Conferences
Building Communities travelling conference
NSWCAG together with GROW will be holding a travelling conference this year. We will holding the conference in 4 locations across NSW (Lismore, Wagga Wagga, Other regional area and Parramatta). Building Communities is the name of the conference and the theme is about connecting to community. This theme will explore ways consumers have reconnected with their communities after being unwell, ways of staying connected with community, it will showcase some innovative solutions to reconnecting to community and ask the question of “How we help others to reconnect?”.
The conference aims to start conversations about the importance of community connectedness and create a shared learning space for consumers, carers and services to discuss their experiences and solutions for the future.
We would like to thank to the speakers and all the people who attended to the Wagga Wagga conference.
Dates for Parramatta and the other regional area will be announced shortly so please watch this space!
For questions about Building Communities conference please call us on 02 9136 5130.
Wagga Wagga Conference
Wagga Wagga Conference has now been organised for Tuesday 29th October.
Date: Tuesday 29th October 2013
Venue: Senior Citizens Centre
Tarcutta Street, Wagga Wagga 2650
Cost: $99 (GST inclusive) for service providers, practitioners, managers, policy makers and other interested parties.
*Attendance is Free for Consumers and Carers. Registration is essential.
Some travel and accommodation support is available for consumers and carers living in the surrounding area (outside of Wagga Wagga) that wish to attend the conference. Places are limited. Hurry and register now! Please call us on 9136 5130 for more information and to get the reimbursment form.
Speakers for this exciting conferences are:
Tim Heffernan – Consumer Advocate and Peer Support Worker
Tim grew up in Uranquinty and Wagga, but now lives in Wollongong with his wife Karen and their two daughters Lucy and Elizabeth.. He has lived with Bipolar 1 Mood Disorder since the early 1980’s, while also working successfully as a high school English/History teacher for over twenty years. He is an active member of the South Coast Writer’s Centre, sometimes managing to publish a poem or two.
Since leaving teaching in 2005 Tim has worked as a carer for adults with developmental disabilities and as a Consumer Peer Support Worker with the Illawarra Shoalhaven Local Health District. He has been a volunteer Community Presenter/Ambassador with the Black Dog Institute since 2007. This year Tim was appointed to the NSW Mental Health Commission’s Community Advisory Council. He is also on the Board of the NSW Consumer Advisory Group and the Executive of the NSW Mental Health Consumer Worker Committee.
Dr Peri O’Shea – NSWCAG CEO
Dr Peri O’Shea is the CEO of NSW Consumer Advisory Group – Mental Health Inc. (NSWCAG). Peri’s work, academic and personal histories have given prominence to social justice, social inclusion and participation. Peri has personal experience as both a consumer and a carer.
Matt Sainty – Consumer Advocate (Mental Health Consumer & Carer Participation Group)
Matt is a consumer, who has worked as an advocate for the last 6 years. His background includes a Medical Science degree at the local university – Charles Sturt University. He has also completed 2 Diplomas from R.M.I.T and has worked as an Emergency Accommodation Worker at St Vincent de Paul in Melbourne.
Matt interests include running (something that has helped keep him well for the last 30 odd years), reading, cooking, surfing the internet and entertaining friends. His most embarrassing moment has been getting up to give a lecture live in public and realising that he couldn’t read his notes, which were vital to the presentation, because someone had turned out the lights! He literally died on stage! (his words). They say with every death comes a rebirth or renewal and he has gone on to deliver many public talks and lectures, more successfully than when he died on stage.
Neville Bradbury – Grow /ACT Coordinator
Neville first attended Grow in Bathurst in 1997 during a long battle with mental illness following a career as a teacher and on three occasions as a School Principal. He spent 15 years on the Disability Support Pension much of which he volunteered as a Grow Fieldworker.
Neville also spent several years as a Grow Board Member and on many other Grow Teams. Two years ago, having got well through the Grow Program he took up his present position as BPC (Branch Program Coordinator). He lives at Rockley near Bathurst and he is a Cricket Umpire and Cricket tragic having an extensive collection of Cricket books in his possession (1200 books to be exact).
Jenni Campbell- Acting Executive Director of Mental Health Services – Medicare Local Murrumbidgee
Jenni is the Executive Director of Mental Health at Murrumbidgee Medicare Local. Jenni has spent 10 years working in and managing recovery-oriented and primary mental health services. Jenni has a Masters in Social Work. Jenni holds a ministerial appointment with the NSW Mental Health Commission as a member of the Commission’s Advisory Council. Jenni is also a member of the Australian Medicare Local Alliance National Mental Health Leadership Group. Jenni is passionate about improving access to and responsiveness of mental health services.
For more information about the conference download the flyer here.
To register for the Wagga Wagga conference download the registration form here.
The conference program is now available!
We would like to thank all the people that attend our Lismore Conference.
Lismore Conference
We are coming to Lismore on 27th August 2013.
Date: Tuesday 27August 2013
Venue: University for Rural Health
61 Uralba Street Lismore