Perth Active Depression Support Group 2017 Annual

Sculptures by the sea

March 2017

Welcome

Hello & welcome to the first month of Autumn 2017. Check below what we have been up to this month. For what we have been up to previously in the year have a read of past editions below.

Monthly recap

This month has seen a lot of items happening behind the scenes, but we have been active on the front end as well. We unfortunately had 3 weather affected events this month, including a new members coffee club (too hot) & a visit to sculptures by the sea (stormy), and a visit to the zoo (raining) but in the 2nd half of the month things got better including running a game of ten pin bowling, our bring a book over coffee club, pool at Pot Black, running a stall at the Livin WA Big Challenge, a craft afternoon in South Perth & our ever monthly board games night.

This learning curve has taught us to be a bit strategic when it comes to planning our events for the upcoming autumn and winter season. We will look to do more indoor events. If you have a suggestion on what we can do please email us on PerthADSG@icloud.com

Progress to becoming a not for profit board

This month saw us receive our constitution from Squire Patton Boggs, the lawyers we have engaged in assisting us becoming a not for profit organisation. We have also been liaising with a few insurance providers to get the necessary coverage as we become an incorporated body. We are hoping to finalise this process by the end of April and be incorporated by the start of May.

Thanks once again to Connect Groups WA and the Mental Health Commission for giving us this opportunity to become a not for profit organisation

Bloom WA pitch night and membership

This month our founder Rahul went through the process of becoming a member of Bloom, UWA's young entrepreneurial space. Rahul is a graduate of UWA in commerce, but has used Bloom to utilise training for this group. The process saw Rahul do a "lean canvas" of the group, as well as prepare and present a pitch at a pitching night, which saw 6 young entrepreneurs pitch their business idea for the audiences support.

Although Rahul didn't win the pitch night, there were valuable connections made on the evening and Rahul got to spend time with his loyal friends. Rahul has been offered a membership to Bloom and will utilise the network and the training to develop the group.

6PR radio interview

We were fortunate enough to have our first major media coverage by having a radio interview by 882 6PR. Our founder Rahul got interviewed on the 24th March by. To listen to the interview click on the link below.

Rotary Club of Victoria Park speech

On March 14 our founder Rahul got to speak to the Rotary Club of Victoria Park to cover the both the history & future of Perth Active Depression Support Group. The speech was well received by the club. The club meets twice a month & is fairly active in helping the community. We are currently pursuing opportunities to collaborate & assist both our causes. For more on the Rotary Club of Victoria Park click on the link below.

1st birthday party - tickets on sale on April 3

Our 1st Birthday party, which is set to happen on 1 June 2017, will be open to members to purchase tickets from 3 April 2017. We are very excited to be celebrating this momentous occasion. To be alerted to tickets please click interested in the Facebook event below.

WAAMH mental health awards

The West Australian Association for Mental Health are having a big awards gala to celebrate the best of the best for the mental health sector. There are some fantastic awards that the public can nominate and there are even a few award submission workshops that you can attend to put in an award for a deserving individual or group. For more please check out the link below.

Connect Groups WA awards

Another keynote awards ceremony is the Connect Groups WA Support Group Recognition and Good Practice awards. Connect Groups is the peak group assisting over 600+ support groups in the community. To have a look at the awards ceremony check the website link below.

Basketball to commence from June

Last month we won a grant from Street Hassle events to play basketball once a month for 12 months. We have worked with the Town of Victoria Park to coordinate days for this & it looks like for the majority of the year commencing from June 2017 we will be playing basketball on the 3rd weekend of each month. Have a look at our Meetup page for when this will be scheduled.

Next month

I'm looking forward to the Easter break and we will look at running a couple of meetups over the break (something revolving around Chocolate no doubt!). Also finalising the process of becoming a not for profit organisation will be fantastic. Until then take it easy

Araluen Botanical Park

February 2017

Hello

Welcome to the February edition of the 2017 Annual for the Perth Active Depression Support Group. We have had a productive month this month. Read below for the current information of whats been happening and scroll below for our January Edition.

