December 2016

Welcome

Welcome to the last edition of this newsletter this year. It has been a whirlwind year since we started to operate in June this year. Have a read of what we got up to this month. For previous months please scroll down.

Monthly Recap

This has been quite an active & diverse month. From playing pool at Pot Black and ping pong at John McMillan park, to checking out the Cow Parade in the city, participating in laughter yoga with Creative Expressionismsismmms in Stirling, drumming with Human Rhythms, celebrating Christmas in Langford, having another successful board games night and an evening stroll around Lake Monger. Best part of it is, that the month is not over! There are still 3 fantastic events lined up for December over the Christmas break. Scroll down below for more information.

Pay it Forward Grant Win

Thanks to Connect Groups WA & the Mental Health Commission, we won a very significant and pivotal grant. The grant was known as the Pay It Forward grant and supported innovative group in the mental health sphere on a one off basis. We won assistance with getting the group incorporated as an independent not for profit association and to have public liability & volunteer insurance for the first year of being an incorporated body.

This game changing grant will help us to boost the profile of the group once we form a board of directors who will aim to assist with expanding our coverage & operation. At present I have been privately recruiting board members in the fields of mental health, law, marketing & people with lived experience of mental health. If you are interested in joining the board please email your resume & a cover letter to perthadsg@icloud.com.

I'm off the belief we can run this group with strong, effective coverage on a limited budget, spending when its only necessary. I cannot wait to update the progress of our incorporation in 2017.

Grill'd local Matters Win

The people have spoken & we were chosen as the winners of the Grill'd Local matters competition for the month of November 2016! We were so popular that they managed to fill 2 jars completely and they were on their way to filling their 3rd jar.

This $300 cheque will be wisely spent expanding our board game range during the post Christmas sales.

Introducing our interns

One of the innovating projects that we have lined up for 2017 is to have 4 university and TAFE students come to volunteer with us and be a team for the first 6 months of 2017. The students come from backgrounds of accounting, psychology and marketing, which in effect is a junior board supporting me. I plan to teach them skills of photography, social media, accounting and industry knowledge as part of the program and look to get their input on how we can improve as an organisation. But enough about what I think, lets have them introduce themselves.

Danielle

I'm a Graphic Designer and am studying a Marketing Diploma at North Metropolitan TAFE, whilst also having several years exposure to the healthcare industry. I like embracing a healthy lifestyle and I'm passionate about how good health is important to maintaining our mental wellbeing. I love being inspired with different cultures and innovative thinkers. The perfect blend of a blue and green sea, a good cup of herbal tea and some sunshine are just a few of the simple pleasures I make time for.

Rachel

Hey there, my name is Rachel and I am pumped to get involved with Perth ADSG! I'm a third year psychology student at UWA and spend most of my time hanging out with pals, playing basketball, procrastinating online, chilling at gigs or writing. I work at the social enterprise Befriend Inc and a stationary store.

Depression is a beast I know well. I hope that my personal experiences and academic understanding will empower me to bring a lot to this role to help others (and myself too!). I'm really looking forward to meeting all of you and hosting some of my first events. See you soon!"

Anthea

Hi everyone, I'm Anthea. I study Commerce at university, majoring in accounting and finance. I aim to get strong grades and excel in my studies. I am willing to help and support people as much as possible so I would like to get involved in volunteering and social activities. In addition, I do like sports such as tennis, camping, hiking and swimming, which gives me strong, positive mental and physical health.

I am interested in visual art so I have been a painting and sketching tutor for one year. I like both Chinese culture and Australian culture so that I am good at calligraphy and member of ACYA (Australia China Youth Association). I wish to contribute my passions to Perth ADSG.

Christmas break events

As I know how tough the Christmas break can be, I have scheduled 3 meetups over the break to give an opportunity of our members to get out in the community and participate in some light recreational activities.

