November PD activities

Find below some of the great PD opportunities available in November.  Comment or email the library if you have anything to add.

 

Write – presentations and papers

4th Annual No 2 Bullying Conference, 18-19^th April

Abstract submissions are now being accepted under the following streams:

• Schools
• Workplace
• Cyberbullying
• Higher Education
• Principle and Practice
• Prevention Strategies
• Lessons Learnt 
• Open

The 2016 Conference will focus on key principles and best practice for creating a generational change towards bullying and will examine bullying in schools, workplaces and cyberspace
Abstract submission closes: 18^th Jan 2016
http://no2bullying.org.au/

 

Read – professional reading

Darvishi N, Farhadi M, Haghtalab T, Poorolajal J (2015) Alcohol-Related Risk of Suicidal Ideation, Suicide Attempt, and Completed Suicide: A Meta-Analysis. PLoS ONE 10(5): e0126870. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0126870

http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0126870

Leigh, S. & Flatt, S. (2015) App-based psychological interventions: Friend or foe?. Evidence-based Mental Health. doi:10.1136/eb-2015-102203

http://ebmh.bmj.com/content/early/2015/09/16/eb-2015-102203.full.pdf+html?sid=0e9db507-14ea-4b4a-8f6c-d8bd0a2da32a

Allara, E., Ferr, M., Bo, Alessandra., Gasparrini, A. (2015) "Are mass-media campaigns effective in preventing drug use? A Cochrane systematic review and meta-analysis" in BMJ Open 2015;5:e007449

http://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/5/9/e007449.full
 

Attend – informal learning sessions, journal club, seminar series

Journal club (available to Healthy Options workers only)

This month’s journal club will be presented by the SA team.  Debby Kadarusman will be looking at an article on positive psychology.
When: Thursday, 19^th November, 2pm (AEST)

Pennington Institute online modules for AOD workers

Modules include:

• Introduction to brief interventions
• Introduction to crystal methamphetamine
• Introduction to young people and drugs

You will need to register to access the modules.  Each module includes a pre-quiz, training module, post-quiz and printable certificate
Access anytime.  Self-paced.
https://penington.trainingvc.com.au/login/index.php

Major Depression in the Population: A Public Health Approach – online course

Public Mental Health is the application of the principles of medicine and social science to prevent the occurrence of mental and behavioral disorders and to promote mental health of the population. This course illustrates the principles of public health applied to depressive disorder, including principles of epidemiology, transcultural psychiatry, health services research, and prevention. It is predicted that by 2020 depressive disorder will be the most important cause of disease burden in the entire world!  Every human being suffers from feeling depressed at some point or other, but only about one fifth of the population will experience an episode of depressive disorder over the course of their lives. This course illuminates the public health approach to disease, and the particular complexities of applying this approach to mental disorders, using depression as the exemplar.  
When:  2^nd November
Duration: 7 weeks, 2-5hr/wk
https://www.coursera.org/course/pmhdepression
 

Attend - conferences

Annual Scientific Alcohol and Drugs Conference
Hosted by the Australasian Professional Society on Alcohol and Drugs (APSAD) this year’s conference will address a diverse range of issues including co-existing mental health and drug problems, aetiology, policy innovations, emerging psychoactive substances, responding to First Peoples’ needs and addressing drug related harms.
When: 8 – 11^th November
Where: Perth, W.A.
Cost: $420 - $960 see website for details
http://www.apsadconference.com.au/ehome/apsadconference/258469/?&

International Indigenous Health Conference

The conference will highlight some of the existing Indigenous health programs currently implemented in communities throughout Australia and in other Indigenous communities in the world provide a unique opportunity for delegates and speakers to see the power of people networking together. This event also provides delegates with an opportunity to discuss and exchange ideas and information regarding success stories and the challenges they have experienced in rolling out various programs and projects
When: 1^st-3^rd December
Where: Cairns, Qld.
Cost: $1000
http://www.indigenousconferences.com/#!2015-indigenous-health-conference/c1sdu

