aussie consumer newsletter

25 SEPTEMBER 1998 .. A WEB NEWSLETTER FOR PSYCH CONSUMERS IN AUSTRALIA

The background is based on a picture of St. John's Wort. This plant is a source of a natural anti-anxiety agent, hypericin.

More material will be added to this issue later. The national cønsumer Network conducted its AGM in Hobart during the 1998 THEMHS conference. We will include details of the proceedings.

( how did this item get in .. Ed. ) We are wondering if someone out there has experienced hellenologophobia lately .. our e-mail button is below. And did you know that the word -bedlam- is the old English rendering of Bethlehem.

'Out of the Blues' is an upcoming National Seminar on Depression in young people [up to the age of 24 years]. This seminar will be happening 6th-7th November 1998, @ the Radisson Playford Hotel in Adelaide, South Australia. 'Out of the Blues' aims

to improve the recognition and management of depression;

to promote professional good practice;

to raise concerns that depression is under-recognised and under-reported in our community;

to raise government awareness regarding the enormity of the issue of depression in young people, and

to foster collaborative national research

details, e-mail Graham Martin at graham.martin@flinders.edu.au or phone (618) 83575485.

As part of the celebrations (?) in Australia for Mental Health Week during October 1998, VICSERV in Victoria will be holding an international Internet chat forum, to be held on Wednesday 21 Oct.

The debate/chat sessions will be held in a number of ways .. a web site .. is being set up .. approximately 4 or 5 web pages to cater for different topics, plus information on how to chat via mIRC on the #netnation internet relay chat [ IRC ] channel, and ICQ details will also be included.

VICSERV are looking for people around the globe to participate in this chat event over a 12 hour period ... this includes consumers, carers, workers, advocates, health professionals and any interested persons. If you can participate or want to know more, please contact Colin to register your interest .. e-mail netnatn@vicserv.org.au ..

" ... consumers are not allowed to be human. We can't have joy - we have mania. We can't be sad - we're depressed. We don't have fear - we have paranoia. We don't experience stress - we experience relapse. We can't have inner peace - we're zoned out. We can't have anger - we're anti- social. We can't wear bright clothing - we're histrionic.
We can't be knowledgeable about medication - we're drug-seeking. If we express any emotion, we're accused of not taking our medication or of having a recurrence. In days past, with those horrid medications, we were turned into unfeeling zombies and any expression of real emotion was indeed a sign that we were cheeking our meds. But those days are gone. We have less debilitating medications and we have our humanity back. Why can't we be allowed to express that, to live life fully? "
(by Laura Ciprotti, with thanks to MadNation )

E-mail us at consumernews@yahoo.com

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Across the world, the cønsumer movement is gathering momentum as users of psych. health services realise their own wisdom and resources. "an aussie cønsumer newsletter" is published on the Web by cønsumers, for cønsumers Down Under. This newsletter assists cønsumers to develop contacts across Australia.

The editorial team is based in Melbourne, we aim to publish a new issue every two weeks. Printed copies are available by subscription ... ask us. This newsletter is optimised for Netscape browsers

We are independent of any cønsumer group or service provider. And this is an un-funded enterprise, so if you as a cønsumer can help us or suggest improvements, we need you. We particularly like news from states outside Victoria. Watch this space : we collect cønsumer stories and material.