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Crossroads Conference
The 'Crossroads Conference' celebrating 3 successful years for COMIC
was held on Tuesday 18th February, 2003.
Abstracts of presentations are now available on-line and in some cases
the full presentation can be downloaded.
Abstracts and Presentations
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Comic launch Supporting Our Family Kit
Pictured at the launch: Phillip Robinson, Paola and Nerrelle
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Kids pay a high price for their invisibility
Until now, children of parents who experience a mental illness have been invisible to
service providers. It can be very confusing for a child who grows up in a household where
things may be not quite right.
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Some children may feel guilty, over burdened, or isolated. Children may be trying to come
to terms with feeling ashamed because of poor community understanding about mental illness.
Children may need to deal with grief and loss, with their own lost potential or the loss of
the relationship with a parent. For many children, a mentally ill parent is an absent parent.
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Issues commonly identified, include lack of trust, relationship difficulties, high carer
stress, and the development of patterns of avoidance or over involvement in family members.
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COMIC (Children of Mentally Ill Consumers/parents) has developed a Supporting Our Family
Kit which was officially launched at the Botanical Gardens on Wednesday 10 July 2002 by
Mr. Phillip Robinson - Chief, Division of Child and Adolescent Mental Health.
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This excellent Kit is available for download from this web site.
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The aim of the Kit is to heighten awareness for childrens issues and to de-stigmatise
mental illness within the community. It hopes to encourage parents to ask for help and
discuss their illness with their children.
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When childhood issues are not dealt with they are often carried into adulthood where they
potentially impact on relationship development and the ability to find peace and
satisfaction as an adult.
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COMIC aims to start the healing process because no-one can heal in isolation.
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