Mental Health in Australia
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5 - 12 October 2014 To kick-start a national conversation about mental health across the wider community, the ABC is launching Mental As... The biggest ever cross-platform programming event conducted by the ABC, for Mental Health Week, 5-12 October 2014. Across ABC TV, radio, online and mobile ABC Mental As... will take a look at mental health from all angles and perspectives, from comedy to documentary, entertainment to debate, as we aim to help join the dots on mental health in Australia. The week will culminate in a two-hour, live, TV fundraising event Friday Night Crack Up on World Mental Health Day, Friday 10 October. Australia’s biggest personalities - comedians, actors, sportspeople, and musicians – will show their support for Mental As... and encourage Australians to take action, start talking, and give to mental health research. ABC Director of Television Richard Finlayson said, “Mental health challenges are huge and touch so many Australian families, yet we still struggle to talk about it openly. Our week of ABC Mental As... programming will challenge stigmas and taboos; promote discussion, support and education; and inspire Australia to donate to mental health research. “From the unique and ground-breaking documentary series Changing Minds and one-off special Felicity’s Mental Mission; to new comedy and entertainment including Timothy, The Agony of the Mind and Friday Night Crack Up; along with distinctive episodes of Q&A, Good Game, Gardening Australia and many more.” ABC Mental As... will be supported by a number of high profile Australians across all networks including actress Deborah Mailman, Network Ten presenter Jessica Rowe, TV personality Rove McManus, designer Alex Perry, advertising guru Todd Sampson, musician Missy Higgins, actor Shane Jacobson and ABC presenters Jeremy Fernandez and Emma Alberici, who will act as ambassadors to raise awareness of the initiative and stimulate conversations. abc.net.au/mentalas #mentalas Why is the ABC supporting Mental Health Week? Mental illness affects every Australian. Half of us will experience a mental health issue directly while many others - as carers, families, friends and colleagues - will live with or witness its impact. It is an issue for us all. ABC Managing Director, Mark Scott said, “The ABC has an important role in not only reporting national issues but also in leading discussion, debate and community awareness on the issues and challenges affecting Australians. “Mental health is a significant matter affecting many Australians and the ABC would like to engage in a national discussion about this complex and wide-reaching topic.” Mental Health in Australia – Facts and Stats Almost half the total population (45.5%) experience a mental health disorder at some point in their lifetime.*1 One in five or 20% of the Australian population aged 16-85 years experienced a mental disorder in the previous 12 months [at the time of survey]. This is equivalent to 3.2 million Australians.*1 At least one third of young people have had an episode of mental illness by the age of 25 years.*1 The prevalence of mental disorders declines with age: from 1 in 4 young people (16- 24) to 1 in 20 (75-85 years).*1 1. Mental Health Australia - Statistics on Mental Health Fact Sheet. http://mhaustralia.org/fact- Depression and anxiety are the most prevalent mental disorders experienced by sheets/statistics-mental-health-fact-sheet Australians. Depression alone is predicted to be one of the world’s largest health 2. Life – Fact Sheet 3 Statistics on Suicide in problems by 2020.*1 Australia http://www.livingisforeveryone.com. au/uploads/LIFE_fact_sheet_3_final.pdf Around one million Australian adults and 100,000 young people live with depression each year. On average, one in five people will experience depression in their lives; one in four females and one in six males.*1 In the last census, 2,273 deaths by suicide were registered in Australia. This compares with 1,543 deaths by motor vehicle accident for the same period.*2 In the last census, suicide accounted for more than a quarter (27.8%) of all deaths amongst young men aged 15 to 24.