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Your rights are important

Queensland’s mental health laws set out the rights and responsibilities of people getting treatment and care for mental illness. This includes people getting voluntary or involuntary treatment at a Queensland authorised mental health service.

The Mental Health Act 2016 aims to improve and maintain your health and wellbeing in a way that safeguards your rights. It sets out your doctor and treating team’s responsibilities and your rights to:

• information about your treatment and care
• make decisions about your treatment and care, if you’re able to do so
• communicate with others and have support persons
• make a complaint or ask for a second opinion.

What you need to know

Having good mental health is just as important as having good physical health. Our mental health influences how we think, feel and act. It can impact our work, relationships and our physical health.

About 1 in 5 Australians will experience a mental illness in any given year. Almost half will experience a mental health problem at some point in their lives.

Just as all people are different, so are the types of mental illness and their impact. Some people may need support for a short amount of time but others may need long-term support. It’s normal to have ups and downs but if you’re struggling with mental ill-health, help is available.

A few tips to achieve a happier workplace

Starting for direction in life often begins with a new job.  After a while you realise that the job is not turning out the way you envisioned.  The workloads are getting higher, you’re working longer hours, and management is not quite a supportive as first thought – Sound familiar?

Paul Tyler – Rockhampton Counselling Services, says that even though we think we could never be content at work, we aren’t powerless and can achieve satisfaction. We spend more time at work than we do with our own family. It is vitally important to have a balance and with that, a frame of mind at the workplace is essential to our health and wellbeing.   We do have a say in how we react to the workplace.

It is important not to let workplace stress take hold in the first place, but if it does knowing what do to do, and how to go about changing it is vital.

Paul Tyler says there are some common sense strategies that are useful to consider:

1. Select the job carefully – Investigate the role – Is it going to meet expectations.  Is the workplace culture workable? The more information you can find out before accepting the job can avoid stress down the track.
2. Get organised!  Many people are not organised and this can make work harder that it needs to be in many cases. Utilise the employer’s tools and procedures to your benefit.  Use a diary, checklist etc.
3. Get some fresh air and sunshine – Have breaks! – We all do it “I will just get this finished before lunch” the next thing we know its 5.00 pm and ……“What happened to lunch”.   There is lots of research that suggest getting some fresh air and some good old vitamin D (Sunshine) is good for you.  (Of course be sensible and wear a hat!)
4. Think about the changes you need to make at work in order to reduce your stress levels and then take action. Some changes you can manage yourself, while others will need the cooperation of others.
5. Don’t get embroiled in workplace gossip – this is negative behaviour and will only bring negative outcomes.  Think and act positive.  The way we think will impact on the way we feel and act.
6. Do something good for yourself during the day.
7. Don’t take work home if at all possible – Your home and family time is valuable – Enjoy it!

There comes a time after all the Xmas and New Year fun and excitement is over when we realize that we may have spent a little more than we should have and now you are wondering what to do about it.

Financial stress can have a flow on affect whereby if we let it get out of control it can very quickly begin to impact our mental and physical health as well as our relationship with others.

Don’t let the worry and stress take control!

Here are 5 steps that you can take to assist you in managing your money in 2015:

1. Remain positive at ALL Times – It is vital to remain in a positive frame of mind – Most people don’t because they believe that they can’t get ahead of the bills – This is wrong in most cases – You need to find a way to remain positive.  Imagine what it will be like for you when you are actually saving money.  What would life look like for you?
2. Talk and plan with your partner or a family member– This needs to be a joint effort and with the same goals – Some negotiation may be needed here.  Understand your financial position – Determine your income from all sources and then determine what your expenses actually are.
3. Reduce your debt – Find low cost options, Consolidate loans where possible, reduce smoking or even better try to quit, this will be good for your health as well as the budget!
4. Make a Budget and stick to it – This is vital.  Use shopping lists, buy specials when available.
5. Seek assistance from a financial counsellor if needed as they can assist you to look at all the different options available as well as assisting you in negotiation with creditors.

Your local bank may have budget templates that you can use.  The internet also has a wide range of budget planning tools that can be downloaded which you may find useful.  The Australian Securities and Investments Commission have a free online budget tool which can be found at the link below:

https://www.moneysmart.gov.au/tools-and-resources/calculators-and-tools/budget-planner

Maintaining a healthy lifestyle with good sleep, exercise and balanced diet will also help you manage

Remember one of our mottos:

Happiness is not the absence of problems; it’s the ability to deal with them.

 Teenagers are influenced by their peers and they often need to feel part of the group.  They also think that they know everything and as adults we know nothing about what’s going on in their life.

As teenagers grow they test their parents, we all did it at some stage and this is normal.   However, there comes a time where they don’t want to discuss issues with their parents. This too is normal behaviour.

Parents need to learn new ways of open communication with their teenager, and just like their parents, teenagers also need to learn new skills to help them deal with the issues they will face at home, school and eventually the workplace

A lot of the stress that comes from our kids depends on your relationship with them and also your skills as a parent. If you are having problems it doesn’t necessarily mean that your teenager is a bad person, or that you are a bad parent. One of the common errors parents make is to still see their teenager as a child rather than as the young adult they are progressing towards.

At Rockhampton Counselling Services, we will work with parents, teenagers and the young adults to foster understanding and better communication.

Instilling a set of positive behaviours on all sides is encouraged and that improved communication methods are now common practice in the family.