Monthly recap

This month saw a few of our event partners post various events ranging from laughter yoga and business breakfasts to sound meditation sessions and dru yoga classes. We also had Art1st Thyda run another one of her amazing art classes, which are heavily discounted for our members.

Aside from our event partners we offered ping pong, minigolf, and our monthly board games night. We also trialled a bring a book over coffee meetup, which I can say went well barring a few teething problems. One of our amazing attendees has now taken to hosting this on a monthly basis in the Town of Victoria Park library on the 2nd Saturday of each month. Click below for the link for the next book club meetup.

Progress to becoming a not for profit organisation

On February 1 this month we took the first step in becoming a not for profit organisation by bringing all interested parties together to discuss the future of Perth Active Depression Support Group. We had representatives from the mental health industry, as well as law, marketing, finance and people with a lived experience of mental health issues all bring their various backgrounds to share their experiences and viewpoints.

After this meeting we had expressions of interests from various parties and have now formed a committee of 6 people that will help to strategically guide the organisation. We had our initial board meeting on February 21 to meet the requirements of the Associations Incorporations Act and also to discuss the mission and vision of the organisation.

Going forward we will be working with a leading law firm to finalise the details of our constitution and do the remaining steps to become an incorporated body. We are very much looking forward to finalising this process before the end of the mid year.

Vic Park Summer Street Party Fund Grant Win

Thanks to both the Town of Victoria Park & Street Hassle events we won a $550 grant to play basketball at the Leisurelife Centre in the Town Of Victoria Park. This grant allows our members to come free & participate in shooting some hoops. This grant takes us over $5000 worth of financial support we have earned since inception. Have a look at our Meetup page to see when these meetups will be run.

First Birthday Party details released

We have now released the details of our First birthday party. Included in the event will be laughter yoga and percussion music, as well as talks from mental health entrepreneurs including our founder Rahul Seth, PhD candidate and keynote mental health speaker Bronwyn Milkins, happiness scientist Annika Rose and founder of Bluebird Mental Health Amanda Stephensen. There will be cake and balloons and big games to be played as well.

Tickets will cost $45 for adult and $35 concession and will go on sale on the end of March 2017. To check out the event details please have a look on our Facebook event below.

Silent Auction - 1st birthday party event

One of the things we are doing at our first birthday party event to raise a bit of money is to run a silent auction. We are composing an e-magazine to cover what we are selling, which can be found in the button below. If you know of any businesses that would be willing to participate in this silent auction could you please get them to email us on PerthADSG@icloud.com. All offers of help would be greatly appreciated.

Talk at Trinity College

In February our Founder Rahul Seth got to visit his old high school Trinity College where he got to share his life story, as well as his favourite TED talk, the importance of networking, mental health & volunteering. This was part of the Men For others program. If you would like to book Rahul for a talk email us on PerthADSG@icloud.com.

Tell us your Meetup suggestions

While we are coming up with our own ideas for the group, we always welcome feedback and suggestions on how we can become better at what we do. We are a small organisation right now, but are slowly organically growing to service a larger client base. If you have any suggestions on how we can improve could you please send them to us via social media or email us on PerthADSG@icloud.com? All feedback is taken seriously and is greatly appreciated.

Next month

There are a couple of events I'm looking forward to participating in March. The first is the Consumers of Mental Health WA Bring Your Voice event on March 10, which will feature music, storytelling, performance and consultation about mental health. Check out their Facebook event below for more information.

The Livin WA Big Challenge is. then on March 19, which is where you can do between 1-3 laps of Lake Monger, either by running or walking. The funds raised will go back to Livin's mission of promoting the message It ain't weak to speak. We will be hanging out in the chill out zone at the event. Click the link below for more information

Lake Monger

January 2017

Welcome to a new year

Welcome to the 2017 edition of the Perth Active Depression Support Group Newsletter. We have refreshed the newsletter and are starting off from scratch. Going forward, we will be rolling forward each month with new content until we hit our final edition in December. To read the 2016 annual, our inaugural year (we only operated for 7 months) please click on the link below

