Care at home better for patients with mental illness

Patients suffering from mental illness need increased care in their own homes and communities rather than in hospitals, according to mental health experts.

Figures released in a report by the Department of Health reveal community based support is more cost effective than treatment in hospital and decreases the amount of time patients require clinical inpatient care.

The report evaluates the Housing and Support Initiative offered by the Queensland Government and states that the daily rate of acute admissions is around $670 for people with mental health issues, while the housing support program costs $183 per day.

Read the full report here.

Queensland Alliance for Mental Health acting-CEO Richard Nolan said community based care is “a much more effective use of resources”.

“The housing and support program offers people community based support and care,” he said.

“[Community based support] is an area that we believe the government needs to focus more on because improving that, and increasing public investment in community based care, will assist people to recover.”

The HASI aims to assists people with mental illness in finding and maintaining accommodation, as well as the overall improvement in their quality of life.

The number of days patients spent in hospital decreased by 90 per cent in the 12 months following the program.

Mr Nelson said hospital care is not the only answer for mental health patients.

“If you were to look at only the number of beds and where they’re available, and how many there are, I think you wouldn’t be looking at the real issue,” Mr Nolan said.

“People do need care such as acute clinical care but it isn’t necessarily the solution on its own,” he said.

“Evidence points to people recovering best in their own homes and their own communities.”

If you, or someone you know, needs to talk to someone about mental illness - Click Here.

Mr Nelson said the implementation of the mental health package by the Federal Government was going in the right direction but more is needed.

“The level of support that people can access in their community isn’t at the level we think it should be at,” he said.

“It’s an area we think can grow and needs to grow”

The discrepancy between the funding of mental health and other illnesses is because of the stigma surrounding mental illness, according to CEO of Mental Illness Fellowship of Queensland Tony Stevenson.

“There is a lot of stigma attached to it because of a lack of understanding about mental illness,” Mr Stevenson said.

“People in the community are more familiar with other diseases and accept those illnesses. Unfortunately there is not the same level of advocacy for mental illness,” he said.

Mr Stevenson said awareness and understanding of depression had improved but there was “still a high level of uncertainty”.

Mr Nelson said the importance of stigma reduction would be highlighted at a mental health summit in Brisbane next week, as part of Mental Health Week.

“There’s a lot of work being done nationally, internationally and even also in Queensland around stigma reduction,” Mr Nelson said.

“It’s attracting a lot of attention, it’s something really important in the development of the recovery for people with mental health issues and it’s an area that the Queensland Government is paying particular attention to, which is welcome,” he said.

“There’s still a lot of work to be done, it’s really early days at the moment but I think we’re heading in the right direction.”

Mental Health Week is next week from 9-15 October and International Mental Health Day is 10 October.


For more information on Mental Health Week visit the website - Mental Health Week

The Final Showdown: Google+ vs. everyone else

Since dropping its invite-only status last week, Google+ has experienced explosive new popularity growing by 1269 percent and becoming the third-largest social networking site (according to Experian Research Director Heather Dougherty).

Journalists around the world are already flocking to the new network to determine whether this platform will rival Twitter and Facebook as a tool for online journalism.

One journalist who has taken to Google+ quickly is American television journalist, Sarah Hill. Ms Hill uses Google+ video chat “Hangout” to bring people from across the world into the KOMU-TV newsroom and chats to them while they get a behind the scenes look at how the news is presented.

This Google+ feature could be a way for journalists to get a feel for audience reactions to news events in real time or even to conduct interviews.

Journalist Robert Shultz has even been using Google+ as a tool for live blogging - you can see it here.

 A technology correspondent for Channel 4 News in the UK has spoken about why he feels Google+ will eventually become the superior networking tool for journalists (more here). According to Benjamin Cohen it is a combination of speed, ease of use and the way it encourages discussions.
Cohen has used Google+ as an extension of his tweets to post breaking news relating to the News International phone-hacking scandal and included links in tweets to direct people to the post.

