For mental health week I think it is essential to celebrate our uniqueness. I am convinced that honouring our uniqueness in the key to a thriving life. At conception, we won the race from 500 million other sperm. It was the ultimate survival of the fittest. The more we strive to understand the unique elements of our DNA: our strengths, values and passions, and live them, the more effortless our lives become. There is an Indian proverb that says:

Relaxation is who I am; tension is who I think I should be

If we have a predisposition to depression, bipolar, or anxiety it should not define who we are. Sure we have to learn to manage it and be aware of our early warning signs, but there is no reason why that should define us or limit our contribution. Our strengths if developed and celebrated will always outweigh any weakness.

Discover and celebrate your strengths

If you haven’t discovered your top 5 strengths out of a possible 24 strengths, I can’t think of a better time to do it than for Mental Health Week. Martin Seligman and positive psychology movement have made a free assessment available to discover you strengths. They have shown that those people that use and constantly develop their strengths will have a much more fulfilling life than those who don’t. Discover yours now.

Brisbane seminar this Saturday - 7 essential strategies to beat depression for good

I have been often asked when I am presenting interstate. I do travel a lot but unfortunately it is usually for private conferences – not open to the public.

This Saturday October 15 from 2-5pm I will be presenting at the Relaxation Centre in Brisbane. For more information and to register.

In an endeavour to share what I have learnt for those who aren’t able to attend my seminars I have created the following:

BACK FROM THE BRINK Facebook Page

The BACK FROM THE BRINK Facebook Page allows me to share my thoughts on how to bounce back from depression and adversity to live a meaningful life. I have shared over 40 free downloadable resources under these categories:

· Anxiety

· Bipolar

· Carers

· Clinician Resources

· Diagnosis

· Facts

· Lifestyle treatments

· Old people

· Medical Treatments

· Wellbeing

Click the link. Click “LIKE”. Click “Free Stuff”

Let me know if you have any questions/comments/suggestions.

Strive2Thrive YouTube Channel

I have also created this channel to share some insights. Some of the videos on there include:

· Finding a GP that can help with depression

· What if you partner has depression

· Rituals for behaviour change

· Guiding principles to build resilience

· Depression treatments that really, REALLY work

Click here to check them out and subscribe to be advised of new additions. If you have a question you would like me to cover, please let me know.

RUOK?Day 2011

As a Director of RUOK?Day I was delighted with the coverage and impact we achieved this year. I will share more details of this in my next post, but we were delighted to learn that awareness of the day increased from 28% in 2010 to 68% this year. Over 2500 organisations participated in the RUOK?atWork program this year compared to 700 in 2010. More information soon.

Kind Regards

Graeme

Tags: Bounce Back, depression treatments, mental health, natural depression treatments, overcoming depression, resilience

Last weekend I spent at a course learning how to ask better questions to understand someone’s needs. There were lots of good ideas that I wanted to use and so I began looking at my calendar to see when they could be actioned.

Shock, oh shock, I realised that it was almost March. It only seemed like yesterday that I was sitting with Hilary in a park overlooking the harbour watching the Opera House and the Sydney Harbour Bridge ablaze with colourful light. I then reflected that on that night, the majority of us make our 2010 New Year’s resolutions.

According to the website 43things where 150,000 people recorded their 2010 resolutions, this was the top 10:

1.       Lose weight 2. Be happy 3. Fall in love 4. Get a job 5. Travel 6. Stop smoking 7. Get married 8. Love 9. Find love 10 Lose my virginity.

WHY AREN’T MOST RESOLUTIONS KEPT?

According to an extensive report by the British psychologist, Richard Wiseman, 88% of people that make them will fail to honour them. Isn’t that depressing? I thought goals were healthy. Presumably we make them so that we can correct some perceived shortcoming in our lives.

I know how abysmal my own record is in this department. About 15 years ago on the stroke of midnight December 31^st, in a rush of blood, I decided that I wouldn’t drink alcohol for 3 months. I remember feeling very hung-over when I first woke up and thinking “what a great resolution”. I’m ashamed to say that at 2:30pm on January 1^st, at a recovery lunch my will power collapsed with the justification that I needed some “hair of the dog” to feel OK so I could continue my resolution. I never recovered. Then I felt guilty and miserable for giving in so easily.

Understanding what type of goals work and what don’t work, became the obsession of Harvard Psychology Professor David McClelland. He sought to understand if there were any common qualities between students who 20 years after graduating were leading a very fulfilling life.

His process was long and exhaustive but he ended up identifying 4 qualities around the goal setting of graduates that would determine who would be living an inspired life 20 years later, and who wouldn’t. These are the common goal setting qualities of students who were able to sustain an inspired life 20 years after graduating – drum roll – drum roll:

·         They set goals that were meaningful to THEM (their values, their strengths, their passions) and weren’t significantly swayed by social indicators of success. They would also regularly daydream as if they had already achieved their goal.

·         They set moderate goals which they have a 50:50 chance of achieving. No outlandish goals here – just things that were realistic but also had a slight stretch.

·         The engage in both positive and negative thinking in how the goals would happen. No Pollyanna’s here – just pragmatists. I good way to describe this approach is the English proverb “Hope for the best, but prepare for the worst”. They carefully monitor progress to then make corrections.

