MARCH 2020 IN THIS ISSUE Strength Based Recovery Training with Helen Glover By Julian & Deanne Gambling Support by Deanne Bloom A MESSAGE FROM Steel Rudd Park - East OUR CEO Greenmount D E B B I E B A I L E Y by Julian Mudge Welcome to the March 2020 edition of our newsletter. We apologise for t he delay in publishing this month - we've been working to redesign our service so that we can continue to provide support in these changing Care For The Environment times. At Clubhouse Following the latest Government restrictions around COVID-19 we have by Amie Jennison d eveloped a new program which will commence from Monday 30 March. Our service will continue to evolve but for now, the focus is on providing extensive phone, email and text support to members with the Member Profile: addition of online programs and some face-to-face small group Deanne Bloom activities outside of Clubhouse (while observing social distancing, hygiene, group size and safety/wellbeing requirements for all.) by Julian Mudge Key features of the new program include: Morning Meetings will be streamed live on our Toowoomba Clubhouse News - New Clubhouse Facebook page daily Monday - Friday at 9:30am. Water tanks - Donation Face-to-Face - Connection through Gardening at Clubhouse (Monday, Wednesday, Thursday , 9am -11am.) Face-to-Face - Connection through Getting Healthy meet at Creative Corner: Clubhouse (Walk/Tai Chi, Tuesday and Friday, 1pm-3pm.) Poem - By Tia Marshall Online - Media and Comms crew Thursday 1-3pm Online - Private Facebook and chat groups for members Art - by Deanne Bloom Online - Regular phone, email and text check ins and support from staff (Monday - Friday, 9am - 4:30pm.) This new program means the main Clubhouse building will be closed All articles in this newsletter from Monday 30 March. We encourage members to stay connected proudly written and published through the new program, via our Facebook page or by calling us on by members of Toowoomba the main number: 4632 4688. Clubhouse Until the next update, best wishes and stay safe. Debbie STRENGTH BASED RECOVERY TRAINING WITH HELEN GLOVER W R I T T E N B Y D E A N N E B L O O M Recovery Training Day was held on Wednesday 19th February at Toowoomba Clubhouse with Helen Glover delivering the training day to a full crowd. Helen presented an amazing day that left myself and many others filled with a sense of hope, understanding and definitely got our minds churning on this interesting topic. If you’ve ever been told that recovery from a mental illness is not possible then this presentation is for you. Helen Glover is a social worker who has experienced the struggles of mental illness and the journey to recovery through the mental health sector of the government health system. During her time at Clubhouse, Helen discussed the concepts of External Recovery and Internal Resilience, or whether members viewed their diagnosis as being life debilitating vs Life Transforming. One of the most exciting topics was the evidence based studies that Helen presented on the idea of recovery. After an already thought provoking morning, Helen then really blew our minds when she presented us with resullts of the Vermont recovery studies. These studies were started in the 1950's and concluded around the 1970’s and 1980’s on recovery success rates in those suffering with Schizophrenia. According to the Vermont studies, two thirds of the people who participated in the thirty year study which completed in the 1980's no longer met the DSM-III criteria for schizophrenia. The results showed that the reason the success rate in Vermont was greatly higher purely came down to the one on one and group supports available to the participants after the initial support. It proved that ongoing support allowed more people to further their recovery, reduce symptoms and feel like they returned to their initial self. This information silenced the entire room for a good few minutes as everyone processed the results and what those results meant to each and every one of us and everyone that deals with mental health issues. We then spoke about the barriers to our own mental health recovery and discussed the "boulders" that we carry. That whether in our minds or in the things we do or people we have around us; we can sometimes hold on to these "boulders" which make our journey harder, and if we focus on realising what our "boulders" are and being able to get around them we may find it easier to climb the recovery mountain. This day felt