FORUMS

A Mental Illness Forum was held on the 9th October 2001 in the auditorium of Brighton Secondary School. This was the culmination of 6 months planning and a combined effort by the Rotary Clubs of Brighton and Glenelg.

These Forums are being held around Australia and are supported by the Australian Rotary Health Research Fund, Commonwealth Department of Health and Ageing - Mental Health Branch and Beyond Blue - the National Depression Initiative.

Mental illness refers to a medically diagnosable range of disorders that result in a significant impairment of a person's thinking, emotional or relationship abilities and which may require treatment and rehabilitation to manage the symptoms. It is estimated that mental health problems and mental illness will affect more than 20 percent of the adult population in their lifetime and between 10 and 15 percent of young people in any one year. Some of the major types of mental illness are depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, anxiety and eating disorders.

The late Dr. Margaret Tobin, Director of Mental Health in South Australia, chaired the Forum, with concise and informative talks from Bob who has bi-polar disorder and completing his Doctorate in Arts, David, a carer and on the Board of a disorder group and John Taplin, Professor of Psychology at Adelaide University. At the completion of these addresses, the panel was expanded to include David Buob, a psychologist with Marion Mental Health Services, Kathy Inverarity, a social worker also with Marion Mental Health Services and John Banks, the Community Services Manager with Holdfast Bay Council and the floor was opened to a question and answer session. Light refreshments were available after, with the opportunity to chat with representatives of support groups.

Approximately 270 people joined the Rotary Clubs for this extremely informative evening

A second forum was run in 2002 which directly approached Depression in the Workplace, Post-Natal and in Retirement. A smaller panel of three experts and a chairperson gave opinions and experiences to the audience with a question time at the conclusion. All agreed that these forums are a valuable community service.