The first activity that I have planned is a simple coffee catchup at Greens and Co in Leederville. This will be an opportunity to get some valuable feedback from members on how the group is going. There will also be some light card games to play. This has been scheduled on 27 December

The second meetup is to check out the new minigolf course at the Wembley minigolf course. I love playing minigolf and think this will be a fun opportunity. This course looks real fun to play from the pictures that I have seen. I have scheduled this on 29 December

The last event will be on New Years Eve and will feature a walk along the beach. We will go from Cottesloe Beach to North Cottesloe Beach and back, with a possible swim afterwards. A nice way to round off an amazing year.

2017 & beyond

2017 has been an amazing and fun year. From starting up a small meetup group to now the early stages of incorporating the group and running it as a standalone not for profit organisation has been an amazing experience. I am looking forward to evolving this group and providing our members with a better service as time develops

To those who have come to our meetups I say thanks. It takes bravery to come and I hope you have found the activities and participation to be valuable. To those who haven't taken the step, I hope we have encouraged you to look into recreation based activities in the community as a way of improving your mental health. We are here for you whenever you need. Please get in touch through social media or emailing PerthADSG@icloud.com

Here's to 2017 and to good health!

November 2016

Welcome

Hello & welcome to our 6th edition of our monthly newsletter. Read up what we got up to in November & for our previous history scroll down below.

Monthly Recap

November was a somewhat challenging month for me. I had a small variety of meetups including churros & cards against humanity, ten pin bowling, a pot luck lunch, ping pong at the Vic Park farmer markets, dinner at Grill'd & games at the Vic park library but all these events didn't have RSVPs turn up. I'm of the belief that if one person shows up at a Meetup then that is fantastic, as I can change that persons day. However, it can at times feel a bit disheartening when no one shows up after all the effort you put in to assist others.

I think another contributing factor is the time I post events on meetup. I tend to schedule events really early as I have many personal commitments to juggle, so one procedure I am planning is to only schedule a meetup 2 weeks before it occurs. I hope this helps. At the end of the day we are here to serve you the best we can. If you have any feedback on the nature of the meetups we run I encourage you all to email me on perthadsg@icloud.com. All feedback, both positive & negative is taken seriously.

Despite this, we still had another successful monthly board games night. We also represented the group at the East Victoria Park Family & Community Centre community fair & the Victoria Park Summer Street Party, which was a lot of fun.

One other proud development of this month was the ability for us to have a meeting with the Honourable Stephen Dawson MLC, shadow minister for mental health, at Parliament House. The minister invited us after I met him at the Consumers of Mental Health WA AGM. The minister has encouraged me to incorporate as an association as soon as possible & to tap into philanthropy bodies.

I am currently on the recruit of potential board members. If you would like a copy of the board member prospectus please email me on PerthADSG@icloud.com.

500 meetup member milestone

At the end of this month we reached a pivotal milestone in that we hit 500 members in our meetup group. This is amazing, considering we have only been in operation for the past 6 months. It shows there is a lot of support for what we do. Thank you one & all for joining & I look forward to expanding our operations to accommodate you all.

Connect Groups WA membership

One key factor that I forgot to omit in our previous months newsletter is that we have become a member of Connect Groups WA, who are the peak support by for support groups in the WA community. Connect Groups WA have been providing invaluable support since our groups inception and this formal acceptance of membership will hopefully see us increase our presence and services in the community. I would like to thank the staff and the board for their support of us as a group.

Internship program

One of my core goals in this group is to develop the best service we can for our members. As this group has grown, I've had a need to find a team of people to assist me with expansion and growth. To accommodate for this I have created an "internship program" which is a 6 month commitment to the group to expand its operations.

The key benefit will be felt by members who can see the benefit of extra meetups on offer and other benefits that may arise. There is the potential to skill develop for the interns as I will host sessions for the interns on skills I use to run the group such as photography, social media and accounting skills. It's also a potential chance to line up for a board position should we incorporate next year as a group.

To learn more about the program please click on the link below for an internship prospectus. To apply, please send a resume and a one page cover letter to perthadsg@icloud.com. The program is open to anyone who can commit to the group for the 6 months of the operation.

