Celebrating 10 years of our Response Ability

5 December 2007

The 10th anniversary of a national initiative to educate university students about mental health promotion and the prevention of mental illness and suicide to assist them in their future roles as journalists and teachers will be celebrated in Newcastle on Friday.

Response Ability is an initiative of the Commonwealth Department of Health and Ageing and has been managed by the Hunter Institute of Mental Health* since 1997.

“The name Response Ability was derived from the concept of helping people to develop the ability to respond to certain situations they will encounter in their professional roles as teachers and journalists,” Director of Hunter Institute of Mental Health Trevor Hazell said.

“The resources developed for this initiative are founded on a problem-based learning approach, in which students are invited to discuss and resolve theoretical scenarios they might face in their professional life,” he said.

The Hunter Institute of Mental Health has successfully collaborated with tertiary educators from around Australia to include material about suicide prevention and mental health promotion into the curriculum of a number of Australian universities.

“Teachers and schools play an important role in promoting the social and emotional wellbeing of young people, through creating a supportive classroom environment, as
well as referring troubled young people to counsellors and other professionals,” Mr
Hazell said.

“The project also aims to improve the reporting of mental health issues in the Australian media. It doesn’t advocate for journalists to avoid reporting on these issues, but rather that they consider the potential impact on vulnerable people when framing of such reports.

“Response Ability proposes that it is possible to discuss issues of public interest in relation to suicide and mental illness without increasing the risk of suicidal behaviour and without reinforcing stereotypes associated with people experiencing a mental illness,” Mr Hazell said.

More information about the Response Ability project is available at www.responseability.org.au.

Media opportunity: The Response Ability 10th anniversary celebrations on Friday 7 December will include: 10am-4pm: A meeting of the Advisory Group for Teacher Education and the Advisory Group for Journalism Education will be meeting at Noahs on the Beach. 7pm: Response Ability 10th Anniversary Dinner at Custom’s House (Harbour Master’s Room). Media are welcome attend. Please notify Shannon Ramadge on the number below.

* The Hunter Institute of Mental Health is part of Hunter New England Health.

Contact: Shannon Ramadge

Phone: 4921 4477