*2 No-one’s life is untouched by “mental illness and the more we talk about it the better equipped we all are to help those around us. The isolation, fear and stigma around mental illness is the first “ thing that needs to go and the ABC’s Mental As... initiative is a great, practical way to help. Rove McManus Friday Night Crack Up FRIDAY 10 OCTOBER 7.30PM ABC ENTERTAINMENT (1X120’) Put on your dancing shoes, frock up and get ready to laugh when you join us for a wonderful evening of entertainment coinciding with World Mental Health Day on October 10. Our two hour live-to-air variety show, Friday Night Crack Up, will bring you singing, dancing, comedy and personalities - from across all the Australian TV networks - doing things you never expected they could, or would! Hosted by Eddie Perfect, this night of fundraising fun will feature a fabulous line-up of Australia’s biggest personalities, comedians, actors and sportspeople with games, music and big band action. Broadcast live in front of a studio audience, Friday Night Crack Up is the main event in a week of compelling programming for Mental Health Week as ABC goes Mental As... All the funds raised during the program will go to support mental health research. At some time in our lives it’s highly likely we’ll be touched by mental illness, either directly or indirectly, so getting together and taking action now is extremely important. Friday Night Crack Up wants to be part of a nationwide conversation about mental health and will encourage viewers to donate to mental health research. Plan a big night in! Be prepared to be surprised and entertained by this one-off TV fundraising event. Friday Night Crack Up screens during ABC Mental As... A week-long initiative in support of Mental Health Week which aims to encourage Australians to start talking about mental illness and to give to mental health research. Visit abc.net.au/mentalas to show your support and make a contribution. Production details: An ABC TV production. For more information contact: Cat Bocking P: 02 8333 4250 abc.net.au/mentalas M. 0405 949 854 #mentalas #crackup E: [email protected] Changing Minds TUESDAY 7, WEDNESDAY 8 AND THURSDAY 9 OCTOBER 8.30PM ABC DOCUMENTARY (3X60’) For the first time in Australian television history, a documentary series has been filmed inside one of the busiest mental health units in the country. Brave, raw and sometimes funny, the three-part series Changing Minds goes behind the locked doors of Liverpool Hospital’s Mental Health Unit to meet the patients and staff who are challenging the stigma and taboos that exist around mental illness. Patients agreed to be filmed while mentally unwell and then consented formally once they recovered their health. Their stories reveal the realities of 21st century psychiatric care. Over the series we meet… Patrick, a high flying IT specialist who clung to the bull bar of a speeding truck for 20 minutes during a manic episode; Sandra, the loveable grandmother who loses her grip on reality after the death of her brother; Rebecca, who’s convinced she needs a psychic not a psychiatrist to help her; and Steven, as he prepares to undergo possibly psychiatry’s most misunderstood treatment: electroconvulsive therapy. Changing Minds follows these patients as they, with the help of the staff, work towards regaining their health. By following Clinical Director Dr Mark Cross and his team, taboos are challenged, stigmas confronted and the message is clear – help is available. Mental illness is just that, an illness, not a defect of character. Changing Minds screens during ABC Mental As... A week long initiative in support of Mental Health Week which aims to encourage Australians to start talking about mental illness and to give to mental health research. Visit abc.net.au/mentalas to show your support and make a contribution. Production Details: Eye Spy Productions. Executive producer: Karina Holden. For more information contact: Chris Chamberlin P: 02 8333 2154 abc.net.au/mentalas M. 0404 075 749 #mentalas #changingminds E: [email protected] Mental illness is very real and its effects can be enormously “ debilitating and devastating. People need to keep talking, they need support, understanding and validation. Feeling isolated is horrible and a common symptom of the disease, that’s why Mental Health Week is so valuable in our community. Let’s face it. We’re“ all a bit mental so we all have something to add! Justine Clarke Timothy WEDNESDAY 8 OCTOBER AT 9.30PM ABC COMEDY (1X30’) Melinda (Denise Scott) and Colin Garrett’s (Peter Rowsthorn) 35-year-old son Timothy (Stephen Curry) has returned to Wollongong. Unfortunately, his homecoming is under less than stellar circumstances, the result of bankruptcy and a mental breakdown in his former life as a corporate high-flyer in Hong Kong. Apart from permanently sporting an old dressing gown, Timothy doesn’t show many signs of the breakdown that landed him back in Wollongong. Timothy’s therapist, however, insists that he is very fragile. He drives his mother Melinda up the wall, rearranging her entire household, including the items in the kitchen according to buoyancy. He practices martial arts on the clothes line and only eats freshly killed Silver Carp which has to be procured on the Asian black market. As much as Melinda would like the therapist to be wrong, she discovers that whenever she tries to gently “nudge” Timothy to change his ways, he is indeed worryingly delicate.