The Richardson Support House Team are very pleased to welcome a new tenant in the building - Robyn, a social worker, started here last week. Robyn has many years experience particularly with children, chronic conditions, family and relationship counselling. She will also be available for general counselling. So now there is a Psychologist, Psychologist Intern, and Social Worker available for community counselling needs. Please don't hesitate to contact us for further details on 02 62918009.
The Walking Group is going well, now meeting on Monday mornings at 9.30am. The group walks 15 minutes out and 15 minutes back. Everyone can then join us for a cuppa or cool drink at Richardson Support House (RSH). There are some very pleasant walks in Richardson. The Bike path from Isabella Plains to Calwell is only a short distance from RSH. Much to the children's delight, there is a playground just before the road underpass to Calwell.
We have talked to people about what interesting walks are available locally. The local Girl Guide Unit recently visited the Indigenous Axe Grinding Grooves at Theodore. The access is via Christmas Street in Theodore. A short walk along the reserve road (access through large gate) brings you to an access gap in the fence. The fence protects the grasslands on the hill. If you walk towards to large trees on the top of the rise (eastward) the grooves are easily found in several rock banks along the ground. It is a special place.
The children have several favourite walks locally - particularly in the school holidays! The walks and excellent playground at Tidbinbilla are always worth visiting. Then a short drive to Burra provides some interesting walks to "London Bridge" - a rock arch over the River there.
Apart from that there are bike paths throughout the local suburbs. The children always enjoy ending up at the Fadden Pines Reserve which has a skate area and terrific playground.
Happy walking in the holidays!
The Richardson Support House Team
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Friday, January 9, 2009
A Surprise
The Richardson Support House Team was delighted to have a visit from the Richardson Primary School Choir in the last week of school 2008. They sang Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer for us. Thank you very much indeed!
This time of year brings many celebrations: Chanukkah, Christmas, Yule, Rohatsu, and Kwanzaa. Not to mention Australian New Year celebrations... Of course, we celebrated various events with family and friends over the last couple of weeks.
Holiday celebrations can have positive and negative effects on people. Positive in the creation and maintenance of social bonds (family and community), the opportunity to 'look forward' (completely different to worry about the past or anxiety about the future). But it also brings pressures - like unrealised expectations of happy family, or accentuating loneliness, or financial pressures to provide special food / drinks / gifts.
There are some websites that offer ideas and suggestions for how to cope with holiday stress:
www.mayoclinic.com/health/stress/MH00030
www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/bhcv2/bhcarticles.nsf/pages/Holiday_stress?open
We do hope that your holiday provides much enjoyment and little stress!
Best wishes and Happy New Year from the Richardson Support House Team
This time of year brings many celebrations: Chanukkah, Christmas, Yule, Rohatsu, and Kwanzaa. Not to mention Australian New Year celebrations... Of course, we celebrated various events with family and friends over the last couple of weeks.
Holiday celebrations can have positive and negative effects on people. Positive in the creation and maintenance of social bonds (family and community), the opportunity to 'look forward' (completely different to worry about the past or anxiety about the future). But it also brings pressures - like unrealised expectations of happy family, or accentuating loneliness, or financial pressures to provide special food / drinks / gifts.
There are some websites that offer ideas and suggestions for how to cope with holiday stress:
www.mayoclinic.com/health/stress/MH00030
www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/bhcv2/bhcarticles.nsf/pages/Holiday_stress?open
We do hope that your holiday provides much enjoyment and little stress!
Best wishes and Happy New Year from the Richardson Support House Team
Volunteers
Friday the 5th of December 2008 was International Volunteers’ Day (established by the United Nations General Assembly in 1985.) So the Richardson Support House decided to hold a special celebration dinner to thank all those who volunteered this year. Since we opened in August, several people have offered assistance - people have helped us move in, worked in the yard, painted the building, did library or administration work, worked on community development, provided counselling to the community and much more. We are so very grateful for their support.
ACT Critical Incident Stress Management Information Service Inc. is staffed entirely by volunteers. They have a room at Richardson Support House for their public research library. The library has articles and books on stress, stress management, trauma and disaster recovery.
So, there are many organisations in Australia that benefit from the good will and hard work of volunteers. The Australian Bureau of Statistics survey of Voluntary Work in 2006 indicated that 5.4 million Australian adults (34% of the population) do voluntary work each year.
Many newspaper articles note that volunteering has a positive effect on stress and depression. Many general Stress Management books also recommend volunteering for this reason. For example Coping with Stress by Gwen K. Packard (Coping with Stress 1999) writes that volunteer work has many advantages. It gives volunteers a chance to think about something other than events causing them stress, it builds self esteem because they are helping the community and/or people in need, it can keep people from getting bored, they can meet new friends, or learn new things.
There are several studies that support this idea that volunteering has positive benefits for people. A survey conducted by the UK organisation Community Service Volunteers of over 600 volunteers found that 71% thought volunteering helped combat depression (CSV and Barclay’s 29 September 2004). Over half the respondents also indicated it alleviated personal stress.
Best wishes from the Richardson Support House Team.
ACT Critical Incident Stress Management Information Service Inc. is staffed entirely by volunteers. They have a room at Richardson Support House for their public research library. The library has articles and books on stress, stress management, trauma and disaster recovery.
So, there are many organisations in Australia that benefit from the good will and hard work of volunteers. The Australian Bureau of Statistics survey of Voluntary Work in 2006 indicated that 5.4 million Australian adults (34% of the population) do voluntary work each year.
Many newspaper articles note that volunteering has a positive effect on stress and depression. Many general Stress Management books also recommend volunteering for this reason. For example Coping with Stress by Gwen K. Packard (Coping with Stress 1999) writes that volunteer work has many advantages. It gives volunteers a chance to think about something other than events causing them stress, it builds self esteem because they are helping the community and/or people in need, it can keep people from getting bored, they can meet new friends, or learn new things.
There are several studies that support this idea that volunteering has positive benefits for people. A survey conducted by the UK organisation Community Service Volunteers of over 600 volunteers found that 71% thought volunteering helped combat depression (CSV and Barclay’s 29 September 2004). Over half the respondents also indicated it alleviated personal stress.
Best wishes from the Richardson Support House Team.
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