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I want to focus on some Australian web sites this week that are quite interesting. They have approached the treatment and support of people with schizophrenia a little differently than the rest of the world. Their most impressive program is their national first psychotic episode program. The Australians are leading world research on minimizing the destructiveness of schizophrenia through secondary prevention, by focusing on early treatment and support of people at the beginning of their illness. Reading Australian sites you realize they are much more familiar than other sites with things like prodromal symptoms, an indication of their focus on first psychotic episodes. There are two Australian first episode program sites :
EPPIC http://home.vicnet.net.au/~eppic/ and NEPP (National Early Psychosis Project) http://ariel.ucs.unimelb.EDU.AU:80/~nepp/ The EPPIC site is not a splashy monument to html code, but there is a wealth of information on all aspects of their national first psychotic episode program. The Australians have produced numerous videos, booklets and manuals on the recognition and early treatment of first psychotic episodes. They are continuing to do a lot of research as well. The EPPIC site has back issues of their newsletter, "Early Psychosis News", online. The NEPP site is undergoing renovation and may be difficult to navigate at the moment. It was an interesting site in it's own right and will almost certainly continue to be so after the renovation. I think first psychotic episode programs are the future of treatment for schizophrenia and the Australians are ahead of most of the rest of the world with their national first episode program. The EPPIC site has information on a Graduate Diploma in Young Peoples Mental Health offered by the University of Melbourne. You would be hard pressed to find a similar diploma anywhere else in the world. Another interesting Australian site is the Schizophrenia Fellowship of NSW:
As you read through this succinct and locally focussed site you begin to realize that there is a partnership driving this site and mental health policy in Australia. It is a partnership that led to the formation of the Schizophrenia Fellowship fifteen years ago; a partnership with equal representation by consumers, family members and professionals. On one page you can read how consumers and family members were involved in writing clinical practice guidelines for people with schizophrenia, something unheard of in the rest of the world. The Fellowship is also involved in public education, the reduction of stigma and quality of life issues for people with schizophrenia, living in the community. Such a partnership is very rare in North America and all too often schizophrenia has lead to intense conflict between different interest groups, the end result being very negative for anyone touched by schizophrenia. Another quintessentially Australian site is SANE Australia: Go To Page: 1 2
The copyright of the article Sites From Down Under in Schizophrenia is owned by . Permission to republish Sites From Down Under in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
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