DANA news

This year DANA is show casing the Northern Territory’s Mental Health Month theme, ‘Talk, Support Recover’.

The painting that  DANA has featured is by Leigh Fowlestone. This is her story…

Healing your thoughts

In the old ways, we use to have gatherings, in these gatherings the elders would speak about ways of healing the young and old. They would bring their own knowledge from their area (country) and share within the circle to teach their people.

This painting represents four characters coming together to share their knowledge and to represent a whole person. Combining:

• Mind (mental illness),
• Speech (expression),
• Courage (stomach) and
• Strength (heart),

to show the path to healing your thoughts.

Lots of events to raise awareness about Mental Health Month are planned around New Zealand and Australia.

To find our what is happening in your regions follow the links below:

Australia: Do you see what I see?

New Zealand: Let nature in, strengthen your wellbeing – Mā te taiao kia whakapakari tōu oranga!

Queensland: Value mental health

South Australia: Mind your health

Tasmania: Stronger Together

NSW: Mental health month

Northern Territory: Talk Support Recover

Western Australia

Take a moment to explore the DANA website while you are visiting this page. Follow this link.

Would you give DANA 3-4 minutes of your time and complete a short survey?

The purpose of the survey is to:

• Help determine DANA’s future direction;
• Better understand what members value most or why, in some instances, some members choose not to renew their membership;
• Determine the most effective ways for DANA to communicate with members.

The results of the survey will be used by the DANA Management Committee when developing the 2019-2022 Strategic Directions plan.

We will share survey results with DANA members in December and present the final Strategic Directions document at the 2019 AGM.

On behalf of the DANA Management Committee, thank you.

(by the way, you will also have a chance to win a double pass to the movies).

If you are a current  DANA Member  click here to take the survey.

If you are a former DANA Member  click here to take the survey.

Photo by Nicholas Swanson on Unsplash

Take advantage of this offer!
Applications for this round of DANA scholarships closes October 15^th 2018.
To be eligible you need to meet the following criteria. You:

• must have been be a full financial DANA member for at least the last 12 months.
• will need to fully complete the official application form.

The information contained in the DANA 2018 Scholarship Information Package   will help you complete the Application Form.

Download the DANA 2018 Scholarship Information Package

Find out more about DANA. Explore the website. Click here.

On Monday October 22^nd, the Prime Minister of Australia, the Hon Scott Morrison MP, will deliver the National Apology to Victims and Survivors of Institutional Child Sexual Abuse at Parliament House in Canberra.

You can register to attend this event by ballot.  Entries for the ballot can be submitted on the Ballot page of the Apology website until midnight, Tuesday 25 September 2018.

For more information visit the  National Apology Website and follow the links.

There will be satellite events around the country for people who cannot make the trip interstate. It is likely that the Apology will be screened on the ABC and streamed online.

Survivors & Mates Support Network or SAMSN is a not-for-profit organisation that provides support to adult male survivors of child sexual abuse and their families.  Find out more about SAMSN by clicking here.

If you are unsure how to start the RU OK conversation  then the  RU OK Day 2018  website can help.  It  provides conversation steps to help you help someone else.

Simply put:

• Ask
• Listen
• Encourage action
• Check-in

Visit the RU OK DAY website.

Applications for DANA Scholarships are now being accepted. Successful applicants will be able to use the scholarship to assist in funding their professional development.

To take advantage of this opportunity you need to meet the following criteria:

• You must have been be a full financial DANA member for at least the last 12 months.
• You will need to fully complete the official application form.
• Email your completed application  to scholarships@danaonline.org.au  by the closing date, 30th September 2018
• In the subject line of the email, use the heading ‘DANA 2018  Scholarship’.

The information contained in the DANA 2018 Scholarship  Information Package   will help you with the completion of the Application Form.  Click to download: DANA 2018 Scholarship Information Package

Click here to find out more about DANA: www.danaonline.org

You can continue to raise awareness about the importance of being alcohol free for the nine months of pregnancy with these free resources.

Click here.

#RedShoesRock

#FASDay

Also , Drink  Tank has also published a story by Louise Gray,  ‘We must do more – Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder’ where the lived experience of FASD is poignantly rendered.

Click here to read.

AHA Working Group: Expressions of Interest

The Australasian Hepatology Association (AHA) is the peak professional body supporting and educating hepatology nurses and other health professionals across Australia and New Zealand.

They have extended an invitation to DANA to provide a representative to a working group to update their ‘HCV Consensus Guidelines’ to reflect current nursing practice.

Your commitment would be mostly email based with the possibility of one or two short teleconferences.

Find out more about the AHA at this link.

If you are interested in being a participant on this  working group  send an email to dana.mail2access@gmail.com

This  is a global event held on 31 August each year and aims to raise awareness of overdose and reduce the stigma of a drug-related death. It also acknowledges the grief felt by families and friends remembering those who have died or had a permanent injury because of drug overdose.

International Overdose Awareness Day spreads the message that the tragedy of overdose death is preventable.

Find out what is happening in your regions of Australasia.  Click here.

Like to know more?

Download  Australia’s Annual Overdose Report 2018. According to the Pennington Institute  ‘it  reveals that accidental overdose continues to be a significant cause of death in Australia.  The continued growth in overdose deaths is linked to highly potent drugs, many of which are available through prescription, such as pharmaceutical opioids and benzodiazepines. Illegal drugs such as heroin and crystal methamphetamine (‘ice’) also contribute to a significant number of fatalities. The use of multiple drugs concurrently (including alcohol) is common and increases the risk of overdose’.

Click here to get access to the full report.

Unless otherwise indicated, consent to download the following presentations has been provided by speakers at the DANA 2018 Australasian ‘It Starts with Us’ Conference:

International keynote speakers

Who is that nurse?  Carmel Clancy ( you tube accompaniment https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XsjNXWIW28w)

The US Opioid Crisis   Dana Murphy-Parker

SBIRT+RM  Katherine Fornilli

Local speakers

Experiences of online counselling  Michael Savic

Gambling in an AOD Context  Jane Oakes

Failure to decline: older Australians and alcohol   Sarah Callinan

Integrating hepatitis C treatment in a regional setting – The Cairns Experience   Morag Goodinson

Parenting and AOD Use Is it a bad mix?   Sally Garson

Performance and image-enhancing drugs   Scott  Griffiths

Transcending Burnout: Strategies for avoiding Severe Role Stress in AOD Nurses   Alistair Ross

Reflections on the Melbourne Injecting Drug User Cohort Study   Paul Dietze

Annual  Adams-de Crespigny-Harvey Oration

How can we achieve change in practice and policies   Margaret  Hamilton

Papers from submitted abstracts

Smoking? that’s not important right now   Amy Faden

It’s not Just About Mental Health: Co-morbidities in a Cohort of Patients Prescribed Opioid Agonist Treatment by a Nurse Practitioner   Stephen Ling Tony Gill Adrian Dunlop

Cannabis as Harm Reduction   Marguerite White

Hepatitis C treatment in the NSP setting   Wendy Sue Forder

You should write that down!   David Dwyer

Finding the Diamond in the Rough: Nurse led outreach at an NSP   Ali Loom

Pending

• Lessons learned from AOD sector reform: Mr Sam Biondo:
• This is where our peeps are at: hospital drug and alcohol consultation liaison services:  Apo Demirkol
• Discovery and development of new therapeutics for addictions derived from cannabis and oxytocin: Iain McGregor
• The Rainbow Connection: Anne Carroll
• Winners and Loser in American Drug Policy:  Katherine Fornilli