Sound Meditation Perth

One delightful person I have had the pleasure of meeting and working with over the past month is Lisa of Sound Meditation Perth. On the 2nd and 4th fridays of each month, Lisa runs a sound meditation class out of the East Victoria Park Family and Community Centre (the same venue we use for our board games evenings). I went to one of the meetups in the month and fell asleep as it was so relaxing! Please check out their Facebook page below for more information about them.

Grill'd Local Matters

This month we were featured by Grill'd East Victoria Park for their monthly local matters competition. This is where their customers get to vote for their favourite community program of choice. Being selected means we have automatically won $100 but if we are voted the most popular we will take $300. At the time of writing it's unknown if we have won but we are glad to have been a part of it. I will update the result next month.

Human Rhythms Drumbeat

One special event I have lined up for December is a drumming class with Human Rhythms. This will happen on the 10th of December at the East Vic Park Family and Community Centre. Click the link below for more information.

Next Month

We are finally coming to the close of the year & looking to enjoy the festive season. Rather than slowing down on events, I'll be looking to scale up events over the festive break as I know how tough the festive season can be. Have a look at our Meetup page to see what we are up to.

October 2016

Welcome

October is such a pivotal month with so much happening in mental health week. Apologies if this instalment is a little longer than anticipated as a result. Read the rest of our history since inception by scrolling past October below.

Mental Health Week 2016

Mental health week can only be described in one way: BIG! Not only did I continue with my studies with a certificate 4 in a mental health, I did a lot of networking and promotion of our group with the following organisations (in order):

C3L business breakfasts, Vic Park mens shed, The Southern Gazzette, 55 Central, Bloom, Perth One Wave Fluro Friday surf group, Lorikeet Centre, Inclusion WA, Victoria Park Neighbourhood SOUP, BNI Springboard business group, Connect Groups WA, the Wellbeing collective and CoMHWA.

We received a lot of benefits of this including in kind support for a new logo, website other perks and general promotion of our group. Thanks to all those who contributed and took us to yet another level.

The new logo - thanks to our affiliate partner Novie Natalie Creative

One kind benefit received this month was a new logo from Novie Natalie Creative. I love this logo to bits. It reflects our culture: simple, elemental and a focus on being active. Click the link below to visit Novie's website

Recap of the month

Apart from all the activities we participated as mentioned above in Mental Health Week, we also did a walk around Lake Monger & ran our monthly board games night. Below is a photo collage of what we got up to.

TEDxPerth

Aside from my duties in running this group, one place I volunteer for is TEDxPerth. I've been involved in the organisation over 3 years & been part of the last 4 events, with last instalment happening on October 15. I started as an in the day volunteer in 2013 & now am the finance manager & have prepared audited financial accounts for the organisation since inception.

Volunteering is a great way to give back to the community. I've participated in a number of organisations on a volunteer basis & have found it's boosted my mental health. If you want to learn about how to volunteer please get in touch with me & I can refer you to some organisations. Read below on how you can volunteer with us!

Volunteer assistance

Earlier this month I emailed out a volunteer survey for those were interested in volunteering and running their own events. I caught up with potential volunteers after Mental health week and added them as event organisers for the group.

If you would like to join us please click on the link below to complete the survey. If you are a good fit I will get you on board to the group.

Creative Expressionismsismms

We are delighted to have the presence of Luke Be of Cfreative Expressionismismms as an event organiser of our meetup group. Luke is a laughter yoga specialists and runs various workshops for groups to connect, learn and grow. To follow Luke on what he is up to, head to this Facebook page using the link below.

Sponsorship Prospectus

To assist with expanding this group, I am opening up to sponsorship. There are 4 levels of sponsorship, of which only 2 levels are available. The first is an event sponsor: who runs a co-branded event in the community (e.g. Art session thanks to XYZ sponsorship) and an affiliate sponsor, who supports the group with financial or in kind support in an indirect manner.

Sponsorship will be tax deductible as it will be invoiced through my ABN. I offer many perks in return, ranging from free consulting on accounting, photography and social media, to access of my photos for personal marketing. There's also social media mentions and use of my logo for approved purposes.

