Invercargill Mental Health Open Forum

Monday 22 September 2007

Invercargill Mental Health Open Forum

Anyone living, working or doing both in Invercargill is invited to attend an Open Forum to discuss mental health issues on Friday, 28 September. The Forum runs from 10am-12.30pm at The Elmwood on Dee Street, and will include guest speakers, presentations and an Open Forum discussion on local mental health topics.

The Forum is being run by the Southland Mental Health Network called Future Directions. “The Network’s role is to share information, coordinate resources and activities, and collaborate on projects”, said Richard Harris, Network Coordinator - Mental Health. “The Network has been up and running for almost two years now and it represents a wide range of groups in the sector including service users, families, service providers, stakeholder groups and the SDHB”.

The theme of the Open Forum is ‘Mental Health and Community Based Providers’ and there will be opportunities during the Forum for people to discuss any other issues that they would like to raise. An update will be given by the Southland Mental Health Network and there will be presentations from several community based mental health providers.

“This is the third Open Forum we have held this year, previously they have been run in Queenstown and Gore and we will run a similar programme of events next year. They give us the opportunity to update local communities on what’s going on in the Mental Health Sector and give locals the opportunity to provide us with feedback on local services and issues”.

If anyone would like more information on the Forum, and to RSVP you can contact Richard Harris, 0800 443 366, email richardharris[at]sdhb.govt.nz

ENDS

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