Brainwaves

Part 1 of a panel discussion led by Mary o'Hagen, Director of Lived Experience at Wellways, on the shared role we play in building a more compassionate mental health system. The panellists of this discussion include Giancarlo de Vera, Maria Katsonis, and Associate Professor Harry Hill.

Last month, we held our 24th Annual Woodcock Lecture in Melbourne. The evening brought together mental health advocates, peer workers, clinicians, and people with lived experience around a central theme: how to centre dignity and humanity in the mental health system. This episode will feature keynote speaker, Giancarlo de Vera the CEO of BEING, as they discuss the loss of close friends and 'the slow invisible violence of coercive treatment', that exists within the mental health system.

Last month, we held our 24th Annual Woodcock Lecture in Melbourne. The evening brought together mental health advocates, peer workers, clinicians, and people with lived experience around a central theme: how to centre dignity and humanity in the mental health system.Today, on our radio show Brainwaves, we share part one of three, that combined, feature the opening, keynote speech and panel discussion, respectively.Listen to Wellways CEO, Laura Collister’s opening address, the heartfelt Welcome to Country by Elder, Aunty Annette, and reflections by Wellways Board Chair, Michael Gorton, who spoke about the event’s legacy.

Professional Music Therapist, Carrie Henschell, has worked in social services, community and the health sector for more than a decade. Her portfolio includes mental health, brain injury rehabilitation, disability services, youth homelessness and refugee settlement services. Carrie's approach is grounded in trauma-informed care and techniques include: music making and song writing.

Bestselling author, Jennifer Scoullar joins Brainwaves to talk about her new novel ‘Wild Horses’ — and the powerful role animals, nature, and storytelling can play in supporting mental wellbeing.

Megan Del Borello is the founder of We Are Emersyn and The We Are Emersyn Foundation. Megan knows first-hand how challenging being a women founder is. It’s this reason that she is changing the narrative on women founders and creating an ecosystem for them to be supported and thrive.

Michael and Janelle are life partners who have undergone various challenges, mainly learning how to live with Michael's brain injury and cognitive failures. Through Michael's recovery, he found he was drawn to others with similar stories and realised he wanted to document these interactions. This is how the RoadzofLife documentary was born. The Youtube channel with the same name has gained 550 thousand subscribers over the last year, giving them a platform to step out and share their story. They both publicly advocate & facilitate discussion surrounding the topics & social issues the documentary explores.Join host Ananya Sharma in conversation with Michael and Janelle this week as they share their story and the process of creating their documentary. Michael and Janelle's Youtube channel can be found here - https://www.youtube.com/@roadzoflife

Following more than a decade of military service as a Critical Care Nurse, Nadine Muller became a high-performance coach, mentor and international best-selling author. In her book ‘A Reason to Rise’ she shares her journey of overcoming immense personal and family adversity. Nadine is today’s guest on our radio show Brainwaves, where she will discuss her struggles and how she rose above them.

Content warning: This episode contains topics relating to sexual abuse and can be activating for some. Blue Knot Foundation is a national scentre for complex trauma. Blue Knot advocates for and provides support to people who have experience of complex trauma, and those who support them. Join the president of the Blue Knot Foundation Dr Cathy Kezelman and host Mark as they discuss the impacts of complex trauma and some of the ways people living with complex trauma recover.

Content warning: This episode contains topics relating to sexual abuse and can be activating for some. Blue Knot Foundation is a national scentre for complex trauma. Blue Knot advocates for and provides support to people who have experience of complex trauma, and those who support them. Join lived experience embassador for Blue Knot Sue and host Mark Eastwood as they discuss Sue's lived experience of complex trauma and the advocacy work she has taken part in.

Content warning: This episode contains topics relating to suicide and can be activating for some. Castlemaine Safe Space is a community led, non-clinical, inclusive, and comfortable sanctuary. It is a space for people who are experiencing distress or suicidality. Everyone is welcome to attend the space, and no referral or appointments are necessary.Join founder Rachel Stewart and host Ananya Sharma as they discuss Rachel's personal story, what drove her to set up the space and the value CaSS has added to her life.

