Helping Men Help Themselves
The Men's Information and Support Centre offers support and services specifically designed to meet men's needs.
MISC provides information, help and support for:
• Men that are in crisis
• Men that want help from other men
MISC provides:
• A telephone helpline for men and others
• A place where men can meet to confront personal issues
• Self-development courses
• Personal counselling
• Encouragement for men to make a change within themselves and society
MISC will:
• Network and work with other men's groups and with other organizations
for the betterment of men's health and well being
• Promote support groups and social activities for men within its aims
MISC is:
• Non-judgemental of gender, sexuality and ethnicity
• Confidential and independent of political and religious affiliations
• Active in seeking to stop discrimination against men and others in the
community
We care - just ask!
Services provided
• Anger management courses
• Stopping gambling courses
• Counselling for all issues affecting
men's health and well being. The counselling service supports anyone
who wishes to seek help with child abuse, especially sexual abuse and
psychological abuse, relationship breakdown, anger management and therapy,
loss and grief, depression, self-esteem issues, isolation and crisis
support. You can find out more about counselling here or
download a PDF brochure
here.
• Referral Service for legal, health, veterans, community, and other social
services (such as accommodation, family court matters, relationship problems
and gambling)
• The MISC Journal, related to men's issues and needs
Brief History
In 1982, the Men's Information and Support Centre was established by
a group of men with similar issues that affected their personal lives.
Over the years we have developed into an organization that provides counselling
and support, as well as information and referral services, for all men
in the community.
We provide positive support to men to enable them to
meet life changes that may be impacting on their quality of life and
self-esteem.
MISC is a non-profit organization run by volunteers, and
supported by state government funding through the Department of Human
Services.
The services we provide are dependent on the available funding
and, in order to increase the services we can provide, MISC actively
seeks funding from a range of different sources.
Since its inception MISC
has successfully provided group courses in anger
management and counselling for individuals. We have also provided referrals to service providers
for men in need of help with issues such as accommodation, family court
and other legal matters, relationship problems, gambling and so on.
We
are currently working on expanding the services we provide to include
"The MISC Journal", and courses to deal with problem gambling.
Please
contact us or drop by if we can help you.
Man Alive! 2006 - Men's Health & Wellbeing Festival
Man Alive! 2006 is a FREE men’s health and well-being festival
for everyone that includes:
- Multicultural food
- Live music & entertainment (MC: Graeme Goodings)
- Fun activities including Rock Wall Climbing, Face Painting, Drumming
Workshops, Life Be In It Activities, The Fling-a-Thong Championship,
Giant Puppets, Larger Than Life Creations and Art Exhibitions
- Community Groups and Services for Men
Sunday 19th March, 10am - 4pm
Semaphore Foreshore Reserve
The Esplanade, Semaphore, South Australia
Check out their website at manalivefestival.com for more details!
International Men's Health Week, 13 to 19 June 2005
June 13th to 19th is International Men’s Health Week (IMHW). Celebrating IMHW is one of the best ways of recognising and celebrating the resourcefulness, determination, wisdom and courage of Australian men in their efforts to build healthy environments, often in the face of significant adversity, disadvantage and neglect. It is also a time to raise community awareness about the still poor state of men’s health and wellbeing in Australia today.
There are many factors impacting on the physical, social, emotional and spiritual health of all Australian men and boys - the changing social and economic roles and loss of identity; changing notions of men’s roles in society and families; relationship breakdown; racism; homophobia; negative attitudes towards disability; a propensity to specific life threatening diseases and injury; mental health issues including depression, anxiety and suicide; unemployment, low wages, working patterns and hours, fathering and the issues of separated fathers; as well as services which are lacking in responsiveness to men’s health needs.
In Australia and in several other countries, men and boys experience significantly higher rates of addiction, violence, crime, accident and premature death in comparison to their female counterparts. As well, men show significantly higher rates of death from cancer, heart disease, homicide and suicide.
We hope that IMHW will stimulate a new level of interest in the area of men’s health and encourage the development of more male responsive services. We also hope that it will encourage increasing numbers of men and boys to value their health and wellbeing as an important first step to them developing more effective ways of taking care of themselves.
To celebrate IMHW in South Australia, the Men's Information and Support Centre (MISC) is holding a men's health stall in Rundle Mall, Adelaide, between 11am and 2pm on Tuesday 14th through Friday 17th June. The stall has the support and participation of MISC, Men's Psychology Services, Relationships Australia, Royal Adelaide Hospital, Lone Fathers Association, Ex-Military Rehabilitation Centre, Heart Foundation, Adelaide Central Community Health Service Enfield and the ACE Division of General Practice.
The stall will feature:
- A variety of large colourful posters with male-positive, fatherhood, and men's health messages, some with indigenous themes
- A wide range of men's health literature, postcards, pamphlets, etc
- A GP onsite between 12pm and 1pm to give free blood pressure checks and general medical and health advice
- Healthy free hot soup giveaways and recorded music
- A display playing men's health themed DVDs
- A computer to access men's health websites
- Trained staff from supporting organisations available to answer questions from the public and take expressions of interest for future men's health courses to be run by MISC (anger management, parenting, communication, exploring masculinity, etc)
In addition to the stall, MISC is organising:
- Interviews on Adelaide radio about International Men's Health Week
- Distribution of 5 men's health drink coaster designs to pubs and clubs around Adelaide. The following pubs and clubs are to be congratulated for spreading the message that men's health matters: Raglan Backpackers, Flagstaff Hotel, Hampshire Hotel, Metropolitan Hotel, Talbot Hotel, Prince Albert Hotel, BTZ Hotel, Crown & Sceptre Hotel, Police Association Club, Saracens Head, Aberdeen Hotel, Wakefield Hotel and the Griffins Head Hotel.
The aims and objectives of the IMHW events are to:
- raise public awareness of the unique health concerns of men and boys in Australia, as well as the very real health disparities
- provide specific men’s health information to the general public
- promote the services of men’s health providers in Adelaide
- network with other men’s health providers in Adelaide
- encourage increasing numbers of men and boys to value their health and wellbeing
- promote men’s awareness of wider lifestyle issues (including relationships, working life, body image, parenting concerns, emotional and spiritual issues) that can have an impact on their health
- acknowledge and celebrate the contribution of men and boys in all their diversity to Australian society
- acknowledge the contribution of organisations that work with men and boys
For any more information, please call 0404 604
426 or email us.
Photos from the Rundle Mall Men's Health Stall can be viewed here.
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Torrens Building 220 Victoria Square Adelaide SA 5000 |