Monthly Recap

This month featured an array of events. We started by playing Balderdash at Dome Cockburn Central. We had a go at Basketball in Victoria Park, a walk around Lake Monger, Pokemon Go in Kings Park, A music quiz in Como, a walk along the beaches of Cottesloe & Rockingham, played a card version of Monopoly in Leederville and ran our monthly board games night. Lisa from Sound meditation Perth also ran 2 sessions out of the East Victoria Park Family and Community Centre

Meetups for the month of January

We also collaborated with Recovery Rocks Community Inc to run a joint board games session with them. Recovery rocks is a support group community that is based in Cockburn and provides therapeutic mental health support every Monday at Dome Cockburn Central between 4:30pm-6pm. They support a recovery based model. For details on the group please check the link below

Welcome interns

The interns

On 9th January 2017 we inducted Anthea, Danielle, Michaela & Rachel into to Perth Active Depression Support Group as our interns. These wonderful people have committed to volunteering over the next 6 months with us and in return I'm hoping to pass on the knowledge, skills and networks I've developed with this group so they can go on to do similar activities in their own pursuits.

If this program is successful I will be running it again in July to December this year. Keep an eye out for this interesting opportunity.

Australia Day Citizenship & Awards ceremony from the Town of Victoria Park

One achievement I am proud to announce that our group has won is an Australian Day award from the Town of Victoria Park for services to the community. The award was presented to me by the mayor of Victoria Park, Trevor Vaughan & former West Australian of the year Professor Lyn Beazley AO. The ceremony featured a moving welcome to the country by Shaun Nannup, speeches by the mayor, Lyn Beazley & the local member of parliament Ben Wyatt & saw a number of community members become citizens on the day.

This award would not be possible without the support of you as members so I want to dedicate it to you. Thank you for all yours support since we started. It's been a phenomenal journey & one I'm very proud of.

Save the date: 1st year birthday party

Something that I have been having in the pipeline for the past few months is our first major event: a birthday party celebrating a years worth of achievements. On Thursday June 1, a year since we formed, we will be holding an event at LeisureLife in East Victoria Park. There will be the following at the event:

  • Laughter yoga
  • Percussion music
  • Mental health entrepreneurs
  • Food and drink
  • And most importantly... CAKE & BALLOONS!

For now just keep the date in mind & follow the Facebook event in the link below for more information. We hope to release more detail in March.

600 member mark

At the end of this month we reached over 600 members on Meetup. This is phenomenal support & I am so grateful to have you all as part of this journey. Hope to see you at a Meetup soon.

Progression toward becoming a not for profit entity

At the end of 2016 we won a significant Pay It Forward grant from Connect Groups WA and the Mental Health Commission to incorporate as a not for profit organisation. This month we approached interested parties to join the board and are having a big meeting on February 1 to brainstorm ideas and find a suitable set of candidates willing to carry them out. We also met with Lawyers of Squire Patton Boggs to outline the process of getting a constitution for the group.

The benefits of incorporating is that we will be able to extend our reach of goals to our members and to integrate with the WA mental health sector as a whole. We will keep you informed of how we are progressing through our newsletter.

Next month

I'm looking forward to making the most of the remaining month of summer. Progressing this group into a not for profit will be exciting behind the scenes. I'm looking forward to seeing what the interns do in the month going forward with running their own meetups.

Websites

Other community groups

Act Belong Commit

Perth Active Depression Support Group is a proud partner of Act Belong Commit. For more on their message visit their website

About our founder

My name is Rahul Seth. I work for a mental health provider as annoutreach support worker. I love Tennis, cycling and Formula 1 and am heavily into photography. I also suffer from bipolar disorder.

I started this meetup group as a way to connect with people who are going through similar battles. While there are many support groups in the community that provide thereaputic support, there aren't many where you can connect with people on a social level who are going though a similar battle.

I aim to foster friendship, connection and community engagement through this group. If you are going through battles feel free to join and be part of the fun.

Photos in this magazine

All photos in this magazine are taken by Rahul Seth

Created By
Rahul Seth
Appreciate

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