Hornsby Counselling office re-opening 5th March, 2018

Our New Home in the historic Forbes Footware building!

After a very long Xmas break I am happy to be opening our new office on the upper north shore at Hornsby.  We are still connected to our services and clients on the Northern Beaches but the time to work closer to home has come and we are looking forward to working with all the wonderful services in the Hornsby Kuringai area and meeting many new clients on their path to recovery.
Counselling in the Alcohol & Drug area is often seen as a hard path to take professionally but I can honestly say, although challenging, I love each and every working day.  Watching our clients work from all levels of difficulty striving to reclaim their life and health is nothing short of inspiring. Give us a call on 02 94890250 if you are needing help.
Warmly to all, Aly.

"Australias getting a Real Time Prescription Monitoring system... no, really, we are...." WHEN???? - PEOPLE ARE DYING HERE

The Hon. Greg Hunt MP Minister for Health Minister for Sport MEDIA RELEASE 28 July 2017

National Approach To Prescription Drug Misuse

Friday, 28 July 2017

The Turnbull Government will invest over $16 million to deliver the national roll-out of real time prescription monitoring for medicines to directly address the needless loss of life from misuse of these drugs. 

The Real Time Prescription Monitoring system will provide an instant alert to pharmacists and doctors if patients received multiple supplies of prescription-only medicines. 

This system will save lives and protect the community. This is something of absolute national importance. 

Real time monitoring has been called for by the Australian Medical Association, Pharmacy Guild and by many families across the country who have been devastated by the loss of a loved one to misuse of prescription medicine. 

We have listened to these calls and today we are taking action. 

With this injection of funding – and close collaboration with states and territories – we have the means to provide a nationally consistent, mandated system for real time monitoring of controlled drugs. 

I look forward to continuing our work with all states and territories to make this national approach a reality. 

This issue of misuse of prescription medicine is a growing trend in our community, and although it is not the only response required, it is a very important step. 

Real time reporting will assist doctors and pharmacists to identify patients who are at risk of harm due to dependency, misuse or abuse of controlled medicines, and patients who are diverting these medicines. 

This can happen if a patient has developed a dependency on controlled medicines, or is selling these medicines to others, including for the purposes of manufacturing other illegal drugs. 

Controlled medicines include morphine, oxycodone, dexamphetamine and alprazolam.

The Australian Government first funded the development of the Electronic Reporting and Recording of Controlled Drugs system to assist state and territory governments to improve their monitoring and regulation of controlled medicines in 2013. 

This project was initiated with $5 million allocated under the Fifth Community Pharmacy Agreement (2010-15).

It is an important public health and medicine safety measure, providing regulators, doctors and pharmacists with information regarding supply of controlled medicines and other medicines with potential for misuse.

(ENDS)

Dealing with shame when you can't seem to quit

        Alcohol and drugs take the edge off.  There's no doubt about that but when your need to block out the negatives in your life start to put you in the danger zone with your consumption you soon realize that quitting is just not that easy. The obsessions and compulsions that drive this lack of control travel on a continuum that can be seen  as a journey from light use to addiction - no one starts off with a drinking/drug/technology problem it just develops; sometimes frighteningly fast and sometimes over a lifetime.  The end result is the same and the feelings of powerlessness and shame often rise as a result.
     
The habit of judging our weakness is enough to send us straight to the bottle - shame is a great driver of substance abuse.  Know that your brain undergoes significant changes when you have dependence or addictions in areas that control both drive and executive thinking so the voice that will normally get you to put the breaks on is on a "break" while the part of your brain that drives things such as emotion, hunger and fear is supercharged.  You can get things back to normal but it needs time without psychoactive drugs and behaviours to achieve this.
         Finding your most powerful motivations will start your neuro-detox - could be your children or it could be your sport!  Find someone to guide you through the process of gaining control through this time because it really is so very hard just to get a start.  I know because I've see people do this journey every week for nearly 20 years.  Doing it alone is even harder and doing it without a plan is almost impossible.
        Always remember every attempt is not a failure - just use it as a learning opportunity so you can see what triggered you to use/drink today and find a solution for tomorrow.    
 

As you take those first steps, let the shame go and feel the power return!

                                     Aly Birmingham Geats 

A WOMANS STORY IS NOT HER EXCUSE

             Hearing it is an opportunity 
             for insight and compassion.

Addiction is not a matter of morals.
It is not a matter of weakness.
Addiction is not a choice, recovery is a choice but it is rarely achievable without help.
A woman does not decide to become an addict.
A woman has a right to make bad decisions without being judged and shamed.
We all need support when things go wrong.

When things go wrong for a child
and theres no one there to show the way
how can they create a good life?
How do they grow up and know how to be safe?
They just try their best.

counsellingnorthside.com.au
sydneyrecoverysupport.com.au
familytree.org.au

       Acceptance not Judgement