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Resources
Information about supporting the mental health of people with complex communication needs. Includes fact sheets, podcasts, useful links to books and other publications, presentations and other useful resources.
The project has produced a number of resources including counseling guidelines for community counseling practitioners, an accessible booklet on grief and loss, and accessible fact sheets covering a range of mental health topics.
Mental Health Fact Sheets
Depression Fact Sheet: An Easy-English fact sheet about depression.
Anxiety Fact Sheet: An Easy-English fact sheet about anxiety.
Counselling Fact Sheet: An Easy-English fact sheet about counselling.
Mental Health Fact Sheet: An Easy-English fact sheet about Mental Health?
Behaviours of Concern Fact Sheet: An Easy-English fact sheet about Behaviours of Concern.
Publications
Beyond Speech Alone
Guidelines for practitioners providing counselling services to clients with disabilities and complex communication needs. Practitioners who provide counselling services are increasingly likely to consult with people with complex communication needs as part of their clinical practice. The guidelines have been developed to support these practitioners in their inclusion of people with complex communication needs. The guidelines provide suggestions and strategies for making counselling as maximally accessible to people with complex communication needs, whilst maintaining the integrity of counselling principles.
The Bridging Project Physical Disability and Mental Health
There is little information available regarding the prevalence of specific types of mental health problems for people with physical and multiple disabilities and the kinds of community mental health services being accessed. Information collected from 390 client files suggests prevalence rates for specific mental health conditions are consistently lower when contrasted against general population statistics (as documented in a range of epidemiological studies). The most plausible account for this lower prevalence rate is that mental health conditions for this population are under-diagnosed. Additionally, people from this group are much more likely to serviced by specialist services, with only a small proportion accessing generic community mental health services.
A summary of the findings from this research was presented in InPsych, the Australian Psychological Society's publication for members and associated industry professionals.
Because Mental Health Matters
This is a submission made to the Victorian Department of Human Services, in response to the consultation paper “Because Mental Health Matters”. The submission from the Bridging Project team discusses a range of considerations for greater effectiveness in prevention, early intervention, and supporting people with complex needs. It makes a number of recommendations for practice, policy and research.
Anger Management: An Anger Management Training Package for Individuals with Disabilities
Some people with intellectual disabilities have difficulty managing feelings of anger. Anger Management is a training package for assisting people with disabilities deal with anger in constructive, effective ways. It is designed to be accessible to many people with a range of intellectual and communication abilities. The training program consists of 12 fully-scripted sessions dealing with topics such as recognising feelings of anger, learning to relax and think calmly, and being assertive and handling problems competently. Each session follows a standard format, including introductions, reviews of previous sessions, and explanations. Photocopiable handouts, facilitator's script and evaluation sheets are provided for each session. The resource has been shown to be effective in assisting people with a range of disabilities deal with anger more effectively. This publication is published through Jessica Kingsley Publishers.
Enhancing Self-Esteem: A Self-Esteem Training Package for Individuals with Disabilities
Maintaining healthy levels of self-esteem is key to leading a positive and fulfilled life, but for many people with a disability it can be difficult when faced with the additional challenges they encounter. Negative messages, low expectations, reduced opportunities and discrimination are all facts of life for a large number of people, and these factors can have a serious impact on the development of self-esteem. Enhancing Self-Esteem is tailored specifically to meet the needs of adults with disabilities. It is a comprehensive resource that provides relevant, cognitively-suitable and age-appropriate information and exercises to aid trainers working with adults with physical and multiple disabilities, and is suitable for people with mild intellectual disability and severe communication impairment. The material is designed to be used in 10 two-hour sessions that explore skills that will help to develop and maintain self-esteem. Each session is fully scripted, with comprehensive instructions for the trainer and useful photocopiable hand-outs. This publication is published through Jessica Kingsley Publishers.
Supporting People With Disabilities Coping With Grief And Loss
The booklet provides practical and Easy English ideas for individuals, as well as information for carers who may be in the role of actively assisting the person with a disability who is grieving
- Supporting People With Disabilities Coping With Grief And Loss: An Easy-To-Read Booklet (PDF 105 MB) .
Presentations
- Physical disability, complex communication needs and mental health (PDF 70 KB)
- Relaxation for people with disabilities (PDF 203 KB)
Links
- The Centre for Developmental Disability Health (CDDHV) - An academic unit established by the Victorian State Government to improve health outcomes for people with developmental disabilities through a range of educational, research and clinical activities.
- Talking Mats - A low tech communication tool involving sets of symbols. It was originally developed by The AAC (Alternative and Augmentative Communication) Research Unit in Scotland to support people with complex communication needs. It is designed to help people with communication difficulties to think about issues discussed with them, and provide them with a way to effectively express themselves, and therefore has obvious uses within a counselling context.
- ISAAC - The International Society for Augmentative and Alternative Communication (ISAAC) devoted to advancing the field of (AAC).
- AGOSCI - The Australian Group On Severe Communication Impairment. Founded in 1981 by a group of professionals who saw the need to promote information exchange about severe communication impairment.
- The Estia Centre - A UK based training, research and development resource for those who support adults with learning disabilities and additional mental health needs.
