Hello There!

[Hobbit]

Hello everyone,

My name is David and I am from Mental Health Carers ARAFMI NSW Inc

Just thought I would seend a quick note to introduce myself and say hi!

[CherryBomb]

Welcome to the Forums, David! For those of us who might not know what ARAFMI is, it's an organisation that provides support to people who care for others affected by mental illness. So it might be a useful resource to check out. Looking forward to your contributions too, David. 

[Harry]

Hi David

A big welcome back at you!

Harry

[Hobbit]

And I thought it would be prudent to introduce Mental Health Carers ARAFMI NSW Inc. 

ARAFMI NSW is a community organisation of families’ carers and friends of people living with a mental illness which encourages an active membership from among all of the diverse communities of NSW, which is informed by their experiences and provides support, education and advocacy in order to help them effectively fulfil their caring role.

Our Carer Helpline provides trained telephone operators who listen to carers needs and offers support and referrals to the relevant service providers to meet those needs. We are also able to record problems or issues encountered by mental health carers and the people with experience of mental illness they support. These issues are the reported to the NSW Mental Health Commission in order to help improve the quality of those services and their relevance to carer needs.

Freecall - 1800 655 198 call or (02) 9332 0700

http://www.arafmi.org/

[CherryBomb]

Thanks for the information, David! It sounds like a wonderful service for carers. I just found out about another service ARAFMI provides. I believe it's quite new? It's website for carers to tell their stories. Sounds great! 

http://www.arafmiaustralia.asn.au/news--publications-blog/new-national-voice-for-mental-health-carer...

[Daffodil]

Hello there Hobbit, I'm new to this forum & thank you for your information, I have never heard of this organisation but would like to know more.  It's great to know that there is help out there people just need to be able to know where it is to find it.

I'm currently just completing a Diploma in Counselling & would like to continue helping in which ever way I can & this is a great forum that I would be able to give my knowledge base input but at the same time do not want to jeopardise some ones life because of my lack of experience.

I am one of the lucky ones, which has not been affected by mental health, but know of people who would benefit from talking as well as listening.

I hope I'm able to make a contrabution to this forum.

[Hobbit]

Hi there Daffodil,

My name is Hobbit, and I am a moderator on the SANE Forums.

I'd like to say a big welcome to the forums, and I am sure you will find some of the conversations in here very enjoyable. There are a lot of very positive discussions and we feel it is a very supportive environment for both people with lived experience of mental illness and their carers.

I hope you're enjoying your study. I note you are completing a Diploma of Counselling and that is fantastic. I just need to make a point that this forum is not counselling service. It's a peer support community, where people who are experiencing similar experiences can support, listen and encourage each other.

In other words, you are certainly most welcome to view the discussions of others in the forum, and join in conversations, I am sure others will welcome you too, please just bear in mind that the SANE Forums is not promoted as a counselling service.

Hobbit.

[Daffodil]

Thank you for that Hobbit, I'm sure I will just benefit from reading all the posts & gain knowledge.

🙂

[Hobbit]

Absolutely Daffodil!!

If you have a look around the forums, you will see many different topics of conversation, and please feel free to go through and enjoy yourself. There are many discussion that are full of hope and I'm sure other forum members will welcome you warmly!

Also, we also have a Lived Experience forum you might want to have a look at too.

Hobbit.