ADHD: Move Away from Medication Proposed in Review.
ADHD treatments in the news:Following the Australian Government's move away from drugs as the first treatment for ADHD sufferers New Zealand is being asked to review its own recommendations. The Christchurch Press has called for opinions from local psychologists working and researching in this area - " University of Canterbury ADHD expert Dr Julia Rucklidge said non-medical treatments for ADHD were often resource-intensive and expensive.
"It comes down to manpower – having people on the ground to offer other treatments.
"If that doesn't exist, stimulants are better than nothing, but it does show that we are not offering New Zealanders the optimal choices that are available."
Rucklidge said medication worked well in the short term but was not a cure, so once people went off it their old behaviour returned.
Bernadette Berry works extensively in this area and agrees with Julia that the combination of medication and education is the most useful approach for people with ADHD. She adds that there is no cure and that both medication and education help people to manage their behaviour and that frequently with psychosocial therapy people are able to come off medication and maintain good control of their difficulties.
Don't hesitate to contact Delta Psychology about Attention Deficit therapy, education or information.
And ...we're back!
A happy new year to one and all. Bernadette is back on deck and the phones are being answered and messages checked. Brian will be back on the 26th January but any messages left will be passed on to him before then.A Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year
Bernadette, Mike, Anne, Terry and Brian all wish you the very best for the festive season. We are all out of the office from Christmas Eve and some of us are back in the second week of January. We will, however, be checking emails and phone messages from time to time.We look forward to seeing you in the new year. Or not, as the case may be.
Cheers!
The Delta Psychology crew.
Three Lifts Working!
We hardly know ourselves... Coffee from the coffeecart below is still warm when we get back to the office, no more overloaded lifts stopping at every floor. We expect to see improved stress levels in all the tenents!Delta practitioners involved in successful local conference
Terry Ebeling and Bernadette Berry presnted workshops at the highly successful Supporting Families in Mental Illness conference in Otago, entitled Supporting the Journey. Bernadette gave a training workshop to SF mental health support workers in a programme she developed for SF called Children Understanding Mental Illness (CUMI). This is a programme aimed at primary school children who have a family member with a serious mental illness and deals with issues of stigma, blame, acceptance and more. The training was very well received.Terry runs a Men's Group at SF Otago and gave a workshop about physical and emotional relationships with a partner with a serious mental illness. The workshop was tagged "R18" and was fully subscribed with much robust discussion around these often unaddressed issues.
New lifts commissioned: 2 out of 3 ain't bad.
Regular visitors to John Wickliffe House will have noticed the ongoing upgrades to to the lifts. There are two newly commissioned lifts with the third expected to go into service quite soon. Waiting times are reduced, they are speedy and predictable and don't get confused like the old ones!See you on the 6th Floor!
Fire Drill disruption.
Our apologies to clients who were affected by the imposition of a fire drill in the middle of their session. Usually we get some forward notice of these, due to the sensitive nature of our business, however on this occasion the building managers felt it was not in the interests of the exercise to do so. Discussions are continuing.Delta welcomes new associate, psychologist Anne Dawson.
Anne is a registered psychologist who uses an integrative approach, working collaboratively with clients to best make sense of their current difficulties. She draws on different models of therapy but particularly from her training in Cognitive Behavioural and Narrative approaches to enable clients to miek the changes they need to achieve their goals.Like all Delta's psychgologists, Anne utilizes research-based therapies for clients to develop greater self-awareness, learn new skills and make the changes they're after.
Anne has extensive experience in coaching and career consulting making her an ideal choice for Delta's Employment Assistance Programmes, to coach and mentor clients in effective action to create new possibilities for now and in the future.
Anne also offers after hours consultations for those for whom time off work is a problem.