Going Rogue 4 Lived Experience
Donation protected
I’m so excited to announce that two International mental health conferences have accepted my abstract entitled ‘Benefits of Incorporating Lived Experience and Trauma-Informed Care in Organisational Structures and Peer Support Programs’!
This means that I have been invited to speak at both the International Mental Health Conference in Queensland, Australia AND the MHS Conference in Adelaide, Australia.
First, some background about why my speaking at these conferences is so vitally important. Please, please read.
Post-traumatic Stress Disorder and Complex Trauma
The emergency services regularly face severe and traumatic experiences which can have a long-lasting negative impact on a person’s mental and physical wellbeing and social and economic participation.
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder(‘PTSD’) can develop in people who have experienced or witnessed a traumatic event. It is estimated that, at any one time, approximately 6% of Australians aged 16 to 85 live with PTSD. Defence forces, emergency services, prison officers and veterans experience higher rates of a condition known as PTSD and Complex Trauma(‘Complex Trauma’) which is boarder than PTSD and encompasses “changes in victims’ attitudes about self, the perpetrator, relationships and belief.” (Howard, Trevillion et al. 2010).
Across all emergency services, there is emerging recognition of the Complex Trauma and PTSD that staff suffer and correspondingly, a new to acknowledgement of the legal and ethical duty the emergency service organisations have to ensure staff safety and mental wellbeing.
However, the system is stillfailing our emergency service heroes because it does not providetrauma-informed care, which is critical to those suffering from complex trauma and PTSD.
What is Trauma-Informed Care?
Trauma-informed care is an organisational structure and treatment framework that involves:
(1) identifying the cause(s)of a person’s symptoms;and (2) understanding, recognising and responding to the effectsof those symptoms.
For the best recovery outcomes, understanding the causes of a person’s ‘symptoms’ must be understood as a starting point.
That definition is pretty wordy, so let’s break it down.
Say for example, Police Constable Star, attends the scene of a road traffic collision in which two adults and a baby have been killed. He is required to check for life, make the vehicle safe or other emergency service officers and redirect traffic away from the scene. As a result, PC Star becomes very aware of vehicles with children in them. Every time he passes or sees one, he has palpitations and struggles to sleep that night. It gets to the point where PC Star avoids roads at any cost and ends up going off sick from work because he cannot sleep and is unable to fulfill his role as a traffic officer.
We can identify the cause, i.e. the specific traumatic event, as being the fatal road traffic collision. PC Star’s symptoms are hyper-vigilance, insomnia, palpitations and avoidance of every-day situations. The effect of PC Star’s symptoms is an inability to work.
Thus, without the emergency services incorporating Trauma Informed Care into their support plan, other attempts to fulfill their duty of care to employees, may be futile. This places both the organisations and employees like PC Star at risk.
How do organisations provide Trauma Informed Care?
One of the best ways best way to understand the causes, symptoms and effects of one’s condition, is to provide a coordinatedPeer Support Model. This incorporates emergency service personal who may already suffer from any of the conditions mentioned above, teaching stakeholders about Trauma-Informed Care and its role in facilitating recovery.
Education at all levels of management is required, and can be achieved through formal training, online courses or, most effectively, speaking events which also encourage a culture of openness around mental health issues.
This is why I need your help
I am myself, in recovery. I am a suicide attempt survivor and suffer from PTSD, anxiety and depression. I’m ex-services and ex-police and currently spend a fair amount of my spare time trying to pass on the value of Trauma-informed care to others.
Now that I have the opportunity to speak in both Adelaide and Queensland, I need your help to pay for my flights and other costs associated with taking time off work to volunteer to speak and give others the opportunity to start their own recovery journey.
Details & Cost Estimates
19thInternational Mental Health Conference
RACV Royal Pines, Gold Coast, Queensland
https://anzmh.asn.au/conference/
8 to 10 August 2018
Registration fee, accommodation and return flights ~$2300 AUD (subject to flights cost changes)
TheMHS Conference 2018
Adelaide Convention Centre, Adelaide, South Australia
https://www.themhs.org/pages/themhs-conference-2018-adelaide.html
29 to 31 August 2018
Registration fee, accommodation and return flights ~$1675 AUD (subject to flight cost changes).
TOTAL AMOUNT TO BE RAISED: $3,975
Remember, without people to volunteer to speak at these conferences, they wouldn’t happen and mental health education and support in this country, would not happen.
