Author Bios
Jonathan Harms
‘Capacity’ is the ability to understand the nature, purpose and consequence of any act or transaction which one enters into. Having sufficient ‘capacity’ is necessary for a person to be able to make almost any legally binding decision, such as entering a contract, giving informed consent to medical treatment or authorising access to confidential medical information. Yet capacity can be seriously affected by mental illness. Learn more about how this issue is handled in the context of mental health treatment.
NSW Health and Local Heath Districts have adopted the ‘NSW Health Smoke Free Workplace Policy’ aiming to create environments for all visitors, patients and staff free of smoking and Environmental Tobacco Smoke at all hospital campuses and sites controlled or funded by NSW Health. ARAFMI is conducting an on-line survey to gauge the impact of the smoking ban on mental health consumers and carers. Take it now and share you experiences.
Hunter Institute of Mental Health (HIMH) in partnership with beyondblue: the national depression initiative, are completing a series of papers exploring the experiences of those who care for someone with depression.
The new Mental Health Act introduced in 2007 for the first time explicitly recognised the role of carers in mental health care by the creation of a special carer role which it describes as that of ‘primary carer’.