At this stage this group is unincorporated. My goal is to potentially incorporate this group by 1 July 2017 in line with the financial year and secure insurance for public liability and volunteers.

Sponsorship isn't open to just anyone. There has to be a direct link with our mission and your values, and assurance that you will get more then enough value in return for your investment. My preference is for in kind support as we have minimal expenses in running due to the bootstrapping principles applied. If you are interested in a prospectus please email me on perthadsg@icloud.com

Next month

After a bit of a breather and a chance to catch my breath, I am looking forward to the Vic Park Summer Street Party, where the event organiser Street Hassle has given us a free stall and Act-Belong-Commit are providing merchandise and volunteers to assist. The summer street party happens the day after our monthly board games night, so a big weekend. Click the link below for the summer street party.

September 2016

Welcome

Welcome to the September issue of the Perth Active Depression Support Group newsletter. Below is a recap of what's been happening this month and if you scroll further you can see past issues of the magazine.

Recap of month events

This month featured a leisurely walk around Lake Monger, a game of ten pin bowling and our 2nd monthly board games night at the East Victoria Park Family and Community Centre.

At the games night we played cards against humanity, taboo, dumbass, smart ass, monopoly deal, pictonary, connect 4 and Jenga. We always play on the 4th Saturday of each month and would love to see you on the next one on October 22.

Consumers of Mental Health WA

One organisation that I recently stumbled on that provides great information on what is happening in the mental health sector across Perth are the consumers of Mental Health WA, or CoMHWA for short. This organisation represents the consumers of the mental health system. They provide a great email newsletter covering what is happening in the state. Membership with the organisation is free to join. Check them out on the following link.

Friends of Heathcote Grant

We have become one of the many grateful recipients of the Friends of Heathcote community grants given by the West Australian Association for Mental Health. We won $100, which we have spent to expand our game range for the board game nights. Thank you to WAAMH for this incredible donation.

Mental health week in October

October 10 represents World Mental Health Day (e.g. 10/10) and to celebrate WAAMH coordinates a week long celebration to raise awareness and promote positive mental health. This years theme is our group partners message of Act-Belong-Commit. To check out what is happening in this incredible week head to the link below.

Volunteer callout

If you have any interest in giving to this group and helping it to expand I would love for you to get in touch at perthADSG@icloud.com. You could volunteer to run a regular walk, game session or any other recreational activity that interests you.

Co-laboratories

One of our community partners is Co-laboratories, a co working space in Victoria Park. In this space community groups can use it as an office or meeting place for activities that they wish to run out of there. We use the space on a monthly basis to play board games.

They also run their own fortnightly board games nights, which occur on Wednesday nights between 6-9pm. Check out their Facebook link below.

Next month

October is a big month in terms of mental health with mental health week running. Due to personal commitments I'm not doing anything special for mental health week. Activities I'm running in October include a session of monopoly, attending Victoria Park Neighbourhood SOUP and another walk around Lake Monger. I look forward to seeing you at another meetup soon.

August 2016

Welcome

Welcome to the August edition of the Perth Active Depression support group. This was a pivotal month for us as we started running recurring monthly meetups which will bring consistency to the group. Check out how we went and you can read the past editions below.

Board games night review

On August 27 we ran our first board games night at the East Victoria Park Family and Community Centre. The purpose was a place to connect with our members and to have a fun night of games where we spread the Act Belong Commit message.

The biggest thing I took out of the night was the genuine laughter that was consistent through the night. The 20 plus attendees all enjoyed the games ranging from Jenga and Cards Against Humanity to Balderdash and King of Tokyo. There was also plenty of food to share around.

We will be repeating this meetup on the 4th Saturday of each month so come down and check it out.

Other events in the month

This month featured a night of pool at Pot Black and fun game of ten pin bowling at AMF bowling Cannington & our first monthly pot luck lunch. I really enjoyed the 10 pin bowling night & will look to repeat it. Have a look at this collage below of pictures taken on the events run.

