Ride for Youth 2009

March 3, 2009
by Rodney Olsen
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YouthFocus.gifYouth suicide, depression and self harm are very real problems in our society but we don’t often hear the shocking statistics. Thankfully, Youth Focus is committed to helping young people and their families

Youth Focus is a Western Australian, non-profit organisation with expertise in providing practical and effective support for young people, 12-18 years of age who are showing early signs associated with suicide, depression and deliberate self-harm as well as providing support for their families.

Youth Focus has been established for well over a decade and operates within both metropolitan and regional areas, servicing more than 600 young people each year and supporting some 160 families. In the last two years there has been a significant increase in demand for these services. As a consequence, Youth Focus has been unable to offer assistance to an additional 240 young people each year who seek their help. It is believed that this number will continue to grow.

This Monday a group of men and women will set out on a five-day bike ride from Albany to Perth to raise funds for Youth Focus in the prevention of youth suicide, depression and deliberate self-harm. One of those cyclists, Stephen Carmody, joined me in the studio today to talk about what the ride will achieve.

Stephen says he got involved several years ago after a close experience with suicide.

Witnessing the tragedy, despair and impact from the suicide of son’s good friend five years ago lead me to want to do something to prevent any avoidable loss of our young people.

The value of services such as Youth Focus cannot be underestimated. The training, teamwork and demands of the fundraising and the ride have been so personally enriching – I’m getting older but feeling younger.

You can hear my conversation with Stephen about Youth Focus and the Ride for Youth by clicking the play button on the Audio Player at the bottom of this post.

[audio:http://mpegmedia.sonshinefm.ws/feeds/MOR030309_1129.mp3]

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Birth Order

March 3, 2009
by Rodney Olsen
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family.jpgWhere do you fit in your family? Are you a first born? The middle child? Perhaps, like me, you’re the youngest of your family.

I speak to a range of regular guests on my morning radio programme on 98.5 Sonshine FM. Every fortnight on a Tuesday I speak to clinical psychologist Genevieve Milnes M.App.Psych, MA (Couns), B.Ed, B.Div from the Belmont Counselling Clinic. We chat about a range of issues from family history to personality types, depression, sexual abuse and a lot more.

Today we started looking at the fascinating issue of birth order.

Birth order is defined as a person’s rank by age among his or her siblings. Birth order is often believed to have a profound and lasting effect on psychological development. This assertion has been repeatedly challenged by researchers, yet birth order continues to have a strong presence in pop psychology and popular culture. – Wikipedia

Have you ever looked into the topic? Do you think you carry the characteristics normally associated with your place in your family?

If you’d like to know more about the subject just click the play button on the audio player at the bottom of this post.



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Human Nature with WASO

March 3, 2009
by Rodney Olsen
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Human_Nature.jpgLife is starting to settle down to normal after a long weekend in Western Australia.

We headed out to the magnificent Kings Park and Botanic Gardens on Saturday evening to see Human Nature with the West Australian Symphony Orchestra.

There were a couple of rain showers before the guys made it to the stage so there was a little concern that the weather would set in and the concert would have to be cancelled. Thankfully nothing more came of it so we were able to stay dry for the rest of the night.

WASO is great no matter what they’re playing and having Human Nature singing their hits with the backing of such a superb orchestra made for a magical evening. All in all it was a fabulous family night out.

As I was sitting on our blanket I realised that I just can’t sing like those guys, I don’t look that good in a suit, and I certainly could never manage the moves that they do. I guess that’s why they sell truckloads of albums and I don’t.



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