Category Archives: Education

Talking Point Free Seminar Series

Gender differences in substance use disorders:
Implications for treatment
presented by Dr Shelly Greenfield, MD, MPH

For details of presentation & to register click here

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Talking Point 30th April 2025

Drug use trajectories in Melbourne:
How longitudinal studies can help us better understand people who use drugs
presented by Peter Higgs (PhD, BSW) is a Burnet Principal Research Fellow and Honorary in the Department of Public Health at La Trobe University

For details of presentation & to register click here

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Inner South Family and Friends monthly meetings and social events March/April 2025

 

Please note the new address for our office and venue for our March Meeting. 

607 St Kilda Road is on the same side of St Kilda Road as for our previous meetings but closer the junction. Our monthly meetings will generally be held at 607 (not 549 as previously). However, for our April meeting we have received acceptances from local candidates for the 2025 Federal Election. Accordingly, our meeting planned for Tuesday 8 April will held in the Pavilion in Caulfield Park. Politicians need voters. Politicians respond to numbers. All are welcome to our April meeting, whether carers or otherwise. Please bring your family, friends (or even enemies!) who may be interested to meet the local candidates informally and to put their views and questions. Politicians may respond more favourably when they see those impacted by mental health are a large group of lovely individuals faced by challenges with which the government can help. Democracy provides power to numbers. 

ISFAF MONTHLY MEETING 7pm for 7.30pm TUESDAY 11 MARCH 2025 

GUEST SPEAKER: Dr Parsons is a Medical GP who has practised Integrative Medicine (IM) for as long as I can recall. IM enables the mind and body to work in an integrated way to focus on the body’s ability to heal itself. IM has success in a wide range of issues including mental health. In 2004, Sandy gained an award from the National Institute of Integrative Medicine (NIIM https://niim.com.au/about) for her outstanding contribution to Integrative Medicine. 

TOPIC: Integrative perspective on stress and mood management 

All Carers, family and friends of individuals are welcome to attend. We especially welcome Team Members of AMAH. 

A light supper provided by our committee is served from 7.05 pm, enabling mingling among individuals sharing similar challenging journeys. ISFAF monthly meetings are free. No need to book. 

However, a small contribution is always extremely welcome. 

VENUE: LEVEL 1, 607 ST KILDA ROAD, MELBOURNE – a little to the St Kilda side of Wesley College. Lots of free parking in the centre lanes of St Kilda Road, with many trams stopping at the door. If you are having trouble with transport, seek further information or just need a chat, about ISFAF, the ‘mental health world’ and/or issues you are facing,  please phone Judi on 0425 723 746 or Eleni on 0412 018 722.  Please come early to chat and to enjoy delicious snacks which will be available from 7.05pm 

For security, we are required to pay a concierge at the door of the building. Latecomers may not be able to enter. 

ELWOOD BEACH WALK ‘N CHAT ON THE 1ST, 3RD AND FIFTH (WHERE APPLICABLE) TUESDAY OF THE MONTH 

PLEASE NOTE that by demand – it has been decided that Walk n Chats are so enjoyable that we will include the fifth Tuesday of the month (when there is one!) Family members, including canines are very welcome. Walkers generally meet at 1pm, with non-walkers joining us at 2.15pm for a drink provided by ISFAF. 

Please book on the day prior to walk or by 10am on the day of the walk: Ph: Alexis 0423 939 949 

Meeting place will be advised when you book. Bookings are essential – times and starting points may vary, 

Some 2025 Tuesday Walk ‘n Chat dates to diarise: 4, 18 March, 1, 15, 29 April. 

If you need help with transport or have other questions, please do not hesitate to contact Judi at  judi.burstyner@gmail.com or home on 0425 723 746. 

Events are planned for fun and an important opportunity to chat with and influence local candidates in the coming federal election. Democracy is precious. Tuesday 8 April is your opportunity to make good use of this gift.

