Dear Everyone,

 

Friday morning DGN Ken, Martin and I attended the District “Mental Health and You - Covid Recovery Forum”. It was a pity that it wasn’t better attended as the speakers were very polished, but Ken will be sending the recording to all D9810 Rotarians to view. The Commissioner for Senior Victorians and Ambassador for Elder Abuse Prevention, Gerard Mansour spoke about “Ageing Well in a Changing World.” He listed 8 attributes of ageing well  and focused on having a positive attitude and that your life needs to have purpose and meaning. As we age we can do lots of innovative things, or conversely, the journey of getting older can be one of disconnection. Regarding life continuing to have purpose and meaning, we need to avoid becoming staid in our thinking. This is where Rotary can assist and be able to answer the questions, “What is this organisation called Rotary?” and “What can I gain from joining?” A common problem when ageing is that people know they have a need but delay seeking help. And they delay seeking help out of fear they will lose their independence, a critical factor in ageing well. But the opposite is true; taking action will help to maintain independence, not lose it. Gerard observed that the aspiration of ageing well ties in with the values of Rotary.

 

Sameera Abdeen, the Community Inclusion Project Manager at Yarra Valley Water, is a member of their Watercare Support Team. They have developed a family violence policy including elder abuse. The team works to reduce the impacts of COVID 19 on their customers, and so far, 20,000 customers have been supported. Their initial contact with people who, for the first time had not paid their bill led to further support, such as financial counselling. Sameera said that other service providers will have similar services, and it was good to learn that these utilities are very responsible corporate citizens.

 

Dave Burt is the Founder and CEO of SALT - Sport and Life Training, which  has existed for five and a half years now. When he was a teacher and sports’ coach, he observed terrific characteristics on display on the sporting field, such as courage, protecting one another, respect and a work ethic, but which were lacking in other aspects of the players’ lives; for example, they were rude to their parents and teachers, binge drank, used sexual language when discussing girls etc. Dave felt unhappy about this, and felt the need to act to enable the players to match their on-field behaviour with their off-field conduct. In 18 months, Dave visited seven clubs because of suicide, and the comment was always made, “We never saw it coming”. There is a common belief that men won’t talk. Dave had to ask fairly invasive, awkward questions, so he also asked, “Do you think this is a rude question?”, and the answer was, “No.” So men actually will talk if you create an environment of trust, and they shared intimate truths of how they were going.

SALT have 12 courses and “Re-Connect” and “Re-Emerge” are COVID-related. Another course called “Empowered/Becoming a Woman of Influence has been used with girl gymnasts.

Dave said SALT’s points of difference are:

Dave loves working with like-minded people such as Rotarians, and it is patently clear that SALT has so much to offer for our Cluster’s project, the prevention of youth suicide.

 

Rob Glas, a counsellor from Eastern Health, also gave an excellent presentation on how to recognise changes in wellbeing, the RUOK model, the types of help available - there are lots, the nature of counselling, and the most important relationship, which is the one with yourself. What are the monologues you have with yourself?

For more, wait for the recording of the seminar that Ken will be sending you.

 

Are you gearing up for our inaugural Trash 2 Treasure Up-Cycle Re-Cycle Market in a week’s time? I came across this quote from the Michael McQueen Webinar I attended in July: Paul Harris said, “[Rotary] must be evolutionary always and at times revolutionary”. We are evolving by having this market, and by working together as a team which is what we always do, we will make it a great success. We need to wear our Rotary shirts and caps and get talking to the patrons coming through the gates of the Emerald Primary School Oval.

Allow me to pass on some ideas from the Jessie Harman article entitled “Membership and marketing: Two sides of the same coin”, in the RI Zone 8 Public Image Newsletter Nov. 2020, that I received in my inbox today. Like other services, promoting Rotary comes with inherent challenges, but here are some tips:

Apart from sourcing funds to raise public awareness, the Market is an opportunity to find like-minded people who share our values and goals. It may take a few months before we attract one or more new members, but we can begin by having some friendly conversations (and be quietly confident).

 

** on 1^st December, our guest speaker is Hita Mistry, Principal Clinical and Forensic Psychologist, Emerald Psychology Practice. You can read an article Hita wrote for Emerald Messenger’s October edition titled “Positive Thinking Power” in the Wellbeing section. It will be very interesting to hear about the work Hita does in the field of psychological assessment and treatment for people of all ages.

 

Our “Know Your Rotarian” is the inimitable Don Borg.

 

The following week:

** on 8th December, the Guest Speaker is a great friend of the Club, President of U3A Pat Buoncristiani, speaking on U3A. When you turn 55, you can enrol and there are over 40 classes offered.

 

We can also look forward to a “Know Your Rotarian” segment too.

 

Let’s be grateful for all our blessings, stay safe - and stay Rotary Proud.

 

Yours in Rotary,

Vicki.