The SANE Blog

The National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) is rolling out across Australia. This is good news! But if you’ve started exploring your options you may have been confronted by acronyms, processes and jargon.

With the help from Break Thru we’ve answered some of the questions many people ask about this new program.

Suicide is a big issue. While it only accounts for a small percentage of deaths (around 1.9%), more people lose their lives to suicide than to road accidents, industrial accidents, and homicides combined. Around 2800 Australians take their own life each year; an average of almost 8 suicides a day.

While suicide awareness and prevention has come a long way over the past decade, many myths still exist.

On RUOK Day we're encouraged to check in with people around us and reduce feelings of distress or loneliness by asking the simple question ‘are you okay?’.

Simple, right? But many people doubt the benefit of this idea. It's a fair question. Is it just a fad? Does it really do any good? Can asking a question really change a life?

Feeling suicidal means feeling more pain than you can cope with at the time. But remember, no problem lasts forever.

With help, you can feel better and keep yourself safe. People get through this. People who feel as badly as you feel now. So get help now. You can survive.

There are things you can do to relieve the pain and reduce the desire to end your life.

What are the top tips for people starting their journey caring for a loved one living with mental illness?

SANE spoke to Jo Buchannan, a woman with almost 40 years’ experience caring for her sister, nephew and son. We asked Jo to reflect on her experiences and list five tips that would have helped her younger self in her first year of caring. Here's what she said.

Sometimes the distress associated with psychosis can be less about hallucinations or delusions and more about loneliness, fear and loss of self. At the risk of sounding overly optimistic - something us care professionals are famous for - I'd like to share five steps that can help you help your loved one overcome fear and isolation.

Trauma can be caused by a range of events, from war, terrorism, natural disasters, transport accidents, criminal and domestic violence and childhood abuse and neglect. Being exposed to these events can have lasting physiological and psychological effects.

Dear Me, Myself, & I

I am writing this letter to myself, to me, to you, in the hopes that you will read it on the day when depression rears its ugly head. When depression strikes and covers you in a black fog your brain has a funny way of forgetting everything you know, so this letter is here to remind you of all the things that you may forget.

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is a condition that can catch you off guard. You’re coping just fine and then — boom! Life becomes difficult. Out of nowhere.

That’s what happened to Ken Kemp, a veteran that served in the Australian Defence Force for 27 years, many of those on deployment.

When someone experiences a mental health issue their recovery becomes the primary objective. Health services focus on treatment, and the family support their loved one through this phase into recovery.

While family support can make the recovery process easier, it comes at a cost. Family members often forget about their own wellbeing.