October 2022
Quote
“You don’t have to be rich to leave a positive legacy; you don’t have to be intelligent, famous, powerful or even particularly well organised, let alone happy. You need only to treat people with kindness, compassion and respect, knowing they will have been enriched by their encounters with you.”
Useful Fact
Return Unwanted Medicines (or the RUM Project) provides consumers with a free and convenient way to dispose of expired and unwanted medicines. Anyone can return their household medicines to any community pharmacy anytime, for safe collection and disposal.
Return Unwanted Medicines is a national not-for-profit company funded by the Commonwealth Government through the Department of Health to address the Quality Use of Medicines (QUM) in Australia. The returned medicines are disposed of by high-temperature incineration, which is in accordance with regulatory and EPA requirements.
Storage of expired and unwanted medicines in the home can be harmful – especially to small children. Elderly people may become confused with too many medicines in the home and this can lead to “medication mismanagement”, often requiring hospital care.
Interesting Website
Are you in a toxic friendship? All friendships have their ups and downs, but they should never leave you feeling bad about yourself. Take the quiz and find out. At the end of the quiz Reachout will give you tips on how to maintain positive friendships or deal with unhealthy or toxic friendships. ReachOut is the most accessed online mental health service for young people and their parents in Australia.
Campaign
Family Planning NSW runs the Freedom Condom project, which distributes free condoms, water-based lubricant and sexual health information to under-30s across the state. Thanks to funding from NSW Health, Family Planning NSW distributes tens of thousands of condoms to young people who want access to free sexual health resources and information. Freedom Condom is a friendly, confidential way for young people to access free condoms, lube and sexual health information. Check to see if your area is eligible to receive condoms by post or find your nearest Freedom condom service where you can pick some up.
Key Event
Six years ago, with a group of community volunteers, Jenny Briscoe-Hough founded Tender Funerals, a not-for-profit funeral service in Port Kembla.
Tender has a mission to provide personalised and affordable funerals, and to demystify the funeral process and put it back in the hands of the grieving.
Filmed over 10 months, this episode follows the experiences of people who used Tender to look after their deceased loved one, providing an extraordinarily intimate view of a process we rarely get to see.
Who are
The Babes Project works with women facing crisis and challenging pregnancies. Our proven perinatal program is delivered by trained and experienced volunteers.
Every woman needs support, knowledge and an understanding ally to thrive in her motherhood.
The Babes Project empowers new mamas to face the fears, tears and challenges, through pregnancy and the first crucial year of baby’s life.
Out & About
It’s Not A Compliment grew out of a simple idea – making the everyday better for vulnerable communities. What started as a brainstorming session for a fellowship task soon turned into something more personal when INAC’s co-founders, Aakanksha and Annelise, realised how common street harassment was for many in their circles. Regardless of their gender, sexuality, or racial identity – anyone that could in some way be coded as ‘other’ had a story to share about a time a stranger had made them feel uncomfortable or unsafe in a public space. What originally felt like a small, easily dismissible personal experience suddenly turned into something bigger – a flood of stories that could attest to a culture that was unfairly designating who had a right to exist freely in our streets. And they were determined to share them.
Resource
Safe & Sound is ACONs brand new sexual health podcast.
In this series we discuss the current status of HIV in regional NSW through the lens of Testing, Treatment and Prevention.
Tune in here to listen to some awesome experts and community members talk to us about how to navigate safe sex in 2022.
Diary Dates
19th October – On the Couch with Kirli Saunders
There are also free modules like Doin it Right, Nitty Gritty & Because You Care that you can sign up for and complete for free in your own time.