Second National Complex Needs Conference

This conference seeks to identify and showcase successful collaborative efforts in service delivery, with a view to informing whole-of-government approaches to policy and program development.
When: 17 – 18^th November
Where: Canberra, A.C.T.
Cost: $350 - $820 See website for details
 https://phaa.eventsair.com/QuickEventWebsitePortal/second-national-complex-needs-conference/2ncncwebsite

Australian Long-Term Unemployment Conference

With long-term unemployment reaching a 16 year high, the impact on individuals and families, society and the economy is immense. Early intervention and targeted programs for those facing more than 12 months, or longer, of unemployment are needed.  The Conference Program will be designed to challenge, inspire, demonstrate and encourage participants while facilitating discussion. The program will include an extensive range of topics with Keynotes, Concurrent Sessions, Case Studies and Posters.
When: 9 – 10^th November
Where:  Melbourne, Vic.
Cost: $600 - $850 See website for details
http://longtermunemployment.org.au/

 

Listen – podcasts, webinars

Insight – Tall Poppies - Webinar

Presented by Dr Jeremy Hallyar, Clinical Director, Metro North Mental Health, Alcohol & Drugs Service Qld
With all the press and hype about ice, is there a danger that we are losing sight of the evolving challenge of opioid use? This seminar will look at the USA situation over the last 20 years and consider if Australia is heading in the same direction.  Responses to opioid use will be discussed.
When:  Wednesday, 4^th November, 9am (AEST)
http://www.dovetail.org.au/insight/webinars.php

Helping transgender people thrive - Podcast

Transgender and gender nonconforming people are becoming more accepted in mainstream society, but they still remain misunderstood and understudied. In this episode, psychologist Anneliese Singh discusses how she and other researchers are trying to understand resilience within this population. She also talks about new practice guidelines for the mental health professionals who work with them.
Duration: 12mins
http://www.apa.org/research/action/speaking-of-psychology/helping-transgender.aspx

“Flying over the radar” Changing practice to support children and families where a parent has a mental illness – Webinar

This webinar described ways to foster systemic change in practice to improve outcomes for families where a parent has a mental illness.
Duration: 50mins
https://youtu.be/xHgxSF7TwqQ

2015 EDRS and IDRS report findings

About the IDRS and EDRS

The Illicit Drug Reporting System (IDRS) and the Ecstasy and Related Drugs Reporting System (EDRS) are two studies conducted by the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre (NDARC).  These studies output annual reports on illicit drug use, both nationally and by state.

Participants in the research are currently using substances, i.e. the study does not look at drug use in the general population.   Data are gathered from interviews with people currently using drugs, key experts in the field, and professionals who have regular contact with people who inject drugs (IDRS) or regular psychostimulant users (EDRS) through their work.


IDRS

Heroin remains the most commonly used drug amongst people who inject drugs.  The proportion of respondents using heroin remained stable, but the frequency of use had increased.  The drug is reportedly very easy to obtain and is of low purity.

Use of cocaine remained stable and use of cannabis was high, but stable. 

Sharing injection equipment was common, with 6% of respondents having borrowed a needle and 11% having lent a needle.  Re-use of own needle was common (41%).

Over half of the sample reported a mental health problem during the previous 6 months.  Most commonly reported was depression, followed by anxiety


EDRS

Although decreasing over the last 12 years, ecstasy remains the most commonly reported drug of choice, closely followed by cannabis, which has increased over the last 12 years.  There is a reported decrease in use of ecstasy pills and increase in use of ecstasy/MDMA crystals. 

There was a significant increase in regular psychostimulant users reporting using other drugs with ecstasy (89%).  Reported use of any methamphetamine has significantly decreased with powder and base use significantly decreasing and crystal use remaining stable.

In terms of other drug use, there has been a significant increase in reported use of tobacco and amyl nitrate.


...and Ice

Crystal methamphetamine use is up (6%) amongst people who inject drugs (PWID), such that 67% of PWID used Ice in the previous 6 months.  Crystal methamphetamine use is stable amongst regular psychostimulant users at around 19%.

Users of crystal methamphetamine report the drug is easily obtained and the purity is high.

Harms related to methamphetamine use are high with a dramatic increase in hospital presentations and people seeking treatment.  There has also been an increase in methamphetamine related deaths.

