MENTAL HEALTH AWARENESS MONTH: Let's Talk About It! (October 2024)

[RachSANECEO]

This is fascinating @Shaz51 our Lived Experience Advisory Committee which is a subcommittee of the SANE board and has members who are on the forums and use our guided program have raised as a priority that they want us to be promoting SANE more in hospitals and health clinics through brochures etc so this exact thing can happen / keep happening. 

we do already do some service promotion this way but often the hardest part is having enough people power to go physically to hospitals and health centres to say “hey have you heard about SANE, would you mind taking some brochures…” 

do you think it’s the kind of thing people might volunteer for?

[Oaktree]

@RachSANECEO 

I wish I had heard about Sane sooner, I would also like to see brochures at points of service. I think your clients who have benefited from your service would more than likely volunteer to go to some clinics and hospitals

[Shaz51]

Yes.  @RachSANECEO i think people would volunteer their time doing this 

@tyme , @Jynx 

[Bow]

@RachSANECEO  Back a few years ago when my mental health first started to decline again, I found my old journals from 2005-6 when I first had mental health issues and I found some SANE flyers and information sheets that I had stuck in there- these would of been from public inpatient stays. This time around during inpatient stays and visits to local services, I haven’t seen anything. 

[Oaktree]

@RachSANECEO 

I was thinking about it and considering that people would probably only go to clinics and hospitals close to them. Have you considered partnering with companies that specialise in distributing. Maybe they would volunteer their services for a service such as Sane. Might be worth putting out feelers?

[MJG017]

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@Oaktree wrote:

yes it is the cert 1v in mental health peer work that I am applying for a scholarship for. Hopefully we both get in and yes definitely would love to study with you. We can do it on the So you want to be a Peer Support Worker? thread. 

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@Oaktree  Yes, that would be great.  Hopefully both our courses are run in a similar way so that we're doing the same modules at a similar time.

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Yes unfortunately for me 80 or more applicants and only 30 places. A very nice person is looking over my application to help me shine. Wish me luck… If I get through the application process, I then have to go to a group interview. I am a good talker but really need to focus on really listening. I am nervous…

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That's such a lot of pressure just to get into a Cert IV course!  I realise it's for the scholarship, but still... I wish you all the best getting in.  Surely all your work here will count for such a lot.  How many other applicants would have similar experience?!

I've had times when I've struggled with listening as well.  I remember sitting there thinking all the time "keep listening.  Listen to all you're being told".  It got about halfway through and I realised that I had been so focused on thinking about remembering to listen that I had no idea what I had been told so far.

Interviews used to terrify me, they still make me nervous, but I try to remember that the questions will be about me, and I know that subject pretty well so it helps take a lot of the pressure off.  Just be honest and be yourself.  Think of some dot points you would like to tell them and write them down so you remember to work them into your answers.  The key thing is to relax and be yourself.  That 'genuineness' and authenticity always comes across and the work you do here says a heck of a lot about you.  I'll keep my fingers crossed for you and wish you the best of luck, but I'd like to think luck won't come into it, your passion and experience will. 🤞🤞

I'm thankful it seems so much simpler here in SA with the govt subsidies.  It's just more of a first come, first served kind of thing.  As long as you meet the basic requirements.  I think it was previously doing a Cert IV for this one, and I've done 3 Cert IV's before and an Advanced Diploma so there should be no problem there.  It will cost me $500 which i'm in a fortunate position where that's not a big issue but I think i'd rather pay that that go through that selection process.  When is your interview and when do you find out if you were successful?

[Oaktree]

@MJG017 

Thanks so much for your thoughtful response and advice. I need to get my application in by the first of November. Then a panel of 3 will look at all the applications together. The shortlisted applicants will get group interviews at the end of November. Then we have to get police clearance and working with children’s checks. I already have my WWC and I just had a national police check but will have to do the police check again because they want it newer than 3 months at the start of the course. I think the course starts 27th of Jan

[RachSANECEO]

@Bow fascinating. I wonder if we should survey members and ask how many heard about us from our brochures and flyers. We do pay for distribution via companies that get them out there but it’s focused mostly on GP practices I think, it’s a little harder to get into hospitals but it’s a goal we’ve got. I’ll definitely take these insights back to the team. Thanks for sharing. If you have a pic of the old flyer would love a look? 

[Shaz51]

Survey sounds great @RachSANECEO , @Ru-bee , @Jynx , @tyme 

Would be interesting how many members saw the flyers 

[Bow]

It would be interesting to see where forum users heard about the forums @RachSANECEO  i know for myself I was looking for folks experience with anxiety and this is where google lead me. 

I’ll try and remember to dig my old journals up tomorrow and grab some pics.