A social enterprise providing education and information to protect and enhance the mental health of young people
Youth suicide is an immensely complex interplay of social, psychological, neurological, biological and cultural variables. The problem is that these variables carry unequal weights and no single one has been demonstrated to be necessary or sufficient to cause an individual to take their own life. This makes it very difficult to predict whether a young [...]
Europe's biggest prison for sex offenders is in Nottinghamshire. How does it try to rehabilitate the inmates, asks Rex Bloomstein. "Whatton's a great leveller," says Lynn Saunders, governor of HMP Whatton, the largest prison for adult male sex offenders not just in the UK, but in Europe. "We've got everybody here you could imagine," she [...]
We want our kids to grow up happy and successful, but putting happiness and success before caring is raising a generation of bullies. Admit it. You've watched and wondered: is my kid a bully? Not all the time. Not most of the time. But some of the time. The rough-handed grab, pushy attitude, resentful looks. [...]
There are two different sides to human nature. Both are important, but the balance between them has huge implications for our wellbeing, culture and future. One side of our nature is self-interested. This is our in-built instinct to do whatever we can to survive and thrive, often at the expense of others. The other side [...]
Instant jail terms, or flash incarceration, for perpetrators who do not comply with court orders is one of a range of recommendations to break the cycle of family violence outlined in a major new RMIT University report. Australian of the Year and anti-domestic violence campaigner Rosie Batty launched the report in Melbourne today. The RMIT [...]
A controversial program that offers paedophiles friendship and support in an effort to reduce offending is being trialled in Australia for the first time. I appreciate not everybody will want to spend their Saturday morning having a coffee with an offender, but I think we need to get over that. QUT criminologist, Dr Kelly Richards [...]
More Americans are on psychiatric medications than ever before, and in my experience they are staying on them far longer than was ever intended. Sales of antidepressants and antianxiety meds have been booming in the past two decades, and they’ve recently been outpaced by an antipsychotic, Abilify, that is the No. 1 seller among all [...]
Amid debates about budget cuts and the rising costs of schools and degrees, there is one debate receiving alarmingly little attention in Australia. We’re facing a slow decline in most educational standards, and few are aware just how bad the situation is getting. These are just six of the ways that Australia’s education system is [...]
So when parents findut their child is being bullied, they are right to be concerned. But what exactly should they do about it? Should they tell the school, approach the parents of the other child, or just let their child deal with it? It can be difficult to weigh up the sometimes conflicting advice given [...]
Sexual abuse by children against children is a growing and significant problem in out-of-home care, a royal commission has heard. The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse began hearings into the incidence of abuse against children in out-of-home care, which included care in government and non-government-run residential facilities, foster care and kinship [...]
