Discussion Starters

Land of the Long Black Cloud

By Sarah Robson and Nina Fowler, with additional reporting from Matthew Backhouse from Salient magazine

We all have crappy days, even crappy weeks. Somewhere down the line, a persistent crappy mood morphs into that monster we call clinical depression. The key symptoms are a consistently low mood, low energy, and a loss of interest and pleasure. Following close behind are the associated symptoms of disturbed sleep, poor concentration, low self-confidence, poor or increased appetite, agitation or lethargy, feelings of guilt, or suicidal thoughts.

If that sounds like you, then you probably feel like shit. The relatively good news is that you’re not alone. An Otago University clinical study estimated 20 percent of the general population in New Zealand suffers from depression during any given year. more....

Developing our own NGO capacity

In what seems to be an attempt to understand the nature ,culture, attributes and dynamics of the NGO sector there appears to be an increasing trend for Government departments and agencies to create more jobs called liaison, relationship manger, partnership facilitator. Our suggestions to the Government funders of community organisations include investing in the sectors capacity to describe, research and provide information about itself more....

Mental Health in Prisons

Are prisons the mental health institutions of the 21st century? A recent article from Australia discusses this.