PRE-ELECTION FORUM: Tuesday 8 April 7.30pm (following 7.00pm light supper): Caulfield Park Pavilion 

We have invited local candidates from ALP, Liberals, Greens and an Independent. Tim Wilson from the electorate of Goldstein and Sonya Semmens from Macnamara have accepted. We await responses from Josh Burns, of Macnamara and from Zoe Daniels of Goldstein. 

ISFAF has a strong commitment to advocating for better assistance to individuals caught in the mental health sector, both our loved ones and we as carers. Reminding candidates that we are a large number who may influence their success or otherwise at the coming polls provides every one of us with a true means to make use of democratic process. The onus is on YOU. Democracy is the best form of government among many other not so good and very bad forms. Please make use of the process that many have given their lives to protect for us. Don’t waste the opportunity. Diarize the event and circulate it among everyone you know. Ask them to join us – we need LOTS of people in the audience. It is not essential that they be carers. By coming along, they show that they care about the election and that they are among the millions of voters who are connected to someone challenged directly or less directly by mental health issues. 

Alfred Health Carer Services January – March 2025 Events Program

AHCS January – March 2025 events

This program covers events scheduled from January – March 2025. In the program you will find all the information you need to know about the events, and how to join in.Remember all our events are FREE!Lots of our events have availability, but some of our events have limited places.  Where places are limited, please register to express your interest and we will email you if we are able to offer you a place.  As a subscriber to our e-Newsletter you can find out about new events, updates or changes to the events program.Make sure you also keep an eye on the “What’s On” section of our website for any updates to the calendar (changes to the program or added events).If you have any further questions call us on 9076 6644.
To view the program or to register your interest, click below
January – March 2025 events program

Talking Point Free Seminar Series

Gender differences in substance use disorders: Implications for treatment, presented by Dr Shelly Greenfield, MD, MPH.

This presentation will review trends in the epidemiology of gender differences in the prevalence of substance use and substance use disorders in the U.S. . New data from a community survey of women (18-70 years) and substance use patterns and potential correlates in the U.S. will be presented. There will then be presentation of the evidence for the telescoping course of alcohol use disorders in females and a brief review of the physiology contributing to this illness trajectory

There will be a brief overview of the risks for substance use disorders in women and the role of gender-specific therapies in treating women with substance use disorders. The presentation will then present the indications and evidence for the Women’s Recovery Group (WRG), an evidence-based manualized gender-specific group therapy for women with substance use disorders that is now disseminated into clinical practice. It will then present new research examining digital adaptations of the WRG.

Shelly F. Greenfield, MD, MPH is Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and the Kristine M. Trustey Endowed Chair of Psychiatry at McLean Hospital where she also serves as the Chief Academic Officer. She is the Chief of the Division of Women’s Mental Health and the Director of Clinical and Health Services Research and Education in the Alcohol, Drug and Addiction Treatment Program at McLean Hospital. She is the Mary Beth and Chris Gordon Fellow at the Harvard Radcliffe Institute (2024-2025) where she is studying gender differences in substance use disorders.

Dr. Greenfield is an addiction psychiatrist, clinician and researcher. She has served as Principal Investigator and Co-Investigator on federally funded research focusing on treatment for substance use disorders, gender differences in substance disorders, and health services for substance disorders. She received a National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA)-funded career award in substance use disorder patient oriented research (2005-2016). Funded by grants from NIH/NIDA, she developed and tested a new manual-based group therapy for women with substance use disorders, the Women’s Recovery Group (WRG). The WRG is an evidence-based treatment and the manual for dissemination was published in 2016, Treating Women with Substance Use Disorders: The Women’s Recovery Group Manual. She is Past President of the American Academy of Addiction Psychiatry and past chair of the American Psychiatric Association’s Council on Addiction Psychiatry. She served as Editor-in-Chief of the Harvard Review of Psychiatry for 16 years (2002-2018).

