You don’t have to be stick thin to have an eating disorder

Imagine getting turned away for not having a broken-enough leg. There would be complete outrage, but yet for people with eating disorders this is happening on a day to day basis. People are turned away for not being “sick” enough. We know a healthy BMI is 18.5 or above but yet some places in the UK are turning people away if their BMI is about 14! In this post, Hope Virgo (the Author of Stand Tall Little Girl and Mental Health Campaigner) shares her experience and talks about her #DumpTheScales campaign.

Issues, AdvocacyPower to Persuade27 February 2019mental health, policy problem, health

Financing climate action in the Pacific: Why we need to move past solutions based exclusively on views from the top

Effective climate change action needs a lot of money. However, in the Pacific it is not just about delivering dollars. Kirsty Anantharajah gives us three key problems with global climate financing approaches, and offers three possible pathways out.

NDIS playing catch up on employment

The NDIS has failed to live up to expectations in many areas, none more so than disability employment. In a blunt and honest piece, long-term disability employment advocate Jeff Thompson from LEAD tell us why jobs are so important, and three things that would lead to an employment friendly NDIS.

Advocacy, Issues, Policy and governancePower to Persuade21 February 2019disability, discrimination, NDIS, Workforce Reform

Childcare dreaming: a vision for early childhood care

Childcare policy is always fraught, because so many people want it to be better, but everyone has their own ideas about what is needed. Yarrow Andrew, who worked for 15 years in long day childcare as an educator, before beginning a research career investigating early childhood education gives us some ideas about how to reform the sector.

Advocacy, Innovation, Issues, Policy and governancePower to Persuade20 February 2019Children, Workforce Reform, care work, work, education

Whatever happened to a Law and Order State election?

Sensationalising youth crimes for political gain has been a mantra for politicians. Case in point, the recently conducted elections in Victoria where politicians of all stripes ensured gang violence was an election issue. But given that it is an election year for New South Wales, the lack of political and media voice surrounding law and order is deafening. Today’s blog contributor Dr. Elaine Fishwick (@elbowlass) tackles this issue (or lack thereof) locating it in larger worldwide trends and unravelling the present ‘policy moment’ we find ourselves in. Elaine is an academic scholar researching issues relating to human rights, social justice, access to justice, criminology, youth justice and public policy.

Policy and governance, AdvocacyPower to Persuade14 February 2019young people, law and order, policy problem, policy making

What’s limiting our mob from accessing the NDIS?

Vanamali Hermans, Wiradjuri woman with a lived experience of disability, explains why it has been so difficult for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders, to benefit from the National Disability Insurance Scheme

Adopting or adapting: past mistakes vs new possibilities for child protection in Australia

A scathing critique of the NSW government's push for the adoption of children in out-of-home care and a call for positive alternatives from Sharynne Hamilton, Ngunnawal woman and UWA doctoral candidate.

No New Coal Mines: new hope for effective climate change activism

Anna Chang, Director of Communications at The Australia Institute, dissects the new campaign No New Coal Mines.

Advocacy, IssuesPower to Persuade21 November 2018climate change, Wicked issues

Can Co-production Really Transform UK Mental Health Services?

If you can’t quite get a grip on co-production, you’re not alone. Much of the literature dating back as far as 1984 suggests that it’s something of a greased pig and that efforts to define it end up like a policy pig scramble. Is it democratic citizen involvement public services? Is it individual, ‘responsibilised’ health and social care consumerism? Is it power shifting to communities through participatory governance? Some authors have said that ‘neither on the level of interactions between organisations nor on the level of servicing users, has co-production a fixed meaning’ and others have noted its ‘excessive elasticity.’ Perhaps it’s the ultimate post-modern policy concept. Dr Sarah Carr of the Institute for Mental Health at the University of Birmingham asks can it work for mental health?

Advocacy, Policy and governancePower to Persuade26 October 2018mental health, co-production

Improving disabled people’s employment and pay: changing patterns of campaigning and influencing

Liz Sayce - Joseph Rowntree Research Fellow in Practice at the LSE International Inequalities Institute and former Chief Executive of Disability Rights UK - explores tensions in campaigning for rights to work and rights to social protection for people with disabilities and calls for patterns of campaigning and influencing to change to avoid different groups working at cross-purposes. This post was originally published on the LSE Equity, Diversity and Inclusion blog.

AdvocacyPower to Persuade5 September 2018disability

Justice, parents and child protection: a role for a Charter of Rights?