Please help.
This means that I have been invited to speak at both the International Mental Health Conference in Queensland, Australia AND the MHS Conference in Adelaide, Australia.
First, some background about why my speaking at these conferences is so vitally important. Please, please read.
Post-traumatic Stress Disorder and Complex Trauma
The emergency services regularly face severe and traumatic experiences which can have a long-lasting negative impact on a person’s mental and physical wellbeing and social and economic participation.
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder(‘PTSD’) can develop in people who have experienced or witnessed a traumatic event. It is estimated that, at any one time, approximately 6% of Australians aged 16 to 85 live with PTSD. Defence forces, emergency services, prison officers and veterans experience higher rates of a condition known as PTSD and Complex Trauma(‘Complex Trauma’) which is boarder than PTSD and encompasses “changes in victims’ attitudes about self, the perpetrator, relationships and belief.” (Howard, Trevillion et al. 2010).
Across all emergency services, there is emerging recognition of the Complex Trauma and PTSD that staff suffer and correspondingly, a new to acknowledgement of the legal and ethical duty the emergency service organisations have to ensure staff safety and mental wellbeing.
However, the system is stillfailing our emergency service heroes because it does not providetrauma-informed care, which is critical to those suffering from complex trauma and PTSD.
What is Trauma-Informed Care?
Trauma-informed care is an organisational structure and treatment framework that involves:
(1) identifying the cause(s)of a person’s symptoms;and (2) understanding, recognising and responding to the effectsof those symptoms.
For the best recovery outcomes, understanding the causes of a person’s ‘symptoms’ must be understood as a starting point.
That definition is pretty wordy, so let’s break it down.
Say for example, Police Constable Star, attends the scene of a road traffic collision in which two adults and a baby have been killed. He is required to check for life, make the vehicle safe or other emergency service officers and redirect traffic away from the scene. As a result, PC Star becomes very aware of vehicles with children in them. Every time he passes or sees one, he has palpitations and struggles to sleep that night. It gets to the point where PC Star avoids roads at any cost and ends up going off sick from work because he cannot sleep and is unable to fulfill his role as a traffic officer.
We can identify the cause, i.e. the specific traumatic event, as being the fatal road traffic collision. PC Star’s symptoms are hyper-vigilance, insomnia, palpitations and avoidance of every-day situations. The effect of PC Star’s symptoms is an inability to work.
Thus, without the emergency services incorporating Trauma Informed Care into their support plan, other attempts to fulfill their duty of care to employees, may be futile. This places both the organisations and employees like PC Star at risk.
How do organisations provide Trauma Informed Care?
One of the best ways best way to understand the causes, symptoms and effects of one’s condition, is to provide a coordinatedPeer Support Model. This incorporates emergency service personal who may already suffer from any of the conditions mentioned above, teaching stakeholders about Trauma-Informed Care and its role in facilitating recovery.
Education at all levels of management is required, and can be achieved through formal training, online courses or, most effectively, speaking events which also encourage a culture of openness around mental health issues.
This is why I need your help
I am myself, in recovery. I am a suicide attempt survivor and suffer from PTSD, anxiety and depression. I’m ex-services and ex-police and currently spend a fair amount of my spare time trying to pass on the value of Trauma-informed care to others.
Now that I have the opportunity to speak in both Adelaide and Queensland, I need your help to pay for my flights and other costs associated with taking time off work to volunteer to speak and give others the opportunity to start their own recovery journey.
Details & Cost Estimates
19thInternational Mental Health Conference
RACV Royal Pines, Gold Coast, Queensland
https://anzmh.asn.au/conference/
8 to 10 August 2018
Registration fee, accommodation and return flights ~$2300 AUD (subject to flights cost changes)
TheMHS Conference 2018
Adelaide Convention Centre, Adelaide, South Australia
https://www.themhs.org/pages/themhs-conference-2018-adelaide.html
29 to 31 August 2018
Registration fee, accommodation and return flights ~$1675 AUD (subject to flight cost changes).
TOTAL AMOUNT TO BE RAISED: $3,975
Remember, without people to volunteer to speak at these conferences, they wouldn’t happen and mental health education and support in this country, would not happen.
Please help.
Organiser
Jason Nelson
Organiser
Butler, WA