Dr. Greenfield was a member of the Advisory Committee on Services for Women for the U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (2011-2017) and a member of the NIH/NIDA National Advisory Council on Drug Abuse (2021-2024). She has been elected to the American College of Psychiatrists and the College on Problems of Drug Dependence, and is a Distinguished Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association. She received the R. Brinkley Smithers Distinguished Scientist Award from the American Society of Addiction Medicine, Harvard Medical School’s A. Clifford Barger Award for Excellence in Mentoring, the Stuart A. Hauser Award for Mentoring from the Harvard Medical School Department of Psychiatry, and the 2022 Dean’s Award for Community Service for the Mass General Brigham/McLean Hospital Outreach Program with Indian Health Service for service to the Northern Navajo Medical Center in Shiprock, New Mexico

Date: Friday 21st March 2025
Venue: Online
Time: 12:30pm – 1:30pm AEDT
Cost: Free
Register: click here to register

Turning Point Research Roundup Newsletter

 

Research Roundup

Welcome to the February edition
of Turning Point’s Research Roundup newsletter.
In this edition:
Subscribe here

Inner South Family and Friends Carer Support Group Meeting 11 February 2025

Please note our new office address and venue for our February Meeting, 607 St Kilda Road is just a little closer to St Kilda junction. Our monthly meetings will generally be held at 607 (not 549 as previously). However for our March or April meetings we may invite individuals who are local candidates for the 2025 Federal Election. If so, that meeting may be held in a venue other than 607 St Kilda Road. Please diarise the dates of our meetings – always the 2nd Tuesday of the month – eg 11 March, 8 April, 13 June. Please remember – politicians need voters, so if we do hold a forum with candidates, please bring your family, friends and anyone who may be interested to meet the local candidates. They will be able to meet local candidates informally and the mental health world may respond more favourably when they see those impacted by mental health are a large group. Politics is a power in numbers. 

ISFAF MONTHLY MEETING 7pm for 7.30pm TUESDAY 11 FEBRUARY 2025 

GUEST SPEAKER:  MICHAEL WHITE, Carer Engagement Team, Alfred Health Carer Services (AHCS).
TOPIC: CARER GATEWAY AND CARER SELF CARE
All Carers, family and friends of individuals are welcome to attend, as are all members of Staff (‘Team AMAH’)  A  light supper provided by our committee is served from 7.05pm, enabling mingling among individuals sharing similar challenging journeys. ISFAF monthly meetings are free. No need to book. However, a small contribution is always extremely welcome. 

VENUE: Level 1, 607 St Kilda Road, Melbourne – a little to the St Kilda side of Wesley College. Lots of free parking in the centre lanes of St Kilda Road and in High Street, with many trams stopping at the door. If you are having trouble with transport, seek further information or just need a chat, about ISFAF. The ‘mental health world’ and/or issues faced by carers please phone: Judi mobile 0425 723 746 or Eleni mobile 0412 018 722  For security, we are required to pay a concierge at the door of the building. Latecomers may not be able to enter. 

 We are grateful to Alfred Mental and Addiction Health (AMAH) for their continued generous support, Including providing us with a lovely office, office facilities and venue for our meetings. 

theMHS Envisioning 2050

CALL FOR ABSTRACTS

Submit an abstract for a chance to present at TheMHS Conference 2025 ‘Envisioning 2050: Towards a better Mental Health System’

What will the world be like in 2050 and what will the impact of these changes be on our mental health. This conference will explore how the world might evolve and what we need to do to consolidate the things we already do, and the new things we need to do to reach towards this utopian vision of an ideal mental health system. We invite you to consider this theme when submitting your abstract.

Click here to read the full vision statement for TheMHS Conference 2025.

The abstract submission process through our online portal is simple and easy. Please visit our website for more information about the abstract submission process and requirements or submit directly through the link below.

Abstract submissions close Friday February 28, 2025.

Let’s engage with the bold and improbable ideas needed to move us to action.
SUBMIT YOUR ABSTRACT HERE

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