The Concord Centre for Mental Health - Jara Unit for older persons
While there were no 'hole in ones' everyone had fun at our Annual Charity Golf held again at the Concord Golf Club.
Twenty eager teams - each with four players - teed off around the 18-hole championship course for an event aimed at raising awareness of mental health issues and the work done at the Concord Centre for Mental Health's Jara Unit.
Dr Kerryn Loftus, psychogeriatrician and senior staff specialist at the Centre addressed players, family members and friends at the post game dinner detailing the mental health care provided at the 30-bed Jara Unit, a facility designed for older persons aged 65 years and over, with acute mental health needs.
Our mental health
- More than 44%, or 8.6 million Australians aged 16–85 are estimated to have experienced a mental disorder at some time in their life.
- 1 in 5 (21%, or 4.2 million) having experienced a mental disorder in the previous 12 months.
- Depression is common throughout the Australian population, and older people are more likely to experience contributing factors such as physical illness or personal loss.
- It is thought that between 10 and 15 per cent of older people experience depression and about 10 per cent experience anxiety.