·         They seek advice from experienced people before deciding if a goal is realistic – someone who has travelled the path before them.

With a questionnaire that measured these 4 qualities Professor McClelland could predict with 90% accuracy who would be leading a meaningful and happy life 20 years later.

If you look at the top 10 for 2010, I can understand why they don’t last. I’m sure being intoxicated doesn’t help our clarity and sustainability of commitment.

What’s your experience with goal setting? What has worked for you and what hasn’t? Please reply to this blog and let me know.

THE GOOD NEWS

We don’t have to wait until December 31, 2010 before we try again.

WHAT THIS MEANS TO ME

As some of you may know, I have done lots of reflection over the last 10 years to understand what is really important to me. My life mission is to help people to realise that they can not only bounce back from adversity and depression, but also go on to lead inspired lives. I have decided to launch the BACK FROM THE BRINK book series in the US as I know what a difference it makes to have real people discuss their battles, struggles and victories. A key part of the success of the Australian book was having some high profile people in the book. This helped significantly in generating publicity. I am going to Chicago at the end of April to be a keynote speaker at the Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance conference (this group is partnering with me for the US versions). I am then going on to New York to present my proposal to publishers.

MY GOAL – TO HAVE 4 US/UK CELEBRITIES AGREE TO BE INTERVIEWED FOR BFTB BY APRIL 15

I need your help. So far I have tried contacting the high profile people via their managers with a disappointing result. I found in Australia that when I was able to speak with the celebrities directly there was a much higher probability of success.

DO YOU KNOW THESE PEOPLE, OR KNOW SOMEONE WHO DOES?

Jane Pauley – former host of Today                                   Greg Louganis – Olympic gold – diving

Carrie Fisher – actress Star Wars                                       Mike Wallace – TV journalist

George Stephanopoulos – ABC commentator                     Buzz Aldrin – Astronaut

Owen Wilson – Actor                                                           Richard Dreyfuss                                           

Brooke Shields – Actress                                                      Marie Osmond – Singer

Jim Carrey – Actor                                                                 Larry King – TV Journalist

Winona Ryder – Actress                                                        Brian Wilson – Musician

Terry Bradshaw – NFL Footballer                                          JK Rawling – Author

Trish Goddard – TV presenter                                               George Michael – Singer

HOW YOU CAN HELP

If you know one of these people or how I can find away to contact them directly, please respond to this email. If you are reading this on my blog and want to contact me directly please email me at graeme@graemecowan.com.au .  Alternatively you may know an option through Facebook or Twitter – I will try anything.

Please respond to the blog and let us know what you think. Are there any subjects you would like me to cover?

Kind Regards

 

Graeme

 

Graeme Cowan

www.IamBackFromTheBrink.com

www.GraemeCowan.com.au

 

 

 

Tags: broken new year's resolutions, goal setting, mental health

I was fortunate enough to have recently visited Hong Kong.  Whilst there I caught up with some people from Jardine Matheson - one of Hong Kong’s oldest and largest companies. Like a lot of organisations, that had found that their charitable contributions in the past had been quite haphazard.

The launch of Mindset

After some research, they decided to focus their attention on the area of mental health and launched Mindset in 2002. Mindset’s objectives are to change people’s attitudes by raising awareness and understanding of mental health issues, and to provide direct assistance to individuals, families, and organisations in need of help.

Involving some high achievers

Each year 50 Ambassadors are chosen from across the Jardine Companies, who are able to take time out from their normal roles to guide Mindset activities. This group contributed 30,000 hours and are  typically aged 25-30 and are regarded as future leaders within the group.

Mindset Initiatives

Current initiatives include:

1. Education and prevention in schools through the “Health in Mind” program.
2. Re-intergrations - supporting mental health agencies through patient support activities and the promotion of a job training program within the Jardine Matheson Group companies.
3. Financial Support - to fund direct services for the mentally ill such as case managers etc.
4. Community Awareness - to undertake a range of initiatives that enhance awareness of mental health related issues.

Two of the most notable community initiatives are the “Mindset Ratrace” - a community fun run around downtown Hong Kong and “Walk up Jardine House” which both served to raise funds for activities.

Highlights

• More than 25,000 school students reached by the “Health in Mind” program.
• 135 training and placement opportunities offered to ex mentally ill in Group businesses.
• The funding of six programs in support of carers and families and direct services for the mentally ill.
• 19 patient support actvities organized.
• $5HKmillion ($A1 million) Cash contributed
• 30,000 hours by 50 Jardine Ambassadors

It was interesting hearing their experiences in job placement. They initially sought openings in their group and then tried to place appropriate people. Eventually they found that they were best off starting with the candidate and then determining what type of role would suit. The referrals for these candidates come from community mental health organisations.

The company employs a part time administrator whose role it is to co-ordinate activities.

About half the people who have gone through Jardine’s re-integration initiatives remain in full time employment.

Jardine’s are to be applauded for pioneering help in an area of community need that has typically been overlooked by most of the corporate world.

If you have any questions or comments about this initiative I would love to hear them.

Kind Regards

Graeme

Tags: anxiety, charity, depression, mental health, work