Relationships Australia Blog
The mental health of my child – is there an app for that?
By Brad Morgan17 July 2019All families face challenges that can impact the social and emotional wellbeing of their children.Particularly during times of family conflict or relationship breakdowns, a lot of parents worry about how their children are coping mentally and...
70 years strong
By Dr Andrew Bickerdike3 July, 2019In 2018, Relationships Australia Victoria (RAV) celebrated our 70th anniversary – an important milestone in our organisation’s history.RAV first began in 1948 as a modest but aspirational organisation called the Marriage Guidance...
World Elder Abuse Awareness Day 2019
By Paula Mance12 June, 2019In 2017-18 more than 10,900 calls were made to elder abuse hotlines across Australia according to new statistics released by the Australian Institute of Health and WelfareA large percentage of elder abuse cases go unreported, due to the...
Infant Mental Health Awareness Week
By Deborah Lockwood5 June, 2019This Infant Mental Health week will see the launch of new free web-based resources Let’s Talk about Conflict written by Jennifer E. McIntosh and Craig Olsson from the Centre for Social and Early Emotional Development (SEED), Deakin...
Do you want to contribute to our blog?
The RA Blog is a platform for invited guests can share their thoughts, knowledge, research and views, where they can engage with each other, and influence debateThe blogs aims to encourage vibrant discussions about the important issues affecting family relationships...
National Sorry Day
By Mel Ruthen29 May 2019National Sorry Day is held on 26 May each year to remember and commemorate the mistreatment of the country’s Aboriginal People. The date carries great significance for the Stolen Generations.As part of Relationships Australia South...
Rebuilding from the inside out: Supporting children through a community trauma event
by Nicola Palfrey22 May 2019Community trauma eventsA community trauma event is defined as an event that has a significant impact on a community’s way of life, their sense of safety and their functioning. Far from impacting only those who have directly experienced loss...
And that was Neighbour Day 2019
By Sam Robinson, Neighbour Day Campaign Manager It was a huge year for Neighbour Day in 2019, with communities from all corners of Australia participating in variety of neighbourly events, from garage sales to street libraries to barbeques, parties, and even street...
What Neighbours Can Do to Create Connections
By Nick Tebbey, National Executive Officer Relationships Australia Neighbour Day is finally upon us, and I am excited to see how it has been embraced around the country as many Australians, from a variety of backgrounds, join in the Loneliness Challenge. This year’s...
The importance of neighbours in emergencies
By Jamie Devenish, Manager of Emergency Management Planning at the Victorian SES In 2018, members of three emergency management agencies: Victoria State Emergency Service (VICSES), Country Fire Authority (CFA) and Red Cross, attended an inspiring presentation in...
A different kind of happy hour
By Gina Olivieri I recently got interested in positive psychology. What’s that? Think of it as the study of the stuff you can do to be happier, the stuff that makes life better, rather than mainstream psychology which focuses on defining and fixing mental illness....
Stories
New website dedicated to supporting dads Men, particularly fathers, often don’t use existing support services or have access to resources that are designed specifically to meet their circumstances and needs. Recognising this, as part of its Support for Fathers...
How to host a Neighbour Day event
By Sam Robinson, Neighbour Day Campaign Manager Every year, hundreds of communities throughout Australia host Neighbour Day events – from large events hosted by many enthusiastic local councils, to small backyard gatherings with a few neighbours keen to connect with...
Challenging Loneliness
By Nick Tebbey, National Executive Officer Relationships Australia Today Neighbour Day is issuing a Loneliness Challenge to all Australians. We are asking everyone to help end loneliness in their neighbourhood by committing to create a connection with someone in...
Connecting neighbours, one hobby at a time
By Gina Olivieri What do meditation, gardening, picking up rubbish, craft, reducing food waste, dancing, reading, writing, and happiness all have in common? No idea? They are all hobbies you can pursue within walking distance and at no cost in my neighbourhood! No, I...
Relationships Australia calls for increased resourcing for family services
By Nick Tebbey20 February 2019For this year’s Budget, Relationships Australia has called for increased funding of services currently provided to vulnerable Australians, and reinstatement of a discontinued service. For the 2019 budget, our submission takes a very...
Finding companionship in volunteering
By Sonia Oke, Conservation Volunteers Australia and New Zealand15 February, 2019Every year, tens of thousands of people volunteer across Australia to help to conserve special places.If you asked someone what they think Conservation Volunteers Australia (CVA) is about,...
Finding companionship in volunteering
By Sonia Oke, Conservation Volunteers Australia and New Zealand Every year, tens of thousands of people volunteer across Australia to help to conserve special places. If you asked someone what they think Conservation Volunteers Australia (CVA) is about, they’d...
Pedaling our way to a more connected neighbourhood
By Gina Olivieri Organising a Neighbour Day event is as easy as riding a bike! Or at least, it would have been, had the weather forecast not threatened to destroy our event with storms, gale-force winds and rain. “I think we should cancel”, I said. “Let’s make the...
Neighbour Day 2019 – Tell Us Your Story
By Sam Robinson, Neighbour Day Campaign Manager One of the things we look forward to most in the Neighbour Day office each year is when we hear from you – when you send in your stories about small kindnesses, great gestures of neighbourly spirit, hilarious tales and...
Neighbour Day 2019 – Loneliness – what neighbours can do to create connections
By Sam Robinson, Neighbour Day Campaign Manager30 January, 2019 The Beatles asked many years ago, “All the lonely people where do they all come from?” We probably thought then and even now, that loneliness was something that other people suffered from.Not me...
Sharing our dinner tables this Christmas
By Penny Elsley12 December, 2018My strongest childhood memories of Christmas time are of steaming hot weather, pavlovas and pelican itch (lice bites from diving off paddle boats into the local lake with my cousins). Despite the discomfort of the heat and itch there...
Good Choices
by (Rev) Karen Paull5 December 2018‘And the winner of most items in their handbag is…Karen!’ My embarrassing ‘win’ was many years ago now, but was symptomatic of a tendency to be over-prepared. Although my handbag is lighter these days, unnecessary details and...
Loneliness is a health issue – how do we ensure programs to tackle it are successful?
By Dr Michelle H Lim 28 November, 2018 The Australian Government has announced in its budget $46 million towards the community visitors scheme which is designed to reduce loneliness in older adults. Recently, Tracey Crouch was appointed the United Kingdom’s first...