“If you take the example of the statement Rupert and James Murdoch were refused permission to give at the (UK government) Commons Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee, News Corporation released that to the press and I had it up on Google+ within twenty seconds of receiving it. If I had put it on the Channel 4 News website, it would have taken a lot longer – I’d have had to wait for the content management system to load, and perhaps had my article checked by an editor before it was published,” Cohen said.

Another advantage of Google+ over Facebook is that allows you to edit posts as you go, unlike on Facebook where you have delete entire posts, losing all the comments that were attached.

“On Google+ you can edit as you go. If you write something inaccurate on Twitter or Facebook, it’s difficult to deal with, but posts on Google+ can be edited for accuracy as needed,” said Cohen.

Some of the other differences between Google+ and Facebook are illustrated in this info graphic, which I think is pretty cool.

As someone who has signed up to Google+ and had a bit of a poke around, I can say that the potential for this platform is immense – whether or not Google will be able to live up to the hype in which it has surrounded itself, only time will tell.

No excuse to not go digital

These days there is no excuse not to utilise online journalism to report news as it happens.

Even in the most unlikely places online journalism is still just as, if not more, effective.

Sally Sara is the ABC's Afghanistan correspondent, widely recognisable due to her numerous reports from the conflict stricken country on the ABC's 7:00 news. Her reports are always amazing due to her proximity to the extreme events she is covering, but some parts of her reporting are even more amazing.

Ms Sara is a savvy user of Twitter and regularly updates on events as they unfold. Her tweets are always right in the middle of the action and I often imagine what she must be feeling as these events unravel around her while she is calmly tweeting back to her followers in Australia.

"Some sporadic shots going over us", that's certainly not a tweet you read every day.


On August 9 she tweeted "Woken by incoming fire this morning"

Not only does Ms Sara tweet these updates, they are often accompanied by video or other links. If she can report the news in these kinds of situations and still manage to not only update twitter but coordinate other forms of news media as well, I can't see that anyone else has any excuse to not utlise online journalism.

Has Live Blogging Gone Too Far?

After a lecture on live blogging this week I was intrigued about the up-to-the-minute form of journalism and decided to have a look at some past live blogs.

In the lecture Rebekah Van Druten talked about using live blogs to report on events like sport, disasters or even press conferences. I understand that the value of live blogging comes from the idea that a live blog can allow online media to compete with other forms of rolling coverage like radio and television, but has the media taken this new trend too far?

Ms Van Druten spoke about the BBC's attempt to live blog about singer Amy Winehouse's death a few months ago. As this was not an event where information was revealed bit by bit, layer by layer, it was an ineffective style of reporting.

In my research I came across another example of live blogging gone wrong:

A live blog by The Guardian detailing the launch of the UK's 2011 season of reality dancing show, Strictly Come Dancing.

In a time where any show on television can be watched on the channel's website at viewers' leisure, do we really need a live report on the dancing prowess of celebrities?

Perhaps if the live blog was written by a ballroom dance expert who could provide further insight or commentary, similar to that of a sports commentator - but writer Heidi Stephens says:

"Please note that from a technical standpoint I know very little about ballroom dancing, so you're unlikely to find insightful commentary on arm positioning and swan-like necks here. The extent of my knowledge of latin dancing can be measured in Zumba classes."

Well at least she is honest.

Perhaps live blogging is a useful tool in the right place at the right time, but are reports like this early indicators that this trend has simply become a gimmick?

May the fastest update win

Tragedy struck the Brisbane suburb of Paddington this week when a young teenage girl was found murdered in her home.

Her body was discovered on Wednesday morning and news reports on online news sites were appearing rapidly soon after. This was a classic case where not much information was available to begin with and as a result news stories were added to and altered throughout the day.

On Wednesday afternoon I searched the story on the Courier Mail online site. This is the link I found.


