My name is Christine, l am a mum of one of the St Bedes/Mentone Tigers players.
I have a love of people and Good Mental Health. So, I have volunteered my time to the club, and created a pilot program, to help educate and assist everyone with their Mental Wellness.
Before l dive into content, l want to give a Huge thank you to Al for his support with this and, also, Samuel for creating an email address and creating the Mental Health information pages.
The above email address has been created, enabling you to initiate confidential contact with me, whether you are looking to give feedback and request further information, or you are looking for some moral support and perhaps further direction.
There is a great deal of information on the website relating to Wellbeing and Mental Health. I have tried to keep it general and simple. I will be adding to this regularly.
This is a learning curve for us all, l would dearly love feedback, both positive and negative, and together look forward to ensuring good availability of tips, tools and resources.
I am really interested to hear your feedback and build our resources accordingly.
A recently introduced tool by Black Dog is “HeadGear”.
HeadGear is a free, easy-to-use smartphone app that guides you through a 30–day mental fitness challenge designed to build resilience and wellbeing and prevent things like depression and anxiety.
https://www.blackdoginstitute.org.au/resources-support/digital-tools-apps/headgear
I encourage you all to click on the link and participate in the FREE 30 day mental fitness challenge. It takes 10 minutes a day and will provide everyone with awareness of how they are travelling. Participate in the off season, as part of your preseason. Do it as a team, as a way to connect through the off season.
What have you got to lose?
There is also access to two different, free counselling services, Beyond Blue and Care in Mind.
Follow the links below:
https://www.beyondblue.org.au/get-support
https://careinmind.com.au/phone-and-online-counselling
Both offer up to 6 free counselling sessions, over the phone or online. In addition, Beyond Blue also offers 6 free sessions with a Mental Health coach.
This is a great place to start.
Of course you can always visit your GP for a chat and have a Mental Health Care Plan (MHCP) written for you to enable you to visit a Psychologist or Social Worker and receive a rebate of Medicare. Presently you can have up to 20 sessions per year and the average rebate ranges from $78 to $126 per session depending on whom you are seeing. The out of pocket fee will also differ depending on the fee for the session.
Please remember that when booking a appointment with your GP, you will need a double session. Some GP’s will bulk bill, others will charge. I urge you to see this and an investment in your Mental Health and Wellbeing. Check with reception when making this appointment as to the cost and Medicare rebate so you are aware of the fees.
I really look forward to meeting and chatting to you all. I will be the old chic walking my two naughty Whippets 🙂 Please don’t be a stranger, this is something we can all work on together.
Take Care.
Christine