Mental Health Week

 As part Mental As week, 4 – 11 October 2015, the ABC is providing programs on ABC TV and Radio National as well as links to various articles and support services from their home page

http://www.abc.net.au/mentalas/ 

 

Spend some time doing a relaxation activity.  These guided exercises from the University of Sydney are quite good and include breathing, progressive muscle relaxation, autogenic relaxation and visualisation. 

by Jerome

September PD activites

Find below some of the great PD opportunities available in September.  Comment or email the library if you have anything to add.

 

Read – professional reading

Queensland AIDS Council (2015). Many shades of blue: Enhancing service delivery to address the mental health needs of LGBTI populations

http://www.healthygc.com.au/MedicareLocal/media/Site-Pages-Content/GP%20Resources/LGBTI/Good-Practice-Guide-Many-Shades-of-Blue-LGBTI-Mental-Health.pdf

Australasian Professional Society on Alcohol and other Drugs (2014) Managing methamphetamine dependence: interventions and beyond.  Special online edition of Drug and Alcohol Review

http://bit.ly/1lcnVKf

Roche, A., Pidd, K. and Kostadinov, V. (2015), Alcohol- and drug-related absenteeism: a costly problem. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1753-6405.12414/epdf
 

Attend – informal learning sessions, journal club, seminar series

Journal club (available to Healthy Options workers only)

This month’s journal club will be presented by the CARER team.  Topic to be announced.
When: Thursday, 17^th September, 2pm

Australian Winter School presentations

Missed Winter School 2015?  Not to worry; presentations are now available to download from their website.
http://winterschool.org.au/great-speakers/

Health Literacy and Communication for Health Professionals – online course

This inter-professional course will help educate a variety of health professionals about health literacy efforts and improved communication skills. It will require your active participation in creating health literate interactions at various organisational levels. This course will provide the opportunity to reinforce existing opportunities to work together as a multidisciplinary team or fill a gap if you haven’t had an opportunity to do so yet!
When: 13 September
Duration: 8 weeks, 3-6hr/wk
https://www.coursera.org/course/healthliteracy

Attend - conferences

2015 NDARC Annual Research Symposium
The symposium examines the current issues and future solutions in regards to emerging problems in alcohol and drug use
When: 15^th September
Where: Sydney, N.S.W.
Cost: $220+
https://ndarc.med.unsw.edu.au/2015-ndarc-annual-research-symposium

3rd Population Health Congress

The theme for the 2015 congress is “One vision, many voices”. This theme will be explored and discussed through the following six sub themes:

• Engagement and advocacy action
• Research and knowledge transfer
• Healthy places, healthy spaces
• Grand challenges and wicked problems
• Vulnerable populations
• Advancing public health

When: 6^th-9^th September
Where: Hobart, Tas.
Cost: $350 - $1150, see website for details
http://populationhealthcongress.org.au/

Kornar Winmil Yunti - National Domestic & Aboriginal Family Violence Conference

Conference theme is “New and innovative ways to address early intervention, primary prevention and response.  The conference looks at child abuse prevention, domestic abuse prevention, and Aboriginal family violence prevention
When: 15^th-16^th September
Where: Adelaide, S.A.
Cost: $750
http://kornarwinmilyunti.org.au/

3^rd Indigenous Social Work conference

The 3rd International Indigenous Social Work Conference (3IISWC) brings together Indigenous social workers from around the world to share solutions to issues that affect Indigenous peoples.
Featuring internationally renowned Indigenous leadership, this gathering will develop positive relationships and understanding between peoples, governments and community for the betterment of all through Indigenous well-being, productivity and immense socio-economic growth.   It is relevant to all Indigenous and non-Indigenous social workers and welfare workers. Allied health workers and others who work with Indigenous people through legislation, policy development and the implementation of services to communities should also attend.
When: 14^th – 17^th September
Where: Darwin, N.T.
Cost: $575 - $1195, see website for details
http://3iiswc.com/

