Better mental health
(The Australian)
6th April 2006
The states must pay up to help fix the mental health crisis.

Mentally ill 'miss out on housing'
(The Australian)
6th April 2006
The architect of the policy that released thousands of people from asylums says the Howard Government is still failing to answer the need for accommodation for the mentally ill left on the street.

Mentally ill homeless left to states
(The Australian)
6th April 2006
John Howard has added $1.8 billion to federal mental healthcare spending, but left the states to deal with the mentally ill who roam the streets because of the shutdown of psychiatric hospitals over the past two decades.

Age-old fear, leaving a broken mind
(The Australian)
6th April 2006
Elizabeth Byrne has a simple hope for her daughter Emma. It is that after she has died, Emma will continue to live in "an environment that's safe and where she'll find some joy in her life".

Cannabis hotline to help teens
(The Australian)
6th April 2006
Teenagers will be targeted at high school in an effort to get to people with mental illnesses when they have their first episode.

depressioNet Users Respond to Prime Minister's Announcement on Mental Health
(Media Release)
6th April 2006
MELBOURNE – Australia’s only 24/7 online support service for people with mental illness, depressioNet.com.au, is abuzz with chatter about the Prime Minister’s announcement of increased funding for the country’s mental health system.

PM Takes Welcome First Step On Mental Health Crisis - Two Steps To Go
(Media Release)
5th April 2006
“The Prime Minister’s announcement today of $1.8bn over five years in new funding for mental heath is a very welcome first step towards addressing Australia’s mental health crisis”, said John Mendoza, CEO of the Mental Health Council of Australia.

Better Mental Health Services For Australia
(Media Release)
5th April 2006
On 10 February this year in Canberra, my colleagues and I on the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) committed to reforming the mental health system in Australia. Since then, the Commonwealth has been discussing this matter at officials’ level with the States and Territories.

MPs present plan to relieve crisis in mental health
(The Age)
31st March 2006
MENTAL health services are in crisis across Australia, according to a report by politicians from all major parties that demands urgent action by state and federal governments.

High-profile sufferers of depression help to destigmatise mental illness
(Media Release)
31st January 2006
In announcing his resignation due to depression, West Australian Premier Geoff Gallop showed tremendous courage and assisted in destigmatising mental illness, the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Health and Ageing, Christopher Pyne, has said.

Counselling and exercise effective for mental health - survey finds
(Media Release)
30th January 2006
High levels of stress, being overweight and physically inactive, are the most common health concerns for people with mental illnesses, revealed in the latest survey by SANE Australia.

depressioNet Reports Increased Use Of Online Support Service For Workplace-Related Depression
More than 200,000 Australians turn to depressioNet.com.au each year for information help and 24-hour peer support, a figure that increases by 20 percent each year. 79% of those people are workers who say depressioNet has helped them maintain employment while living with depression. Bullying in the workplace is identified as a contributing problem.
(Media Release)
20th January 2006
MELBOURNE – Not-for-profit website depressioNet.com.au (dNet) has recorded a surge of users after recent high-profile Australians have made public admissions about depression.

depressioNet Announces New Era and Role for Founder
depressioNet Seeks New CEO to Lead Groundbreaking Not-for-Profit Organisation
(Media Release)
18th January 2006
MELBOURNE - Online interactive website and 24-hour service depressioNet.com.au announced the search for a new CEO, after accepting the resignation of Founder and CEO Leanne Pethick.

20% of children have a parent with a mental illness
(The Age)
1st January 2006
More than one in five Australian children are living with at least one parent with a mental illness, Bureau of Statistics figures show.

Tangled up in blues
(The Age)
11th December 2005
The dominant treatment for mental illness focuses more on brain chemistry than on human behaviour or personal distress. Peter Ellingsen wonders what we are covering up with drugs.

Online 'depressioNet' Service To Get Significant Support From MBF Living Well Foundation
(Media Release)
7th December 2005
In one of its first major funding initiatives, the recently formed MBF Living Well Foundation has agreed in principle to provide significant support to the online ‘depressioNet’ service.