However that afternoon the news story was significantly different to what appears there now. At the time when I first discovered the news report the main article consisted of a hand held video, possibly from a journalists' mobile phone, of a reporter explaining that a woman had been murdered but very little was known about what happened or who was involved. This video was clearly taken outside the Paddington home, with police cars in the background.

Later when I returned to the same link the video had been removed, and in its place is the article you see now. Fully researched with a number of sources and photos of the victim.

This is extremely fast thinking online journalism - even when Courier Mail reporters were not fully aware of the situation they were able to create a video that allowed them to 'break' the story first. When more information came to light they were able to update the story, so that readers could stay informed.

The Courier Mail online continues to impress when I looked further for more information and found that the ABC News Online coverage and the Nine MSN News coverage were both updated with new information only earlier today, while the Courier Mail's story is current to 7:27pm this evening. Closer inspection of each story shows some information from the ABC News Online report is already outdated compared to that of the Courier Mail ("Authorities say the incidents appear to be linked, but are still not confirming whether they were mother and daughter" - their relationship has since been confirmed).

This is a fantastic example of the importance of speed in online news reporting. Stories must be constantly updated as the world is constantly changing around us and more often readers are not satisfied with checking the news only once a day. The way the Courier Mail has reacted and adapted to this event is exactly what is required of a modern journalist. 

From the Journo's mouth

This week I attended the Brisbane Media Pass Student Day held by the Walkley Foundation. There were a number of panelists who spoke about the best ways to succeed in journalism from getting a job, to working as a freelancer.

A popular topic on the day was social networking, which was brought up by both panelists and students.

While some journalists were positive about the benefits of utilising Twitter as part of a journalism career, others were skeptical and didn't see an advantage.

Patrick Lion, a young award winning journalist and writer for the Courier Mail, said

"I don't think any journalist relies on Twitter to break stories. It's a good contact point to use, it's a good way to promote your brand".

While caricature artist Joanne Brooker added that "Twitter is the greatest thing".

Another panelist Lauren Day had practical advice for students,

"One thing to be wary of is the way you use those accounts now, delete anything that is incriminating".

She said that employers will definitely check and monitor potential employee's social networking accounts and also recommended that journalists consider operating two versions of their social networking accounts, such as Facebook. One version for personal use and one solely for professional networking and profession.

The Student Day was extremely interesting and it was great to get some practical advice from professional journalists. In regards to online journalism it was great to hear journalist's real opinions on the use of social networking. Once again all signs are saying that it is here to stay.

App Attack

In the world of smart phones, iPhones, iPads, tablets, and whatever else is released before I press "publish" on this post, there are new apps invented by the minute.

It is now quite standard for people to read the newspaper online as it has become fast, easy and accessible - but there are other apps that allow for even more freedom to access news on the go.

There is a great video by The Australian on the 'Best TV and Radio Apps' - though it is a little out of date now, published back in April 2010.

An application I've recently downloaded and love is the ABC's News App.

The ABC has a bunch of different apps (have a look here) but this free application allows the user to access a broad range of news including breaking, most popular, national, business, sport, world, indigenous and entertainment news.

The app also has the ability for users to -

• Check up-to-date weather forecasts
• Listen to ABC Radio live
• Watch ABC News 24 live
• Watch TV shows including Gardening Australia and Good Game
• Listen to radio shows from earlier in the day or week
• Program guides for all ABC channels (ABC1, ABC2, etc)
• Read movie reviews from the ABC show At The Movies
• and you can even browse and make purchases from the ABC store

It is a really user friendly app that is easy to navigate and to find exactly what you're after. I have become glued to this app as it is the perfect way to spend my bus trip or for a quick update on a lunch break. I've even taken to checking it for a quick update while waiting in line for things.

I definitely recommend this app to anyone looking to keep up to date with news on the go. While reading a newspaper on a tablet might feel cool and new-agey for a brief moment, this news app will ultimately keep any casual news reader or news junkie satisfied in the long run.

The ABC now also has an iView app for the iPad which allows users to watch programs from the ABC at their convenience. Handy! Why do we even have TVs again?