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In this edition:
- Updates to My QuitBuddy
- Digital mental health researcher named NSW researcher of the year
- International Day of the Elimination of Violence Against Women
- eMHPrac Podcast – Breaking the cycle of stuck thinking with Mello
- Webinar from Black Dog Institute
- Recent blogs
- See the eMHPrac team at these upcoming conferences
- Read the latest dMH research articles
- This month’s featured service: OCD? Not Me!
Updates to My QuitBuddy
The My QuitBuddy app has been updated with new features, including support for quitting vaping as well as smoking. Key features include options to quit now or later, to set goals, identify motivations, and pinpoint ‘danger times’. App users can schedule helpful notifications, access tips and distractions for cravings, and track progress with charts and health information. The app now offers more avenues for support, including links to Quitline, the ability to add a buddy to share in your progress and access to a forum for community support. Check out the new and improved app or explore our factsheet of digital mental health resources for smoking.
Digital mental health researcher named NSW researcher of the year
Scientia Professor Helen Christensen AO from UNSW Sydney and the Black Dog Institute has been honored as the NSW Scientist of the Year in the prestigious 2024 Premier’s Prizes for Science & Engineering. Recognized for her transformative work in digital mental health, Professor Christensen has left a profound impact on mental health care, both locally and globally. Her pioneering program, MoodGYM, launched in 2000, has supported millions worldwide in managing depression.
Working together to end violence against women
With the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women on November 25, we stand with those impacted by violence and reaffirm our commitment to promoting safe, respectful relationships. Violence affects mental health in profound ways, and digital tools can play a key role in support and prevention. eMHPrac’s factsheets provide guidance both for those experiencing violence and for individuals concerned about their own behavior: Worried about Your Own Behaviour and Domestic, Family, and Sexual Violence.
New Episode of Digital Mental Health Musings Podcast
Breaking the cycle of stuck thinking with Mello
In this episode of Digital Mental Health Musings, we dive into the pervasive issue of stuck thinking, or rumination, in children and adolescents – those persistent, often debilitating thought patterns that trap young minds in a cycle of anxiety and depression.
Joined by Senior Research Fellow and Psychologist Dr Imogen Bell, we explore the new groundbreaking tool Mello from Orygen Digital designed to help young people disrupt these harmful thought loops – in real time, as they happen.
Listen or watch the full episode now on our website, or you can search, subscribe, and listen wherever you get your podcasts.
Webinar from Black Dog Institute
“How online resources are changing mental health care around the world”
When: Recording Now Available!
eMHPrac Director Heidi Sturk recently spoke at the Digital Mental Health International Congress in Ottawa, Canada and the 12th Annual Scientific Meeting International Society for Research on Internet Interventions (ISRII) in Ireland. She returned with a lot of exciting news about what’s going on internationally in the digital mental health space. In this webinar, Dr. Jan Orman speaks with Heidi Sturk about the conference learnings and some of the developments she found most exciting.
The recording is available on the Health Professional Hub, offering 0.5 CPD hours for health professionals.
“An introduction to the types of digital mental health services and resources”
A quick overview of our new service types to help you better understand and identify them when navigating digital mental health resources.
“Workplace wellbeing: Supporting our First Nations health and wellbeing workforce”
Highlighting resources designed to help both non-Indigenous allies create a culturally safe and respectful workplace, and support First Nations health and wellbeing workers.
“Supporting the everyday wellbeing of young people”
How digital mental health resources can help support young people’s mental wellbeing day to day.
“The Voice to Parliament referendum anniversary – What does it mean to you?”
Reflecting on our experiences and perceptions one year on from the Voice to Parliament referendum.
Catch us at these upcoming conferences
STOP Domestic Violence Conference
25-27 November 2024, Adelaide, SA
Presentation and Trade Exhibit
Stronger Together: Bridging Silos and Building Change
See eMHPrac’s Director Heidi Sturk present on “Navigating Online Support for Domestic Violence and Mental Health” and visit the eMHPrac team at their trade exhibit.
OT Mental Health Forum
28-29 November 2024, Melbourne, VIC
Trade Exhibit
The forum provides the opportunity for occupational therapists to come together and exchange ideas, to share practices and challenges, to network and meet new colleagues and to learn from an exciting array of current OT mental health practice and research activity.
Visit the eMHPrac team at their trade exhibit.
Rural GPs Conference
28 November – 1 December 2024, Sydney, NSW
Presentation and Trade Exhibit
Don’t miss this chance to learn, connect, and relax.
Listen to eMHPrac’s Black Dog Institute Team present and visit them at their trade exhibit.
PRIDoC
2-6 December 2024, Adelaide, SA
Presentation
Our language, our culture, our health.
Listen to WellMob’s Director David Edwards present on ‘WellMob: Digital wellbeing tools for mob and GP self care’.
Indigenous Allied Health Australia
9-11 December 2024, Adelaide, SA
Presentation
IAHA recognises how sustained holistic, strengths-based approaches to health and wellbeing can achieve health equality for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples.
Listen to WellMob’s Director David Edwards present on ‘WellMob: Keeping our workforce and mob feeling deadly online’.
What we’ve been reading
Use of AI in Mental Health Care: Community and Mental Health Professionals Survey
Cross, S., Bell, I., Nicholas, J., Valentine, L., Mangelsdorf, S., Baker, S., … & Alvarez-Jimenez, M. (2024). Use of AI in Mental Health Care: Community and Mental Health Professionals Survey. JMIR Mental Health, 11(1), e60589.
Knutzen, S. M., Christensen, D. S., Cairns, P., Damholdt, M. F., Amidi, A., & Zachariae, R. (2024). Efficacy of eHealth versus in-person cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia: systematic review and meta-analysis of equivalence. JMIR Mental Health, 11(1), e58217.
Sextl-Plötz, T., Steinhoff, M., Baumeister, H., Cuijpers, P., Ebert, D. D., & Zarski, A. C. (2024). A systematic review of predictors and moderators of treatment outcomes in internet-and mobile-based interventions for depression. Internet Interventions, 100760.
Our featured service… OCD? Not Me!
About the OCD? Not Me! Program
Our featured service for November is OCD? Not Me!, a free online, self-guided treatment program developed by researchers at Curtin University for young people aged 12 to 18 years with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD). The program is based on CBT – exposure response prevention, involving eight stages designed to be undertaken in eight weeks.
Read our blog delving into OCD? Not Me! here.
About the author
