I am sick of repeated failed attempts to get more funding to further our Voice Movement Therapy research for young adults who self-injure... :-(
Then I read an article in the Sydney Morning Herald about how Australia ignores implementation of innovative projects.
http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/political-news/australia-blind-to-the-innovation-boom--beattie-20121109-2936i.html?
So I wrote to Peter Beattie as follows:
Peter,
Really enjoyed the dialogue in SMH about Australia's investment in implementation AFTER the original research.
We have devised a novel expressive therapy for self-harming young people. I could not get money from anywhere, so I funded it myself from private practice funds. 4 10 week groups with 10 week follow-up over 2+years. Great results, and the paper is currently in press with Music and Medicine (an international journal), despite small numbers.
Given the results, I tried for an NHMRC this year (LOL). They said our work was 'non-competitive'. I have tried other formal funding bodies here (like BeyondBlue) and in the US (like the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention who had previously given us funding for self-harm research), but no-one seems interested despite an estimated cost of self-harm to the Australian taxpayer of somewhere around $60m pa. Ah, the ironies of life.
Don't suppose he will have time to respond... :-(
Graham was a UK GP before training in Psychiatry in Australia. He has been dedicated for more than 40 years to psychiatric practice in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. Follow Graham's early development in over 40 posts below. Search for 'Making of a Child Psychiatrist'
Hi Graham, I can hear your utter frustration in this matter. It is indeed difficult to get anyone to listen, particularly to any therapy that may be considered outside the 'mainstream' or medicalised model.
ReplyDeleteHave you considered writing directly to the Mental Health Minister, Mark Butler, setting out the results of the trial and putting it, as you have here, in the context of costs saved?
You may have mentioned it elsewhere in your blog (I will look as soon as I have a moment) but is there a link to the Voice Movement Therapy research results? Or more information about the program?