Vict Park Local blog post

Earlier this month I was fortunate to have my mental health journey feature on the Vic Park Local blog. If you read the past editions of the newsletter below, you will see I have forged many partnerships with the Vic Park community. Check it out using the link below.

Mental health week is fast approaching

The week of October 8-15, being mental health week, is fast approaching. Our community partner Act Belong Commit have put out a fantastic article on what you can do to be part of the event. Check it out below

Blue Shirt Wednesday

One great initiative that is Perth based and looks to promote men's mental health week is Blue shirt Wednesday. The concept is simple: get everyone in your workplace to dress in blue on the day. There is no need to raise funds for the event, but it's a great way of reducing the stigma. Here's a link to their Facebook page.

C3L business breakfasts

This depression Suport group is all about championing other great things happening in Perth. One of these is C3L business breakfasts, which are run by my friend and former work colleague Kalusha Chulu.

While these breakfasts are on a business theme, the talks presented by a set of highly accomplished business leaders transcend to life in general. It's at a bonus that this is run in a church based environment. Here is Kalusha on the purpose of C3L business breakfasts:

The purpose of C3L Business Breakfast is to Educate and empower people in business and those looking to get into business so as to have a positive Influence in the marketplace.

Our main priority is to invest in people.

It is also a forum where networking and business engagement is encouraged.

Please follow us on our Facebook or meetup page to find our next event.

If you have any queries contact us at C3L.businessbreakfast@gmail.com

Volunteer and supporters callout

Can't go past without rementioning this! I'm always on the lookout for people who would like to host their own meetups or to use my meetup page as a form of advertising. If you like to get involved email me on perthadsg@icloud.com

Next month

Two things I am looking forward to in September include Lifeline WA's out of the shadows walk for suicide prevention and also a networking session with Connect Groups WA, which will hopefully lead to stronger connections for this group, looking forward to seeing you at a meetup soon.

July 2016

Hi

Welcome to the 2nd edition of the Perth Active Depression Support Group newsletter. Read on what's been happening this month, and look below for our inaugural issue.

Monthly recap

This month saw us do a photography "treasure hunt", participate in the Canning River Park Run, having a go with meditation with Falun Gong Perth, a night photography session and the ever popular churros and cards against humanity meetup was repeated

Partnered with Act-Belong-Commit

It's a honour and a privilege to have been made an official partner of Act-Belong-Commit. This wonderful group is well known within the Perth Community for promoting mental health with a very simple A-B-C message. I fully embody what they stand for and am looking forward to spreading their message to our members

Regular events established commencing in August

On the success of the grant win at Victoria Park Neighbourhood SOUP I have managed to make a few vital connections with that community to the benefit of the group.

The key highlight will be a regular monthly board games night which will run on the 4th Saturday of each Month commencing 27th August at the East Vic Park Family & community Centre. The centre can cater for 50 people to attend. The link to the first event can be found here.

To complement the monthly board games night I will be hosting a pot luck lunch on the South Perth foreshore on the 2nd Saturday of the month near the Mends street jetty.

The final recurring event will be a mini board games night at Colabatories, the co working space at in Vic Park. They themselves are running fortnightly games nights & it's a cool space to work from, so I'm hoping people get a connection to our group & the mini lab.

Introducing Lain

One of my major goals in running this group is to empower like minded individuals in running their own meetups as a way of improving their own mental health & giving back to this community.

The first person I had agree to this challenge is my friend Lain who I met through our involvement in TEDxPerth, of which we are still a part of. Lain has a passion in psychology and has also experienced the perils of mental health challenges. Whist I could go on about why she got involved with Perth ADSG, I thinks best if you hear from Lain Directly on this topic.

"Hi Everybody. At age 26 I decided to leave my full-time job as a management consultant and pursue my passion in Psychology. I was personally experiencing depression whilst listening to my undergraduate study lectures talking about it at the same time.

Strangely, understanding the mental illness enabled me to build my own trajectory towards recovery. Now, I hope to apply my learnings to help others. I believe that by engaging the right support, being active and determined to get better soon, anyone can overcome their hardship.

