LUNATICS RUNNING THE ASYLUM : Melbourne Indymedia

Mental Health Conference To Be Held In Casino

On September 2nd, 2005, the Gold Coast Institute of Mental Health will be holding the 6th International Mental Health Conference at Conrad Jupiters Casino on the Gold Coast. Its theme will be "What's new in mood disorders?"

Although regrettable, it is far from unusual for such events to be take place at elite, five star venues with attendance fees and venue security calculated to discourage all but the very well heeled from attending. However, in choosing Jupiters, the organisers of this conference have set a new standard of exclusivity and poor taste.

Jupiters Casino is one of the country's chief promoters of a mental disorder that afflicts almost 400,000 Australians and directly affects many thousand more - compulsive gambling. Over 90% of suffers report depression due to their gambling and one in five will attempt suicide. Every year, over two dozen succeed in killing themselves.

To hold a mental health conference at Jupiters Casino is akin to arranging a seminar on drug and alcohol addiction at an inner city pub. Consumers, survivors and victims of mental health services will feel themselves thoroughly excluded from this conference, particularly if they are living with a gambling problem.

The mental health industry is currently facing widespread criticism for its close relationship with pharmaceutical corporations. Indeed, the GCIMH boasts of its sponsorship by some of the world's most unethical purveyors of ineffective and dangerous psychiatric medications. But by joining hands with the gambling industry, the Institute has shown it has learned nothing from psychiatry's unsavoury past associations with some of history's most abusive and exploitative industries and regimes.

Justice Action calls on the Gold Coast Institute of Mental Health to immediately cancel its arrangements with Jupiters and rebook its conference at a more appropriate venue. We also call on the Institute to 'just say no' to drug company money, so as to avoid a conflict of interest.

Justice Action calls on all organisations who are sincerely concerned with the poor standard of mental health care in Australia to boycott the 6th International Mental Health Conference and to send a strong letter to the GCIMH explaining why they will not be attending.

Contact: Michael Strutt 9660-9111, Brett Collins 0438 705 003

Related:

The 6th International Mental Health Conference

Papers which address the themes of the conference are especially welcome, although other papers will be considered...

More: http://www.melbourne.indymedia.org/news/2005/03/88528.php

http://www.geocities.com/nswac14

Is it any wonder there is no money in the mental health budget for the consumer? How many ppl locked away at home due to depression or psychosis would be benefitted by an all expenses weekend in Queensland? The conference is but an example of how those who work in the system indulge themselves at the expense of community programs, how many people could be funded into residential and social programs instead? Our community mental health system fails because there is no money to fund them, yet they can find the money to indulge themselves at tax-payers expense regularly. Where are the morals and ethics of our bureaucrats to find a casino that causes so much dysfunction in our society a fit place to deal with mood disorders. I don't need an all expenses paid trip to know that little has changed for the mood disordered in recent years. They still commit suicide in numbers that shame us all, for the lack of a bed. They are still found in the parks and laneways, homeless. they still risk damaging their bodies taking the medications they tell us are safer yet prove to have lethal side effects as the higher risk of suicide for young people taking them prove.
The system only tolerates those who roll over and question nothing, therefore nothing changes cos the yesmen don't allow it too!
Until we deal with that,nothing will ever change for anyone with a mental illness and we better start getting a grip on things because all the experts say it is getting worse especially in our young who are being diagnosed at younger and younger ages.