Listen – podcasts, webinars

Dovetail podcast - Harm reduction and ecstasy use

In this episode, Dovetail's own Cameron Francis talks about the harms of MDMA (ecstasy) and strategies that can reduce these harms.  This includes adulterant screening devices such as home pill testing kits, but also more formal adulterant screening programs such as those operating in the United Kingdom, the United States and Europe.  These programs are designed to identify highly dangerous substances such as PMA which have appeared recently around Australia and overseas.  Cameron also discusses the other acute harms of MDMA including overheating and dehydration and provides tips for workers who are engaging with young people who are currently using MDMA.
https://soundcloud.com/dovetail-qld

Supporting the Wellbeing of People Experiencing a Trauma Response

Available from the Mental Health Professional’s Network (MHPN), an interdisciplinary team discusses responding to clients with a trauma response using a case study.
http://bit.ly/1QYdRUx

Insight webinar series

http://www.dovetail.org.au/insight/webinars.php

It’s not a one-way street: AOD client engagement and participation

Presented by Ms Leisa Brandon, MNMH-ADS Client Participation and Engagement Project
(Project Gauge) and Ms Niki Parry QPAMS Coordinator - QuIHN; President - QuIVAA; President -
AIVL
This presentation will focus on the importance of involving clients of Alcohol and Other Drug (AOD) services in active and meaningful participation and engagement activities. Niki and Leisa will provide an overview of the current research, legislative context, AOD specific barriers and benefits of client engagement and participation. Niki has worked in the community sector for many years and is an advocate for AOD client engagement. Leisa is employed as a Client Engagement and Participation Project Officer at Metro North Mental Health – Alcohol and Drug Services (MNMHADS) to review practice and focus on improving current AOD client engagement and participation.
Wednesday, 2^nd September, 9am (EST)

Alcohol and drug harms, mental health and self-harm in the population: Ambulance data and timely, robust monitoring and responses

Presented by Dr Belinda Lloyd, Senior Research Fellow, Turning Point Alcohol & Drug Centre
Although AOD harms, mental health and self-harm are priority areas for development of effective policy and treatment, there is currently a lack of robust, timely data for monitoring these harms at a population level. This presentation will focus on the use of an internationally unique national monitoring system of acute overdose, self-harm and mental health-related ambulance presentations. This data is invaluable in identifying emerging patterns in AOD related harms and mental health and suicidal behaviour, including differences across subpopulations or geographic regions, and clustering within distinct time periods.
Wednesday, 9^th September, 9am (EST)

The Weird and Wonderful World of Sleep

Presented by Dr Sandy Sacre, Associate Professor, Nurse Educator, Metro North Mental Health –
Alcohol and Drug Service
Sleep loss and sleep disorders are extremely common and cause an enormous public health burden in terms of direct and indirect health costs and lost productivity. Sleep disorders and their proper diagnosis and management are often poorly understood. This presentation will cover a wide range of sleep disorders to help clinicians better understand these problems when they encounter them in daily practice.
Wednesday, 16^th September, 9am (EST)

Being Insane: A voice listener’s story

Presented by Mr Eddie Blacklock, RN BA MA Private Counselling Consultant
This presentation is a brief analysis of a recently published narrative based to raise public awareness about schizophrenia from a lived-in perspective; to demystify and de-stigmatise what it means to be diagnosed with schizophrenia; to raise public and professional awareness about the debilitating effects antipsychotic medications have on many patients and make transparent some routine process of an acute mental health unit.
Wednesday, 30^th September, 9am (EST)

August PD activities

A list of some of the available PD sessions coming up in August.  Comment below or contact library@healthyoptions.org.au if you have something to add.