I love hiking and nature as an activity & I hope to run more meetups in this form & other similar engaging activities as a way of engaging you to better mental health

I'm also an aspiring artist & have set a goal of making one unique creation a day as a way of mental relaxation & self fulfilment of my passion. You can check out my work at this link below"

Looking for volunteers & supporters

I'll reiterate the call I made in the last month in that I am looking for volunteers & supporters who can assist in growing & assisting this group to bigger & better things. This is meant to be a collaborative effort & im looking to empower people.

If you are interested in contributing, please email me on perthadsg@icloud.com. All suggestions and offers are seriously considered & appreciated.

Next month

The key challenge of next month is to ensure that the recurring monthly events are a success. I'm aiming to get support with Connect Groups WA and one of the key recommendations was to hold regular events for our members. I might also wind back a couple of the events I run and some social media stuff as I rebalance my life amongst other commitments (even I need to look after my mental health!). Hope to see you soon.

June 2016

Welcome

Welcome to the first monthly newsletter for the Perth Active Depression Support group. Here I will provide information on how the group has progressed from its beginnings and what has been happening.

What a start

I was very surprised and excited at the same time to see that we had 100 members sign up through the meetup group before we hosted the first event. This inaugural month featured an array of events from playing uno, swimming, ten pin bowling, nature walks, TED talks and enjoying a game of cards against humanity over churros and chocolate. I want to formally thank everyone who participated in this first month.

Winners at Victoria Park Neighbourhood SOUP

One of the most brilliant things to come out of this month was that we were successful in receiving an $890 crowd funded community grant thanks to Victoria Park Neighbourhood SOUP, which is run by the Victoria Park Collective. I decided to donate a quarter of this grant to GenWHY depression support group as $890 was far too much for our needs. I have spent about $100 of the grant since and will spend it on cost effective capital products as new ideas for events pop up through the year.

The other advantage of winning this event were the connections that I made with the Victoria Park community. I met with the council to learn about recreational facilities and other items we could use with this group. Next month i will be checking a co working space in the area as well as the farmer markets and I will be aiming to base as many events as I can due to the centrality of the area.

The gold coin donation policy

One initiative I've decided to implement in this group as a way of covering the costs levied by Meetup, which amount to $15 USD/month, is to have a voluntary gold coin donation system at meetups. I personally feel I get more than enough value by incurring this cost, which is why it's voluntary.

My goal in collecting this though is to invest back into the group by purchasing recreational and other products that I can enhance this group with. I also want to run contests and give gifts back as a way of giving back to this community.

If you could spare some change at a meetup it would be much appreciated. It will come back to you in a good way hopefully.

Looking for new organisers

My goal in running this meetup group is that I want it to be a collaborative effort. I believe I am not the only one who wants to connect with people who are battling mental health issues.

I would like to particularly thank C3L Business Breakfasts, my fellow TEDxPerth-er Lain Duong for becoming the first few new organisers for the group.

If you are interested in being an organiser, and can commit to 2 events per month (either during the week or the weekend) please email me your resume and cover letter to PerthADSG@icloud.com. If successful I will organise a coffee catchup or Skype catchup and we can grow this group together.

Giveaway Time

One decision I made during this month was to have competitions as part of this group. For this month I have decided to give out A collection of 9 square magnets featured on the @PerthADSG instagram feed (based on my love of photography).

To enter all you need to do is to email me on PerthADSG@iCloud.com with the subject "#PerthADSGJuneComp" to confirm your entry. The competition closes Sunday 10 July. Winner will be determined at random using a random number generator through Microsoft Excel. Good Luck

Next month

Some of the events that w have scheduled include playing Balderdash, a photography treasure hunt, Timezone arcade games, park running and a pot luck lunch. I'll also will be looking into scheduling more events in the Vic Park area and making connections in the local community. My goal is to have a regular alternating function of the 2nd and last Saturday of the month. Hope to see you at a meetup soon.

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 Me

My name is Rahul Seth. I work for a not for profit as an accountant. 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 myself. Click the link below to see more of my work.