In this episode Jasmine McLennan interviews Hannah Bloxigde about her experience with chronic Migraine and other disabilities such as Endometriosis. Hannah explains how her disabilties interact and effect her mental health. She also talks about her complex trauma, including incarceration and addiction. She now works as a disability model and is learning content creation. She is a gender diverse person who doesn't fit the model of mainstream society and wants to be a lighthouse for others with similar life experiences.

Join host Ananya Sharma as she talks to Amy Bodossian about all things being an artist and performer living with OCD. This episode discusses Amy's love for performance and how she navaigates her OCD whilst being in the public eye. Amy's show 'In Bed with Amy and Friends' is part of Melbourne Fringe festival, and is a cabaret style-performance with a healthy serving of wackiness. The show will run October 8th at Wesley Anne in Northcote. Please purchase tickets here https://melbournefringe.com.au/event/in-bed-with-amy-and-friends/

Join host Ananya Sharma as she talks to Amy Bodossian about all things being an artist and performer living with OCD. This episode is the first part of a two part series where we discuss Amy's love for performance and how she navaigates her OCD whilst being in the public eye. Amy's show 'In Bed with Amy and Friends' is part of Melbourne Fringe festival, and is a cabaret style-performance with a healthy serving of wackiness. The show will run October 8th at Wesley Anne in Northcote. Please purchase tickets here https://melbournefringe.com.au/event/in-bed-with-amy-and-friends/

Join host Flic Manning as she chats with author and therapist Jana Firestone about her latest book. Jana, a therapist who has worked with homicide cases, sudden deaths, and Black Saturday bushfire survivors, often shares her insights on moving forward after loss and the innate strength we all possess. With 18 years of experience working with families and young people, Jana brings a unique perspective on hope and healing. Tune in to hear about her new book, Plot Twist: A Personal Guide to Surviving Life’s Unexpected Curveballs, and gain practical advice on navigating life’s toughest challenges.You can find Jana's podcast here: podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/the-curious-life/id1458438429You can find Jana's new book here:www.amazon.com.au/Plot-Twist-surviving-unexpected-curveballs/dp/1761470442You can find out more about Jana here: www.thecuriouslife.net/

Antek Benedyka is a social worker who uses his own experiences with mental health to inform his work. This is the first part of a 2 part series where we discuss the work he does with refugees in Australia, his own mental health journey and how this has led him to wanting to improve the lives of the young people he works with now.

“I definitely have anxiety, and probably just naming it felt really good because I’ve probably had it all my life. I’ve just never known what it was, known what it feels like,” says singer and songwriter, and disabled musician advocate, @MusicElizaHull. Eliza performed ‘Running Underwater’, her first song about being disabled on ABC’s Q&A. She is an award-winning artist with music featured on international TV shows 'Awkward' and 'Teen Wolf' — and the Disability Arts Reporter for the ABC. Eliza talks about her music career, the industry and mental health on our radio show Brainwaves. Tune in today at 5pm (AET) on @3CRcommunity radio with host @flicmanning. https://bit.ly/3ki4oxchttps://elizahull.com/

Mark talks to artist, author, and publisher, Annie Huang about zines and the role they have played in their mental health journey.

This week on Brainwaves we will be airing part of of the Woodcock Public Lecture, proudly presented by Wellways in May this year.As this week is Naidoc week we have taken part 1 to be alol about the poignont Welcome to Country by Stacie Piper, who is a proud Wurrundjeri, Djadjawarrung and Ngurai Illum-Wurrung woman, and Djirri Djirri Dancer. At the end of the epsode there is a little bit of what is to come in next week's show. You will hear from speaker Maggie Toko, a Commisioner at the Mental Health and Wellbeing Commission, and a descendant of the Ngati Whatua and Ngapuhi tribes, who are indigenous to Aotearoa (New Zealand). Maggie shars her vast Mental health industry experience and first-hand lived experience from a consumver and family/carer lens. You can hear Maggie speak in full next week on Brainwaves.

Jasmine welcomes Mark and Ananya, the newest additions to our Brainwaves crew. They discuss their views on stigma around mental health and how it is most times a 'silent struggle'. Each of them provides their take on what solidarity can look like in regard to mental health, and how getting the right support can be transformational.