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Monday, December 30, 2013

Monday Free Download: Promotion, Prevention and Early Intervention in Mental Health

This Monograph on Promotion, Prevention and Early Intervention for Mental Health can prove difficult to track down. It formed the basis of development of Australian programs in Prevention for Mental Health, and the Australian Early Intervention Network (AusEinet), and is provided here as a free resource to drive further thinking and action.
The Monograph was freely downloadable from the AusEinet site, but since the withdrawal of funds for the program, it has been a bit hard to find online.

Go to http://www.familyconcernpublishing.com.au

Then 'Resources'

Download here: PPEiMentalHealth2000.pdf

Commonwealth Department of Health and Aged Care 2000, Promotion, Prevention and Early Intervention for Mental Health—A Monograph, Mental Health and Special Programs Branch, Commonwealth Department of Health and Aged Care, Canberra.

Haiku on Quiz/ Race/ Alert

Quiz

Your final question
Faced by the grand quiz master
Did you enjoy life?

More and more questions
Feels like an inquisition
My life is in flames

Used to watch a quiz
University Challenge
Brightest minds at play

That quizzical look
Nine months old, just before tears
Who the hell are you?

Race

Life is not a race
Each moment should be savoured
Deep in slow motion

Basic fact of life
Total heart beats are preset
Don't waste one in race

Her eyes held questions
My heart skipped, began to race
Time slowed, and she smiled

Alert

Try to be alert
The world needs a few more lerts
Concentrate a bit

Alert Karate
Simultaneous Striking
Sen No Sen Mushin

Alert to night sounds
The faintest rustle or cry
From the baby's room

Monday, December 23, 2013

Monday Free Download: "Early Detection of Emotional Disorder…"

This is the full original report from the first two years of our 3-Wave longitudinal study of adolescents from 1st year high school to 3rd year high school.

Go to: http://www.familyconcernpublishing.com.au
Then 'Resources'
Download here  *Early Detection of Emotional Disorders in South Australia

Martin, G., Roeger, L., Dadds, V., & Allison, S., 1997.  Early Detection of Emotional Disorders in South Australia; the first two years.  Adelaide, Southern Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service.  ISBN 0 646 31337 1.

Haiku on Nine/ Once/ Pick

Nine

Our days are numbered
Seize the beauty of each day
We don't have nine lives

Psychedelic dream
Fragment melange Number Nine
Beatles White Album

Nine mountains to climb
One for each 10 years of life
Each steep learning curve

Nine laughs Ha, Hee, Ho
Giggle, Chuckle, Snorting, Roar
Titter, Splutter, Burst

Once

We are here but once
The trick is to be the best
We possibly can

Each day a new start
Another chance to seize joy
We only die once

For once in my life
I have someone who needs me
Wonder full feeling

Achieving Mushin
If I only get there once
It will be enough

Pick

Pick through bits of News
Explore others' disasters
You're not badly off

Anniversaries
The mind picks through memories
Of loved ones and loss

A confused navvy
He was given two shovels
Told to take his pick

Saturday, December 21, 2013

Haiku on Junk/ Knock/ Laugh

Junk

The old junk wallowed
Red, green and gold paint peeling
The tide had not turned

The old junk yard dog
Wandering through detritus
Chasing off the rats

Threw out some old shirts
One had a junk monogram
Saw it yesterday

Knock

A knock at the door
I've come to read your meter
So glad you are here

It was a small knock
Not much more than a caress
Her vase went flying

The termite catcher
Knock, knock, knock on skirting boards
Boring in my brain

Laugh

I asked the question
Her braying laugh made me cringe
Question retracted

At the billabong
Moonless nights you hear him laugh
That jolly swagman

This is me laughing
A little half heartedly
Could not get the joke


Nine laughs Ha, Hee, Ho
Giggle, Chuckle, Snorting, Roar
Titter, Splutter, Burst

Tuesday, December 17, 2013

Haiku on Grim/ Haste/ Intend

Grim

Monochrome thinking
In a dark deluded world
Paints a grim picture

Dante's Inferno
Warnings of what to expect
Just grim and bare it

Got the grims today
All my thoughts turn to ashes
Shower, walk, smile, live

Haste

Delicate snowdrop
Rising in haste as snow melts
Messenger of Spring

Never hate in haste
Swirl harsh feelings round the glass
Acid etch the mind

Diagnosis made
Doctor in haste to move on
Forgot empathy

Intend

A great little phrase
'I intend to...' means future
When we just don't know

Electronic game
Fixes all we want to do
Call it 'Intend-o'

The dark road to hell
Is paved by all we intend
And never quite do

Monday, December 16, 2013

Free Monday Download: Family Therapy and the Family Doctor

This elderly paper from only the 2nd Issue of the Australian Journal of Family Therapy was based on a short course of training in Structural and Strategic Family for Family Doctors. It argues that the GP is well placed to do brief and targeted interventions in General Practice, that basic skills can be learned in short courses, and that understanding family dynamics may have enormous impact on other aspects of their family practice.

