SAFF Substance Addiction Fresh Future

22/03/2025

19/03/2025

The Qld Government is tendering for the Coordination of the Queensland Mental Health Week for 2025, 2026 and 2027

Suppliers are invited by the Customer to submit an offer for ITO No. QMHCITO25222 for the Coordination of the Queensland Mental Health Week for 2025, 2026 and 2027 as specified below.

Queensland Mental Health Week (QMHW) is held in October each year, and incorporates World Mental Health Day. QMHW aims to:
• build mental health and wellbeing (support the Dear mind campaign and other initiatives)
• increase understanding of mental health challenges
• reduce stigma and discrimination (support campaign in development and other initiatives)
• increase help-seeking and help-offering.

Key responsibilities of the supplier
The successful supplier will oversee the following:
• Establishing and managing a reference group and working group
• Developing and executing a communication, media and social media strategy
• Coordinating, directing and supporting event managers, including promoting strategic objectives and supporting materials
• Developing a theme in concert with stakeholders (including the Commission) and visual identity
• Developing digital resources (e.g. event kits, posters, social media shareables)
• Managing the QMHW website (www.qldmentalhealthweek.org.au), including event registrations and a statewide events map
• Writing and distributing a QMHW e-newsletter (at least 6 editions)
• Managing and delivering social media content (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter/X accounts)
• Administration of the community events grants, including the grant guidelines (in consultation with the Commission), grant applications, grant assessment, grant disbursement and financial record-keeping
• Evaluation of QMHW against the objectives
• Coordinating appropriate QMHW merchandise.

07/02/2025

Addicts in the US look like they are in for a tough time with the Trump administration now in charge. Robert Francis Kennedy Jr., also known by his initials RFK Jr., is an American politician, environmental lawyer, author, anti-vaccine activist, and conspiracy theorist. He is the nominee for United States Secretary of Health and Human Services in President Donald Trump's second cabinet.

"When Robert F. Kennedy Jr. talks about the journey that led to his growing focus on health and wellness — and ultimately to his confirmation hearings this week for U.S. secretary of health and human services — it begins not with medical training or a background in research, but with his own addiction to he**in and other drugs.
"I became a drug addict when I was 15 years old," (ie 57 yrs ago 71yo ) Kennedy said last year during an interview with podcaster Lex Fridman. "I was addicted for 14 years. During that time, when you're an addict, you're living against conscience and you kind of push God to the peripheries of your life.

Kennedy was lucky. He came from one of the wealthiest families in the US. Now he is proposing "a sprawling new system of camps or farms where people experiencing addiction would be sent to recover." "We're going to build hundreds of healing farms where American kids can reconnect with America's soil." Kennedy said.

"But Kennedy's approach to addiction care is controversial, described by many drug policy experts as risky, in part because it focuses on the moral dimension of recovery rather than modern, science-based medication and health care"

"We have spent the last 15, 20 years trying to move away from treating addiction as a sin rather than a medical disorder, We've spent many years trying to get people to take up these medications that we know cut the death risk in half, and Kennedy seems to want to go backwards on all that."

"In public statements, Kennedy has also repeated the inaccurate claim that the addiction and overdose crisis isn't improving. In fact, fatal overdoses have dropped nationally by more than 20% since June 2023, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, falling below 90,000 deaths in a 12-month period for the first time in half a decade."

"Under Kennedy's leadership, the Department of Health and Human Services could shrink or eliminate funding for science-based medical treatment and instead focus on spirituality-based approaches that appear to help a relatively small percentage of people who experience addiction"

Another concern about Kennedy's addiction proposals focuses on his interest in a program for drug treatment created 50 yrs ago in Italy in the 1970s. "The San Patrignano program has been controversial and was featured in a 2020 Netflix documentary that included images of people with addiction allegedly being held in shackles or confined in cages".

"According to Kennedy's plan, outlined in interviews and social media posts, Americans experiencing addiction would go to San Patrignano-style camps voluntarily, or they could be pressured or coerced into accepting care, with a threat of incarceration for those who refuse care".

"The vast majority of researchers, doctors and front-line addiction treatment workers agree that scientific data shows medications like buprenorphine, methadone and naloxone are game changers when it comes to treating the deadliest street drugs, including fentanyl and he**in.