Write – presentations and papers

The 2015 Australian Stop Domestic Violence Conference

Abstracts now open for this year’s conference on the topic of “Connecting the dots…”
Presentation topics include:

• Community (e.g. Educational Programs, Homelessness, Intervention, Helplines)
• Communication and Interstate Collaboration
• Law Enforcement, Protection and Legal System
• Government and Policy Making
• Mental Health (e.g. Impact on service provider personnel, Preventative care, Access to services, Identification of core issues and diagnosis)
• Indigenous Communities
• Special Topics/Open (e.g. Children, CALD, Disability, Elder Abuse, IPV and Sexual Assault, LBGTI, Parental Violence)
• Research

Authors or organisations interested in speaking at the Conference, are invited to submit an abstract or paper of no more than 300 words outlining the aims, contents and conclusions of their paper or presentation; or about their intended role in a workshop.
There are spots available for oral presentations, workshops, and poster presentations.
Submissions due: 29^th August
http://stopdomesticviolence.com.au/submit-abstract/

Read – professional reading

Renner, P., O'Dea, B., Sheehan, J. and Tebbutt, J. (2015), Days out of role in university students: The association of demographics, binge drinking, and psychological risk factors. Australian Jnl of Psychology, 67: 157–165.

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ajpy.12077/epdf

Degenhardt, L., Coffey, C., Hearps, S., Kinner, S. A., Borschmann, R., Moran, P. and Patton, G. (2015), Associations between psychotic symptoms and substance use in young offenders. Drug and Alcohol Review.

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/dar.12280/epdf

Furr, S. R., Johnson, W. D. and Goodall, C. S. (2015), Grief and Recovery: The Prevalence of Grief and Loss in Substance Abuse Treatment. Jrnl Addictions & Off Counsel, 36: 43–56.

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/j.2161-1874.2015.00034.x/epdf
 

Attend – informal learning sessions, journal club, seminar series

Journal club (available to Healthy Options workers only)

Journal club this month will be presented by the Early Interventions team
When: Wednesday, 19^th August 10am
Where: Boardroom and Skype meeting

Children of Parents with a Mental Illness (COPMI) – Professional eLearning courses

COPMI have a range of online courses available for free for professionals.  The online courses require Internet access, an up-to-date browser and Flash player
Topics include:

• Keeping children and families in mind
• Supporting infants and toddlers
• Let’s talk about children
• Child aware practice
• Child aware supervision

Duration: 2-4 hours – can be accessed over several sessions
http://www.copmi.net.au/professionals-organisations/how-can-i-help/professional-development/elearning-courses

Sociology – Free online course

This course is offered by the University of Western Sydney.  Sociology examines individuals in their social contexts and provides insights into factors such as class, gender and age shape societies at the individual and institutional levels. This introductory course introduces you to key concepts and theories used in examination of and for understanding social action, social institutions, social structure and social change.
Starts: 3^rd August
Duration: 4 weeks, 2-4hr/week
https://www.open2study.com/courses/sociology
 

Attend - conferences

Australian Youth AOD Conference

This conference is for workers interested in the best possible care for young people experiencing drug and alcohol problems.  The conference theme this year is “A Powerful Future for a Radical Tradition”
When: 13-14^th August
Where: Melbourne
Cost: $495
http://www.youthaod.org.au/conference2015/ 

16^th International Mental Health Conference

This conference will bring together leading clinical practitioners, academics, service providers and mental health experts to deliberate and discuss Mental Health issues confronting Australia and New Zealand.
Topics include:

• Early intervention and treatment advances
• Recovery oriented practice e-Health, technology and social media
• Suicide prevention and support Child, youth and family mental health promotion and services demands for an aging population
• Targeted services for vulnerable groups Indigenous mental, social, emotional and environmental health LGBTI mental health promotion and resilience
• Workplace health and wellbeing
• Mental health in the custodial and forensic setting
• Consumer and carer participation and opportunities
• Offering hope: stories from the front line and lived experience

When: 12^th-14^th August
Where: Gold Coast
Cost: $975-$575, see website for details
http://anzmh.asn.au/conference/index.html

Fifth Annual International Drug Abuse Research Society/Fourth Asian-Pacific Society for Alcohol and Addiction Research Meeting

This conference will bring together basic scientist, clinical scientists and medical practitioners from the international community to present and discuss the latest findings on alcohol and other drug (AOD) use, other central nervous system (CNS)-acting drugs, the treatment of AOD use and other addictive disorders.
Conference themes include:

• Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder
• Treatment of drug addiction: methamphetamine, cannabis, opiates
• Frontiers in addiction pharmacotherapy
• The nature and diagnosis of addictive disorders
• Anesthetics, inhalants and opiates
• Epigenetics, omics and cocaine
• Substituted amphetamine neurotoxicity
• MDMA/ecstasy, GHB and designer drugs
• Novel behavioural and pharmacological approaches to preventing drug-seeking and relapse
• Novel neurobiological targets for the treatment of alcoholism
• AOD use among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples
• Internet gaming and social media
• The vulnerable brain

When: 18^th-21^st August
Where: Sydney
Cost: $700-$550, see website for details
https://ekiddna.eventsair.com/QuickEventWebsitePortal/4th-apsaar-5th-idars-conference/event-info-site

Listen – podcasts, webinars

Foster families – podsocs

Foster families work the well-being of children in their care often with little recognition. In this podcast, Alyson Rees talks about her research with children and their foster families from a strengths perspective.
Duration: 35mins
http://www.podsocs.com/podcast/foster-families/

The National Methamphetamine Symposium: Making Research Work in Practice

All presentations and slides are now available from NCETA’s methamphetamine symposium, which was held in May this year. Links to slides and YouTube clips are available here:
http://nceta.flinders.edu.au/nceta/events/methamphetamine-symposium/

AOD treatment services 2013-14

Last week the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare released the Alcohol and Other Drug Treatment Services 2013-14 report.  The data for this report series comes from the National Minimum Data Set (NMDS).  NMDS is collected by Healthy Options programs as well as other organisations' programs funded by the government.

Some of the main trends and findings in the data:

Client demographics

• Nationally, there were 118,741 clients (1 in 200 of the population).  112,573 were attending the service for their own drug use; 7174 were significant others 
• Two thirds of clients identify as male and 14% identify as Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander
• Two thirds of significant others were female
• The treatment population seems to be ageing, with a slight decrease in 20-29y/o and an increase in 40+y/o

Drugs of concern

• The most common primary drug of concern is alcohol (40%), al though this has decreased from 2009-10 (48%)
• There has been an increase in clients with amphetamines as the reported primary drug of concern up from 7% to 17%
• There has been an increase in clients reporting inhaling and smoking as their method of use for amphetamines
• 54% of clients have more than one drug of concern

Treatment

• Over half of all agencies are located in major cities.  Only 7% are in remote or very remote areas
• The most common stated intervention remains "counselling" 43%, followed by assessment and withdrawal management 
• The median duration of treatment episodes was 3 weeks.  79% of episodes were closed within 3 months and 24% within one day
• Clients whose principle drug of concern is amphetamines or heroin generally have longer treatment episodes   
• 64% of client cessations were expected (e.g. treatment completion).  Unexpected cessations (e.g. non-compliance) accounted for 20% of cessations
• Expected cessation was highest for ecstasy (87%) and lowest for buprenorphine (45%)
• Unexpected cessation was highest for amphetamine (25%) and lowest for ecstasy (8%)

Full report available here:  http://tinyurl.com/o8eqqm6

July PD activites

Some of the professional development activities available during July.  Be sure to add any further suggestions in the comments or contact the library.

 

Write – presentations and papers

Rural and remote mental health symposium

Abstracts now open for the symposium and this year’s topic is Innovation and Opportunity
Conference topics include:

• Working smarter: overcoming the challenges and innovative solutions
• Developing programs that build resilience, reduce stigma and offer accessibility to services
• Service delivery strategies, development, implementation, management and evaluation
• Child and youth mental health: prevention and early intervention
• e-Health, tele-Health, technology and social media
• Suicidal and self-harming: behaviour and prevention
• Aboriginal health and engagement
• Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CALD) community programs, support and education
• Recovery in the Bush
• Building healthy communities: policy, practice, community innovation
• Employment opportunities for better health outcomes
• The voice of the lived experience

Submissions due: 17^th July 2015

http://anzmh.asn.au/rrmh/

The 2015 Australian Stop Domestic Violence Conference

Abstracts now open for this year’s conference on the topic of “Connecting the dots…”

Presentation topics include:

• Community (e.g. Educational Programs, Homelessness, Intervention, Helplines)
• Communication and Interstate Collaboration
• Law Enforcement, Protection and Legal System
• Government and Policy Making
• Mental Health (e.g. Impact on service provider personnel, Preventative care, Access to services, Identification of core issues and diagnosis)
• Indigenous Communities
• Special Topics/Open (e.g. Children, CALD, Disability, Elder Abuse, IPV and Sexual Assault, LBGTI, Parental Violence)
• Research

Authors or organisations interested in speaking at the Conference, are invited to submit an abstract or paper of no more than 300 words outlining the aims, contents and conclusions of their paper or presentation; or about their intended role in a workshop.

