** ...Mental health week has come and gone again in Victoria. There must be Cønsumer comments and stories about MHW .. send them in

** (VIC) Both the clinic and Training Institute of the Hofbauer Centre in St. Kilda may be closing next year .. many people doubt that the well-regarded psychotherapy services offered at Hofbauer will be replaced.

** (VIC) Cønsumers who like to go to the Catch 23 day centre in Preston will find that the drop-in has been closed until December 1997. People who then wish to use Catch 23 will be asked to come to an interview at the NEAMI office. Enq: phone (03)94706022. All other NEAMI programs will continue as normal.

** (VIC)About the competition in the prev. edition: there were three factual errors discovered in that quote; the prize was won quickly after Strong competition The Consolation prize was a dinner with the editor while the winner has been awarded the prize of a Omega emblem. No correspondence etc. etc.

** Another quotable quote: "This education system sets out to fail people" by Lu L.

**(VIC) The NetGain program outlined in last issue is up and running. avoca.vicnet.net.au/~vicserv/netgain/netgain_nf.htm

** (QLD) Queensland's Mental Health Act specifies that where a person's mental capacity has been impaired at the time of the offence, the person will never face trial for his or her offence, will be treated as a patient and not as a criminal and can be released if authorities deem that he or she has responded to treatment. In Queensland the people are held at the secure care hospital. Below, some media reports about such a hospital collected over a week :

Monday 13 Oct - Parents angry over killer's escape .. a story about a patient on escorted leave to a cinema who escaped for three hours - he/she confessed to a murder and was found of unsound mind at the time of the offence by the Mental Health Tribunal

Tuesday 14 Oct - Killer barred from outings following escape .. the patient was barred from leave. Hints of possible changes to the Mental Health Act followed - to 'stop this sort of thing'

Wednesday 15 Oct - Criminally insane 'animal' at large .. a story about a patient who escaped from a General Hospital's car park while being escorted from hospital for treatment - a psychiatric nurse at the hospital said this patient " is an animal"

Thursday 16 Oct - .. a consumer representative working voluntarily at the Hospital was a convicted paedophile - this was revealed by staff as "they could not believe a former psychiatric patient would have access to the patients". Escapee fled south to safety, says wife

Friday 17 Oct - Violent patients "let out to save money" ..a story from the nurses union stating that patients were moved through the hospital too quickly "to save money" - and asking the Health Minister for them to have more input into the review processes

Saturday 18 Oct Runaway killer prepares to ask for freedom ..

What do people think of this media onslaught - the community thinks that all 'forensic' patients are axe murderers and should be locked up anyway ... we in the consumer movement here are at our wits end at what to do .. any ideas?? (excerpts from the "Courier Mail" .. thanx to Helen Connor)

** FOR SALE - five toner cartridges (Max. memory) for a Texas Instruments laser printer in Melbourne .. Email consumernews@geocities.com" or write to PO Box 469, Carlton South 3053, Australia

Biopsychiatry is a name used to describe one of the two main branches of psychiatric theory about the cause madness. One theory says that madness is caused by experience in a person's past life. The other says it is caused by biological abnormalities in the person's brain. This second branch is biopsychiatry. Reductionism is a name given to the search for the essential cause of the supposed brain abnormality. If, say, researchers argue they have traced the biological cause of schizophrenia by reducing it down to a dopamine deficiency, then this is an example of bioshychiatric reductionism. (It's also a load of crap). [thankyou Richard for this]

**(VIC) A cønsumer-related paper by Allan Pinches: "Spirituality is the missing link in psychiatry"
The author can be reached at alpin@rocketmail.com "

**(NATIONAL)THEMHS is the annual conference for mental health services AND consumers; THEMHS was conducted in Sydney this year during August. There were several consumer events, including the AGM of the Aussie MH Consumer network, and papers given by Aussie consumers.

The report of the recent National Mental Health Peak Body Consultation has been issued to some stakeholders.. one copy passed across the cons-news desk. This report reviews a recent survey (357 responses plus various consultations around Australia). It proposes the formation of a national "MH Council of Australia" to be the peak body for mental health in this country. The Council :

• will be governed by a Board of reference groups. Apparently NCAG may continue as a part of one of these groups, which will represent clinical service providers, NGO's, NESBs, ATSIC, consumers, carers ...
• consist of a staff of 3 or 4 : an exec. Director, 2 project officers and an Admin. officer
• require an establishment budget of $96,600 budget total over two years of $291,651
• will reimburse consumer members for expenses.

Across the world, the cønsumer movement is gathering momentum as users of psych health services start to realise their own wisdom and resources. CønsumerNews is a newsletter for psych. consumers Down Under. This document is composed and edited in Melbourne, Australia ... A new issue will usually be published every second Friday. CønsumerNews is independent of any consumer group, network or service provider. CønsumerNews is an un-funded enterprise, if you as a cønsumer can get involved or suggest improvements, we need you.

Watch this space .. we collect consumer stories and material. We will accept files and GIFs/JPEGs up to 64K... or post your stuff to Aust ConsNews, PO Box 469, Carlton South, Vic. 3053 Australia.