The Biden administration moved aggressively to make medical treatments far more affordable and widely available. Many experts believe those programs are factors in the dramatic national drop in overdose deaths that began (in the USA) in 2023."

"Kennedy's plan to build a network of farms or camps doesn't appear to include facilities that offer proper medical treatments for seriously ill people facing severe addiction" and could be a serious step backwards for America.

"

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. survived he**in addiction and says that if confirmed as head of the Department of Health and Human Services, he'll build treatment "farms" to help people recover.

31/01/2025

I contacted Emily Mawson to find out more. The service is next to the Two Professors Coffee shop and is a FEDERAL Govt initiative named Rockhampton Medicare Mental Health Centre 3/49 William Street, Rockhampton City 4700 Open Monday – Friday: 10.00am to 5.00pm

Send a message to learn more

06/09/2024

Shifting minds was developed by the Commission on behalf of Queensland Government. Shifting minds sets a five-year strategic direction for whole-of-government to improve mental health and wellbeing and prevent and reduce the impact of mental ill-health, alcohol and other drugs use, and su***de in Queensland. The plan’s scope is broad and reaches across the continuum of care, and as such focuses on not just the health and treatment system, but touches upon a range of social, community, education, housing, employment, and justice systems as critical determinants of health.

Shifting minds seeks to achieve improved outcomes at the individual, population, and system levels through priority actions across three key areas of focus:

1. Whole-of-community. This focus area seeks to strengthen mental health and wellbeing across the population to promote and keep people well, and to intervene early in life and at the early stages of ill-health, alcohol and other drug use, and/or suicidal distress.

2. Whole-of-person. This focus area seeks to improve and expand integrated and holistic care and support services across the life course and to remove the barriers to social and economic participation for people who are vulnerable, or who are disproportionately impacted by mental ill-health, problematic alcohol and other drug use, or su***de.

3. Whole-of-system. This focus areas seeks to strengthen and optimise the systemic enablers for change including collective accountability and leadership, partnership with people with lived experience, and collaborative planning, funding and delivery of mental health, alcohol and other drugs, and su***de prevention service systems.

Shifting minds was developed based on evidence and informed through consultation with a range of cross-sector and cross-government stakeholders, including with people with lived experience, their families and carers.

The implementation of Shifting minds is based on a recognition that many Queensland Government agencies contribute to and make significant investment in services and programs to improve mental health and reduce the onset and impact of mental ill-health, alcohol and other drugs harms and su***de. Implementation of Shifting minds builds on existing Queensland Government policy, program, and funding with many of the activity already commenced under various government initiatives.

The implementation of Shifting minds is overseen by the Strategic Leadership Group which is a cross-sector and whole-of-government group providing high-level oversight, input and advice to ensure collective accountability and leadership of Shifting minds.

Shifting Minds Monitoring and Evaluation Framework

The Commission has procured consultancy services from a supplier to develop a monitoring and evaluation framework (Attachment A). The Shifting Minds Monitoring and Evaluation Framework (the framework) outlines:

• The program logic, including the changes that are expected as they relate to each strategic direction in Shifting minds.

• The key evaluation questions relating to the change that is expected at the implementation level (how well has Shifting minds been implemented), at the impact level (has Shifting minds achieved the intended outcomes), and at the content level (does Shifting minds meet its goals, were the priorities appropriate for achieving the desired outcomes).

• The general approach to evaluation implementation including data collection approaches (types of evaluation data to be used including case study, surveys, milestone reporting, flagship evaluations), proposed indicators and potential sources of information.

There is scope to adjust aspects of the framework to enable implementation of the evaluation, for example the supplier may recommend additional or alternative indicators and existing data sources needed to answer the key evaluation questions more fully.

https://qtenders.epw.qld.gov.au/qtenders/tender/display/tender-details.do?id=53239&action=display-tender-details

Closes at Tue, 8 Oct 2024 at 5:00PM Brisbane, Queensland
Submit your response to Queensland Mental Health Commission.

All Tenders must submit responses via the Vendor Panel Website https://www.vendorpanel.com.au

29/04/2024

The Yeppoon Social is on this Friday. Will be in the back outside area. Everyone Welcome.