the beauty and drama of scientific discovery, as well as its human consequences. Read more about Henrietta in Wikipedia. The book is available at Amazon.
Contact:
John Forman
Executive Director, NZORD
New Zealand Organisation for Rare Disorders
PO Box 38-538, Wellington Mail Centre, 5045
228 Tinakori Rd, Thorndon, Wellington, 6011
New Zealand
Ph +64 4 471 2226
Mob +64 27 240 3377
Email: exec.director@nzord.org.nz
Website: www.nzord.org.nz
Articles on Prevention of Violence Against Women & Girls
The North Shore Family Violence Prevention Network & Safer Whanau Project shared the following information in their latest newsletter:
UN Women and a range of other international bodies (ESCAP, UNDP, UNFPA, UNICEF and WHO) recently convened an experts’ meeting on the prevention of violence against women and girls.
A series of short papers on specific topics have just been published, including working with children in schools, social mobilisation campaigns, the role of faith based organisations, the media as a site to prevent violence, creating social norms to prevent violence and working with men and boys to promote gender equality.
You can access these at: http://www.unwomen.org/events/59/expert-group-meeting-prevention-of-violence-against-women-and-girls/
Subscribe to the North Shore FVP Network weekly E-News by emailing fvpnns@gmail.com
Engage Aotearoa is Updating the Way They Do Updates!
Engage Aotearoa is moving from Feedburner to MailChimp to manage the way email updates from the Mental-Health News and Events Blog are sent out.
This means that if you are currently signed up to receive email updates from the Engage Aotearoa Mental-Health News and Events Blog (the one you are reading right now) you need to update your subscription.
Simply click through to the online Email Registration form here to sign up.
Once registered, you will receive a daily email-summary of new posts added to the Mental-Health News and Events Blog whenever content is added. As usual, this will be around 2 – 3 emails per week, max. You will notice some formatting changes as the team works to deliver information to you in a more compact way. You can now select to receive updates to your mobile phone.
Once you’ve Subscribed to the New Mailing List, you will want to unsubscribe from the old email list. Click here to Unsubscribe from the old Feedburner Mailing List.
Engage Aotearoa will be closing the current Email Subscriber list on the 30th of December 2012 and anyone who has not updated their subscription will no longer receive email updates directly to their inbox until they have done so.
Click through to the online Email Registration form here to sign up
Similar changes have also come into effect for subscribers to The Coping Kete updates.
Learn a Waiata on Youtube
Do you wish you knew the words to join in singing waiata at events?
Here are a few clips from Youtube to get you started with some of the classics…