We spend a lot of time as a local, national and global community considering the wellbeing of children and what is in ‘the best interest of the child’ when they are at risk of abuse and neglect. We spend much less time considering the rights and responsibilities of parents and other family members who have children in the care of child protection services. It is time for a Charter of Rights for Parents and Families, argues Sharynne Hamilton from the Telethon Kids Institute at the University of Western Australia.

It's been an incredibly tough week

Melbourne was in shock following the rape and murder of well-loved comedian Eurydice Dixon on the 12 June 2018 as she was walking home from a comedy event. A vigil was held near where Eurydice Dixon died in Princess Park the following week and was attended by the over 10,000 people. Following the vigil, Julie Kun, CEO of WIRE (Women’s Information and Referral Exchange Inc), wrote the following article, posted on WIRE’s Facebook page and reposted with permission here.

Julie Kun is the CEO of WIRE, the only Victoria-wide free generalist information, support and referral service run by women for women.

Issues, AdvocacyPower to Persuade26 July 2018violence against women, Sexual violence, gender

Beyond NAIDOC 2018: Our Responsibility to Celebrate the Voices of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Women

The theme for this year's NAIDOC Week, held from 8-15 July 2018, was "Because of her, we can". In the following article, republished from IndigenousX with permission, Antoniette Braybrook calls for the ongoing celebration and acknowledgment of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women, who work tirelessly for the community, and whose views and experiences are often invisible to policy-makers. Antoinette Braybrook is the CEO of Djirra (formerly the Aboriginal Family Violence Prevention and Legal Service Victoria) and the National Convenor of the National Family Violence Prevention Legal Services Forum. She also tweets @BraybrookA

How could primary care services become more accessible and acceptable to vulnerable young people?

Mental health problems in young people are increasing. Suicide remains a leading cause of death in those aged 15-24 worldwide. The majority of mental health problems develop before the age of 25 but have their roots usually in childhood and teenage years. If left untreated, mental health problems can persist into adulthood with poorer prognosis and greater disability over the life course. In this blog post, Maria Michail, Jo Robinson, Tina Yutong Li, Sadhbh Byrne explore how primary care services can become more accessible and acceptable to vulnerable young people. This post has been co-produced with young people with lived experience of mental-ill health and highlights the importance of making primary care health services more accessible, acceptable and equitable for vulnerable young people.

Modern Slavery Bill a step in the right direction – now businesses must comply

This week has seen a significant milestone in the fight against modern slavery as the Modern Slavery Bill was introduced into the Australian parliament. When passed, the law will require companies with an annual turnover of more than $100 million to report annually on the risks of modern slavery in their operations and supply chains, and on the actions to address these. Fiona McGaughey (University of Western Australia) and Justine Nolan (UNSW) explain more.

Marshmallows, leadership and moral courage

To round out your week, in this post from the CEO blog at the Centre for Social Impact, Professor Kristy Muir reflects on power, leadership, stepping outside of ourselves and knowing when one more marshmellow is one too many.

AdvocacyPower to Persuade15 June 2018social justice, Equity, social inequalities

Making space for Utopia

In an inspiring tale of grassroots activism, Dr Millie Rooney, coordinator of the Sustainability Integration Program for Students at UTas, relates how mentoring students to fight for the world they want helped them access their “power to persuade” to achieve policy change at their university.

Anecdotes of a Disabled Gay: inclusion, advocacy and employment

Wayne Herbert is a disability professional, LBGTIQ activist and author. This is a lightly edited version of his speech given at TedX Canberra (2017) and to be given at the 2018 Canadian Association of Supported Employment Conference, explaining his experiences navigating life as a self-proclaimed ‘disabled gay’

The un-intended consequences of the bizarre incentives catalysing the referral of mental health patients as radicalisation threats

One has to stretch the imagination to conceive that a new policy might result in health professionals in Britain considering whether to refer patients with mental health needs as radicalisation threats in order to gain quicker access to necessary support and services. In this post, Dr Chris Allen examines the un-intended consequences of the bizarre incentives catalysing the referral of mental health patients as radicalisation threats.

Serious threat to our right to speak out for a healthy community

As many of you will no doubt know, the federal government wants to change a number of laws and regulations, all of which will limit the ability of charities to advocate on behalf of their communities. In this post cohealth's Lyn Morgain explores these changes and the disastrous impact they would have on the sector.

AdvocacyPower to Persuade26 March 2018social justice

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