Victoria

Toorak College is an Independent Day and Boarding School for Girls Years 7 to 12 and Co-educational Pre School to Year 6. The school is located on the Mornington Peninsula, 40 km South of Melbourne, Victoria. In the June 2009, Toorak College became the first non-Western Australian site and the first school to become a professional partner with Mentally Healthy WA and adopt the Act-Belong-Commit campaign as a whole school framework to support the physical, emotional and psychological wellbeing of its school community.

At Toorak College, Act-Belong-Commit provides an overarching framework for the ecological, environmental, and curricular-based interventions that occur within the school. It encourages students, staff and parents to be socially, cognitively and physically active (Act), develop a sense of belonging to school, family, and community groups (Belong) and engage in activities or events that encompass a greater sense of meaning or purpose (Commit). The message also further validates groups, activities and events already offered by the school. With each domain of Act-Belong-Commit heavily underpinned by research, the framework contributes another layer of meaning and purpose to the activities that many individuals intuitively engage in. Our aim is to equip our students with the knowledge, skills, values and confidence to become resilient individuals who are compassionate members of the global community. We encourage students to keep socially, cognitively and physically active, to share a sense of belonging to school, family and the wider community and to commit to causes which foster a greater sense of purpose and meaning.

The Kingston Bayside Primary Care Partnership is a voluntary alliance between service providers and agencies within the municipalities of Kingston and Bayside. These two local government areas represent a combined population of approximately 235,000 people and are located within the Southern Metropolitan Region of Melbourne.

Primary Care Partnerships are an initiative of the Victorian State Government to facilitate the development of stronger partnerships, support service coordination and integrated chronic disease management and promote the integration of health promotion across agencies.

The Kingston Bayside Primary Care Partnership is committed to planning and working collaboratively on identified health and wellbeing priorities to improve the health outcomes of the Kingston Bayside community.

Our partnership has identified the ‘Promotion of Mental Health and Wellbeing’ as our key integrated health promotion priority for 2009-2012. We currently have 13 individual agencies committed to working in partnership to implement the Act-Belong-Commit Campaign within our catchment.

For more information please visit: http://www.kingstonbaysidepcp.org.a... or contact: Kirsty Brown, Health Promotion Coordinator on 03 9093 5923.

Women’s Health in the South East (WHISE) is a not for profit women’s health service located in Dandenong, 30km south east from Melbourne’s central business district. We provide programs and services for women in the Southern Metropolitan Region of Melbourne (From Port Phillip to Pakenham to Portsea).

WHISE’s programs and services empower women by providing them with the information and tools necessary to be able to make healthy and informed decisions. WHISE recognises that health outcomes are determined by a broad range of factors, these factors can impact on a person’s physical, social and mental health and so, it is necessary to promote services and programs which allow all women to have access to facilities and services which afford women the opportunity to improve their physical, social and mental health through remaining active physically, socially and mentally and by belonging and committing to a group where they can help out and feel valued.

Address: 15 Scott Street Dandenong VIC 3175
Opening Hours: Monday to Friday, 9.00am - 5.00pm
Phone: (03) 9794 8677
Email: whise@whise.org.au
Website: www.whise.org.au

Hume Moreland Community Mental Wellbeing Promotion & Prevention Partnership Group
The Hume & Moreland Community Mental Wellbeing Partnership Group was formed in 2008 to jointly develop, implement and evaluate a 3-year (2009-2012) Community Mental Health Promotion & Mental illness Prevention Action Plan.

To date 26 local organisations from different sectors (outside the mental health service–system) together with carer, consumer and other resident representatives, have worked together defined a shared vision of a ‘mentally healthy Hume and Moreland community’ and identified a menu of potential community interventions to be collaboratively explored, implemented and evaluated.

The Act-Belong-Commit campaign constitutes the ‘backbone’ of our broader plan that aims to “to improve the quality and extent that good mental health and wellbeing can be experienced in Hume and Moreland by creating more supportive, socially connected, inclusive and mental-health-promoting community places for all. It is based on an understanding of the best available research evidence and the wisdom of our local community about community mental health protective factors. See partners listed below

Our catchment community has a total estimated population of 252,145 (2006 ABS) and is one of the most significantly disadvantaged (socially and economically) in Victoria. We have a rich cultural diversity of approximately 140 nationalities and 125 languages other than English spoken in the home. Part of our catchment (Hume City) is located on the urban-rural fringe, is also one of Victoria’s (and Australia’s), most rapidly growing areas. The other part of our catchment (Moreland) is situated in Melbourne’s inner urban area and is one of the most densely populated areas with one of the lowest rates of car ownership.

The South Coast Primary Care Partnership is an alliance of local agencies that are committed to providing high quality coordinated public and primary health services to the communities within the rural Victorian municipalities of Bass Coast and South Gippsland and neighbouring small rural towns.

Primary Care Partnerships are a Victorian Department of Health funded initiative that focuses on working in building stronger partnerships; supporting coordination of the consumer care pathway; facilitating integrated chronic disease management and supporting integrated health promotion.

The objectives of the South Coast Primary Care Partnership are to:
• Develop plans & ideas that build the capacity of our members to deliver high-quality primary care;
• Promote an integrated understanding of ‘health’ as being more than just the absence of disease;
• Help agencies improve services to their communities and coordinate client care pathways through the health and care system;
• Focus on promoting health and preventing illness;
• Support agencies to help communities in managing chronic disease more effectively;
• Help identify any gaps in quantity, scope and quality of services and service systems;
• Advocate for improved services with different levels of government and with local agencies.

Act-Belong-Commit in Mirboo North is an 18 month project beginning in July 2011 that aims to link the youth of Mirboo North, organisations and the community together to promote a mentally healthy community for all. This is part of the South Coast Primary Care Partnership health promotion catchment plan describing a partnership of agencies across the catchment working in 3 health promotion priority areas of promoting mental health; access to healthy and affordable food and promoting physical activity.

For more information please visit the South Coast PCP website at www.southcoastpcp.org.au or contact Anna Langley the Act-Belong-Commit Project worker on projects@southcoastpcp.org.au or Vicki Bradley eo@southcoastpcp.org.au