Links

Here are some websites you can go to get information about mental health and mental illness, and to get support for yourself, your friends or your family

Children of Parents with a Mental - This is a website for a project which is happening Nationally looking at the needs of families affected by mental illness. They have lots of good info and links to other sites.

Association of Relatives and Friends of the Emotionally and Mentally Ill (ARAFEMI). Provides information which might be good for your parents to access.

CREATE Foundation - a brilliant site for young people who are in foster care, with lots of information and stories by young people who've been in care.

Headroom - This is a great website which has heaps of info on mental health for young people, parents and workers.

itsallright.org - Itsallright is a website where you can read the diaries of four fictional teenagers touched by mental illness. It also has useful fact sheets and provides an online information and referral service on mental illness including schizophrenia, depression and anxiety disorders.

Kids Help Line - This is the website for Kids Help Line.

Mental Illness Fellowship Victoria - They have lots of info about mental illness.

www.reachout.com.au - A great place to start if things are getting you down and you want some support. They have info on all kinds of issues that affect young people.

SANE Australia - For information about mental illness, support services, and resources.

Somazone - Find answers to health and legal issues, log on for info, support, personal stories and interactive games. Good info about drugs and alcohol. This site is produced by the Alcohol and Drug Foundation in Victoria and is designed and produced by young people.

Streetwize Communications - Provides comic strips on various issues facing young people. Provides up to date links to other good sites as well.

The source - the source is the Government's youth website. It provides info about government and non-government services for example. careers, studying, help with money, health, legal rights and more.

YouthGAS - Provides details of information, events, and contacts for young people about lots of issues.

Resources

A comprehensive, regularly updated, resource list is available at the AICAFMHA website: COPMI Project Resources

Health Professionals! There is a leaflet in the package developed as part of the UK-based "Partners in Care" campaign that may interest health professionals. "A checklist for professionals coming into contact with the children of parents with mental health problems" was developed in consultation with young carers to help the professional give children and young people the information they need to come to terms with a family member's mental health problem.

The leaflet can be downloaded at: Partners in Care campaign materials

Secondary School Teachers! A new resource package of ideas has been released for secondary school teachers using the novel "Saving Francesca" by Melina Marchetta (Penguin, 2003) as a class text. The package assists teachers to explore some of the underlying themes relating to parental mental illness within this award-winning book using associated credible Australian resources. The focus of the package is to utilise the themes within "Saving Francesca" to increase student's understanding of mental illness and its effect on families; reduce the stigma associated with mental illness and increase students' 'help seeking' behaviour. http://cms.curriculum.edu.au/mindmatters/resources/pdf/other_resources/savingfrancesca.pdf

Last Updated 10-Jul-2006. Authorised by: Kristen Kappel. Enquiries: Kristen Kappel.