There are spots available for oral presentations, workshops, and poster presentations.

Submissions due: 29^th August

http://stopdomesticviolence.com.au/submit-abstract/

Read – professional reading

Gorman, D. M. (2015), ‘Everything works’: the need to address confirmation bias in evaluations of drug misuse prevention interventions for adolescents. Addiction, doi: 10.1111/add.12954.

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/add.12954/full

Darvishi N, Farhadi M, Haghtalab T, Poorolajal J (2015) Alcohol-Related Risk of Suicidal Ideation, Suicide Attempt, and Completed Suicide: A Meta-Analysis. PLoS ONE 10(5): e0126870. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0126870 

http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0126870

Morandini, J. S., Blaszczynski, A., Dar-Nimrod, I. and Ross, M. W. (2015), Minority stress and community connectedness among gay, lesbian and bisexual Australians: a comparison of rural and metropolitan localities. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health, 39: 260–266. doi: 10.1111/1753-6405.12364

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1753-6405.12364/abstract?campaign=woletoc

Attend – informal learning sessions, journal club, seminar series

Journal club (available to Healthy Options workers only)

Journal club for this month is yet to be finalised.  Below date is tentative only.  Details will be provided as soon as possible.

When: Thursday, 16th July, 2pm

The addicted brain – Emory University

This is a course about addiction to drugs and other behaviours. It will describe what happens in the brain and how this information helps us deal with and overcome addiction. It will also discuss other topics such as government policy and our vulnerability to take drugs.  Course is delivered in 7 online modules

When: Available anytime

https://www.coursera.org/learn/addiction-and-the-brain

Attend - conferences

Aboriginal Health Conference

The conference theme Healthy families - healthy futures will be addressed through presentations, clinical updates, practical workshops, hands-on concurrent sessions and case study learning opportunities that are professionally accredited and delivered by expert specialists and speakers.  Includes optional family program/child care.

When: 4-5^th July

Where: Perth

Cost: $320-450

http://www.ruralhealthwest.com.au/professional-development/conference/2015/07/04/default-calendar/aboriginal-health-conference-2015

Australian Winter School Conference

Now in its 28th year, AWS aims to support health care professionals in developing skills and knowledge in responding to and treating alcohol and drug related issues, including mental health. It brings together practitioners, researchers, policy makers and workers from across the sector including community and private practice and all levels of government and provides a forum for cross-disciplinary dialogue. The conference suits those working in alcohol and other drugs, including nurses, allied health, GPs and other support agencies. It also appeals to those working in EDs and mental health care.
When: 22-24 July
Where: Brisbane
Cost:  See website for costs (and for the clever names they’ve given the various ticket types)
http://winterschool.org.au/

Listen – podcasts, webinars

Dovetail webinar: Practical harm reduction

This webinar will include an overview of the types of harms that young people using substances might experience and practical strategies that young people can use to reduce these harms.  The webinar will cover cannabis, MDMA (ecstasy), LSD and methamphetamine, with strategies that can be applied at any stage of a young person's engagement with a service from intake / assessment, through to treatment and relapse prevention.
When: 9am – 10am (AEST) Friday, 3^rd July.
http://www.dovetail.org.au/latest-news/2015/june/dovetail-webinar-practical-harm-reduction-friday-july-3rd-9am-10am.aspx

Everyday racism – Podsocs

Everyday racism is alive and well in Australia. But do we know what it is, how it manifests and how it affects people in our community. Jessica Walton talks about everyday racism.
Duration: 23mins
http://www.podsocs.com/podcast/everyday-racism/