Then the Resources Tab
Download here: *Family Therapy and the Family Doctor 1
Martin, G., 1980. Family Therapy and the Family Doctor. Australian Journal of Family Therapy, Vol. 1 No. 2. (now the Australian and new Zealand Journal of Family Therapy)

Sunday, December 15, 2013

Sunday Haiku on Deny/ Escape/ Feel

Deny

Deny there's a God
Unseen like mind, soul, or love
They will all endure

Deny chocolate
Begone that pounding migraine
I will have no more

Arms manufacture
Stick with the profit motive
Deny world wide deaths

Escape

A page in a book
Evocative written words
My evening escape

Swift running river
Slippery green stepping stones
Fortunate escape

Escape behind drapes
Damned house piskie got away
I'll catch him one day

Feel

Fan spins silently
Filmed sweat on my brow dries up
Feel so much more cool

Dancing to your tune
Feel rhythms of your body
Deepest connection

My right brain can feel
My left brain does the thinking
Visual brain gets it

Friday, December 13, 2013

Transverse Myelitis: An odd connection

Over the last few months, I have repeatedly noted an odd connection - which does not seem to make sense. I wondered whether others of you may have noticed the same thing, and might be prepared to discuss with me on the blog.

I am tired today. Yesterday was a big day racing into Brisbane to get there early for my Thursday morning clinic. It is just over an hour's drive from Bribie Island, and though I feel comfortable driving, I am often tired when I arrive (particularly if the traffic is heavy on the motorway). I am often stiff and achy and have to stretch carefully before walking from the car park down the slope to the clinic.
In addition yesterday we had a tight schedule after the morning clinic. I had to pick up Jan, my wife, from a visit to the daughter in law, then go the the hospital to pick up my secretary, and then drive to a restaurant on the river for our research group annual Christmas celebration lunch. We had current PHDs and research staff, and a PHD who completed this year. It was a great celebration of a successful year (with publication of papers, several books, and completion of several successful PHDs (one is at a conference in the US, and another has begun postdoctoral studies in Hong Kong). So we toasted absent friends. It was all good fun…. Only one glass of champagne all lunch, I hasten to mention!
Then 3 hours later, we got back in the car and drove to pick up our 9 year old grandson who has just completed his year at school. Then we sat in traffic for 90 minutes to eventually get home.
Last night I was exhausted and slept deeply.
Today I did not want to get up, and my right sided chest pain is unusually bad. I have been trying to edit some work, but fell asleep twice for a short dribble-mouthed time……

Now here is the funny thing. My lower legs feel like I am wearing very thick woollen socks, and the sensation in my feet is worse than usual. My walking is less secure, and I am slower and more unbalanced than usual. BUT I also have strong urge to go to the toilet, but when I get there nothing happens; no wind, nothing… I have noticed all this before. Sometimes I notice the urge to go the toilet, and later remember my legs have been worse, sometimes the other way around, like today.

The only explanation that comes close is that the soles of the feet are served by the Lumbar 5, and Sacral 1 and 2 nerves from the spine. AND, so is the perineum around the anus. I am not sure exactly what I may be doing that creates this. All I know,is that tomorrow will be better - a bit. 

Is there anyone out there clever enough to explain what is going on?

Oh by the way, the book about my recovery, and my battles with hospitals and myself, is now up on Amazon Kindle. Just search for 'Taking Charge: a journey of recovery' The last bit of that is necessary, because there are quite a lot of books called 'Taking Charge...'

Haiku on Answer/ Bend/ Care

Answer

I have an answer
Always good with solutions
Now need the question

A catch in her voice
Shyly, with glistening eyes
She answered him; "Yes…"

Are you entitled?
Do you have some special right?
The answer is; "No!"

Raging storm last night
Garden battered by downpour
Answered my prayers

Bend

Bend it like Beckham
Pity about the round ball
But inspires the young

Bending my poor back
Under the weight of the world
I am Sisyphus

Speaking out of turn
Principal's office, bending
Three cuts of the cane

Care

The wind does not care
It's job is simply to blow
No value judgments

Please fill in the form
Bureaucracy does not care
If you are bleeding

The News is tragic
Each night I watch the death toll
Inoculate care

Wednesday, December 11, 2013

Haiku on Understand/ Victory/ Wishes & Your

Understand

I stood in your shoes
Tried so hard to understand
Just felt really cramped

Words I understand
Subtext can leave me so cold
A smile can get through

Psychodynamics
Internal web of the mind
Hard to understand

Victory

Keeping my weight down
Avoiding soft drinks and crap
Victory of sorts

A small victory
Means very little really
Losing nags at you

Mind over matter
Greatest victory of all
I win, and I win

Wishes & Your

Wishes are fishes
Swimming Koi-ly in the pond
Of your sleeping mind

Cutting birthday cake
You hope to not touch bottom
Your wishes come true

I make them come true
Even the unspoken ones
Your wishes are mine

A matter of time
Wishes flow in here and now
Hope for your future

Tuesday, December 10, 2013

Haiku on Reset/ Several/ Trend

Reset

Sit down in one place
Breathe quietly in and out
Reset the mind's eye

Rematch, a new game
Reset the expectations
Referee your thoughts

Melitonin fix
International travel
Reset body clock

Several

The hint of wood smoke
Several types of tree burn
Bushfire on the wind

Family meeting
Several opinions aired
Difference on show

Several warnings
For the most part unheeded
Then the earth lashed out

Trend

Following a trend
US continues to spend
Less able to lend

The trend continues
More people, less food produced
Where will it all end?

We notice each day
Tiny new deficiencies
It's an ageing trend