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We were recently successful in gaining significant
funding from the Department of Internal Affairs to develop our website to make
it friendlier, accessible and up-to-date for all that use it. The Creating HOPE
Project (Health through Online Peer support and Education) will commence in
September 2006 and run through to February 2008.
People with bipolar disorder or depression are
more at risk of not maintaining the positive social networks that are essential
for health and wellbeing. Peer support is an intentional form of social support
that may help tangata whai ora with psychiatric symptoms as well as assisting their
whanau and communities both to develop new perspectives and to access
information and specific training. Our website project seeks to create an
online community for those affected by bipolar disorder or depression, either individuals
or families, so that they can readily access peer support.
The four key project outcomes:
Support group
facilitators, staff and members will become confident in using modern web
technology to update their own regional and group websites.
People who experience
mood disorder and their supporters will have access to evidence-based
information on treatment options, management, and recent findings from
international and New Zealand-based research.
Regional entities and individual members will be able to meet and exchange information and ideas in a cost-effective way.
The website will have a professional, attractively-designed interface that is easy for people to navigate and find the information they require, and easy for content to be managed and updated long-term.
The project officially commenced on 1 September 2006. Two project managers have been
appointed, one based in Christchurch and one in Wanganui.
A training session for the pilot
regional representatives (Wanganui, Wellington, Christchurch) was held in Christchurch in September. A second training
session on website development was held during the national training days in
Wanganui.
Selected work completed to date:
A set of new logos has been
developed for use on both Balance NZ site and regional sites
- Regional network site template has
been developed for Wanganui, Wellington and Auckland and can be adapted for other
groups
- A Dunedin website is under development
- Major content will be added to
site from Living Well with Bipolar
Disorder and other resources such as the Helping Each Other Booklet
- Two summer students (one
medical student with a psychology degree and one postgraduate trainee
clinical psychologist have been appointed to work on related research
projects that will provide additional content for the site and help
further in the development of a service evaluation strategy and
questionnaire.
Let us know what you would like to find on our website. Feedback on the
logos and how easy or confusing things are to find is welcome. Your views matter and help us improve the website for others!
Email us with your ideas at
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