O.K. a long post today as I may not be able to post again for a few days.



The Sydney Conention Centre



Well, I couldn’t let the FaPMI (Families where a parent has a mental illness)team from Victoria head home without pinning them down for some serious questioning so off I went this morning, back to the conference centre, head and note book brimming over with lists of things not to forget to ask. What works in achieving changes in practice was really the nub of the exchange, the approach that FaPMI is taking being to use the COMPI e-training resource to train ‘champions’ who form agency task groups who can effect change within their agencies. In the UK we are awaiting the new SCIE e-training package which is currently being developed.

They have also done some great work in surveying the attitudes of adult mental health workers giving them a pretty good picture of the current ‘state of play’. Anyway, big thanks to the team for giving me some interesting ideas and certainly some food for thought to take home with me.

Before I leap on to the rest of the day I’m just going to back track a bit to yesterday’s workshops. A couple of workshops that I forgot to mention in my earlier posts but which may be of interest to those working with carers. Care Assist and Remind presented information about a modular training course that they have developed for carers entitled ‘Assisting Families’. It’s highly flexible, can be used with individuals or in groups and in pretty well any environment (e.g. Pamper Days / training sessions). It got me thinking about the potential to develop it for young carers.

Then on the issue of parenting, Central Coast Children and Young People’s Mental Health Service presented their work in auditing the number of adults using mental health services who are parents.

Now let’s whizz off, away from Cockle Bay, past the Chinese Garden, via Paddy’s Market (to buy my superhero outfit – more about that later) to my next appointment with the Young Carers NSW. What a great bunch of people – well that is if you can call three a ‘bunch’ and what a great view of Sydney they have from their 18^th floor office. Now we in Gloucestershire think that we work in a rural locality but let me tell you, we haven’t got a clue. The team here cover the whole of NSW and have 3000 young carers on their books. Where we in Gloucestershire spend endless hours arranging volunteer drivers and taxis (thanks to Sue and the team) they book 8 year olds onto flights. Not surprisingly we work in quite different ways, the team here organising camps for 60 at a time plus providing art therapy whilst advising young people of any activities for young carers that are happening in their localities and keeping in contact through newsletters and their website etc. Of course we stumbled across many similar issues such as the difficulty in identifying young carers in schools although this is the third meeting where I have been told that there has been a big increase in referrals from school counsellors here. The team gave me some great resources to bring back to the UK including some fantastic books for children caring for a family member with cancer. (That box to be posted home is getting bigger by the day).

Well tomorrow it’s time for a change. My head is full to the brim so I am really looking forward to heading off to Stanwell Tops with Camp Kookaburra. (Those of you who know me well may be surprised to hear this!) I must remember to pack that superhero outfit as instructed, oh and of course my ‘swimmers’.

I will barely touch the ground after camp before heading off to Parramatta on Monday morning and then straight on to Central Coast on Monday evening to check out some services there for a few days. I’ll post to the blog if I manage to get access to the internet but if not, I’ll post again in a week or so.

A friend of mine

By the way, top tip of the day: do not wear new shoes when walking around the city.