New help for 1 in 10 Australians affected by anxiety
(Media Release)
29th November 2005
SANE Australia today launched ‘The SANE Guide to Anxiety Disorders’ to provide answers to common questions about anxiety and practical steps to reduce symptoms and feelings of fear.

Drugs and Mental Illness Link is Real
(Media Release)
13th November 2005
The Mental Health Council of Australia is advising that the link between cannabis use and drug related psychosis is irrefutable and there is a need to review strategies to reduce demand and supply.

Our mentally ill can no longer be ignored
(The Weekend Australian)
31st October 2005
IT'S 10 years since the Easton royal commission ripped the guts out of Carmen Lawrence's potentially stellar political career. Lawrence was found to have lied about her knowledge of a flawed petition tabled in the West Australian parliament.

depressioNet Saved With Financial Assistance from Federal Govt and Support of Media
Media Release
15th October 2005
Voices of People Living with Depression Gain Minister's Ear
Online interactive site and 24-hour service depressioNet.com.au (dNet) avoided closure Friday night after a tough day of negotiations with the federal government.

Painting can be just the right medicine
(The Age)
11th October 2005
KAREN Hall has bipolar disorder — the condition formerly known as manic depression — and no one was more surprised than her when she enrolled in an art therapy course and started painting flowers.

Depression drug linked to birth defects
(The Age)
10th October 2005
PREGNANT women taking the popular antidepressant paroxetine are being urged to consult their doctor after the drug was linked to birth defects.

Care link for baby's mother
(The Warrnambool Standard)
28th September 2005
KOROIT'S Jason Groves found a unique remedy for his clinical depression - football umpiring.
You would think just about the last thing someone suffering from depression would want to do is get abused by a football crowd every weekend but Groves, 27, is thriving after taking up his new hobby.

Healthy goals
(The Warrnambool Standard)
28th September 2005
A BOX of tissues sits on Kerin Wheeler's desk.
It does not take pride of place, nor it is particularly prominent. But it is a steadfast presence.
Ms Wheeler, a Warrnambool City Council maternal child health care nurse, deals with new parents and young babies every day.

Exercise Physiologists Eligible To Provide Services Under Medicare
(Media Release)
27th September 2005
The Commonwealth Government has decided to include the services of university trained exercise physiologists under Medicare’s allied health measure.

ACT Government’s ‘New Strategy’ No Solution to Mental Health Problems for Canberra
(Media Release)
21st September 2005
The ACT Government was stuck in yesterday’s paradigm according to the Chief Executive of the Mental Health Council of Australia John Mendoza.
"Putting more money into new buildings located at hospitals doesn’t help people with mental illness stay well in the community..."

Australia’s mental health crisis: leadership and action needed, not squabbling
(Media Release)
20th September 2005
National leadership is urgently needed to tackle the crisis in services for the mentally ill exposed by last night’s FOUR CORNERS program, says Barbara Hocking, Executive Director of mental health charity, SANE Australia.

Depression lifts with talking cure
(The Age)
7th August 2005
As a 16-year-old, Sally Manning was so depressed she could not get out of bed. She skipped VCE classes and eventually got so down she tried to take her life. Fortunately, the overdose did not succeed, and she was taken to Angliss Hospital in Ferntree Gully.

Early intervention plan for mentally ill
(The Age)
22nd July 2005
An estimated one in five people aged 14 to 24 has a mental health problem but is falling through the cracks of a system that is not geared to help them.

Mental health special reports
(Port Lincoln Times)
8th August 2005
IN Tumby Bay between 1986 and 1995, there were 12 suicides in 10 years.
This was three times the national average.
Tumby Bay GP Dr Graeme Fleming said the tragedies raised an awareness of a "significant mental health problem in the community that was not being met".

A mother's struggle
(Herald Sun)
31th July 2005
Good Morning Australia's Leah Hudson -- who describes herself as a "yummy mummy" -- has spoken of her battle with postnatal depression.