very life changing; it gave me a few days of soul searching and resulted in a great renewed sense of hope for the future and all of the opportunities that recovery gives me and anyone else who has had the misfortune of dealing with mental health issues ongoing. What boulders are you pushing? An interactive training activity led by Helen Glover Toowoomba Clubhouse www.toowoombaclubhouse.org.au 112 Russell Street, Toowoomba (07) 4632 4688 GAMBLING SUPPORT - LIFELINE W R I T T E N B Y D E A N N E B L O O M According to the website www.savings.com.au who reported statistics collected from the Queensland Treasury, between the years 2017 and 2018 Australians spent approximately $242 billion on gambling with 39% of the population participants. Now that’s a lot of cheesecakes! The odds of a top prize being won on a poker machine (playing maximum lines) is 1 in 7,000,000, the odds of winning a 1st division in Gold Lotto with 1 game being played is 1 in 8,145,060 and the odds of someone winning the 10 number jackpot on Keno with 1 game being played in 1 in 8,911,711; the one thing that remains the same with all the different forms of gambling is that the favour is always on the side of the house. Meaning that the chances of winning are very low and this is because gambling is designed to return less money in winnings than is being gambled. Here is a check list that you can use to see where your gambling health is at. Your Gambling Health Check If you’re not sure whether you have a gambling problem, answer the following questions: Sometimes I’ve felt depressed or anxious after a session of gambling. ○ Yes ○ No Sometimes I’ve felt guilty about the way I gamble. ○ Yes ○ No When I think about it, gambling has sometimes caused me problems. ○ Yes ○ No Sometimes I’ve found it better not to tell others, especially my family, about the amount of time or money I spend gambling. ○ Yes ○ No I often find that when I stop gambling, I’ve run out of money. ○ Yes ○ No Often I get the urge to return to gambling to win back losses from a past session. ○ Yes ○ No I have received criticism about my gambling in the past. ○ Yes ○ No I have tried to win money to pay debts. ○ Yes ○ No If you answered ‘YES’ to four or more questions, gambling may be causing you problems. If you or anyone else that you know feel that you need some assistance with or want to know more about responsible gambling then Karen Moran will be holding sessions at Toowoomba Clubhouse every second Thursday of the month 10:30am – 11:30am, the next one is 09/04/2020, members, family members and carers are all welcome to attend. Please sign the sign-up sheet or contact staff to express your interest in attending. Toowoomba Clubhouse www.toowoombaclubhouse.org.au 112 Russell Street, Toowoomba (07) 4632 4688 WARWICK AND TOOWOOMBA CLUBHOUSES JOIN FOR SOCIAL REC W R I T T E N B Y J U L I A N M U D G E For the first time, Warwick Clubhouse was invited to join Toowoomba Clubhouse for lunch and the social rec which followed. Our social rec was a visit to Steele Rudd Park which both Warwick and Toowoomba members had not previously visited. The drive through the pleasant countryside, all green from recent rains was enjoyed by all. This was a great opportunity to learn a little bit about the amazing history of our local area. Including the hardships and difficulties faced by the pioneers. Joined by Warwick Clubhouse, we drove out to Green Mount East to find Steele Rudd’s Park. This is a park celebrating the life of one of Australia’s greatest authors, Arthur Huey Davis also known as Steele Rudd. This park hosts the reconstruction of the house that Steele Rudd grew up in. It is situated on the corner of the original 64 hectare selection taken by Thomas and Mary Davis in the 1870s. The family's life here was the inspiration for the very popular books 'On our selection', written by Arthur using the name Steele Rudd. The park was established in the 1970s by Arthur's youngest son Eric on land given by the owners at the time, the Lipp family. Eric's wish was to create the park as a tribute to his father and all the Districts pioneers. Clubhouse members enjoying a moment of history and exploring the reconstruction of Steele Rudd's original home Save the date Steele Rudd Facts Day trip to Warwick Clubhouse Born in 1868 in Drayton Left school at age 12 An invitation from Warwick Clubhouse to Toowoomba Married Violet Christina Broowdy at Clubhouse to join in their work ordered day on the 3rd of Greenmount April.