Henry Bucks supports the quiet achievers at Beyond Blue who bring hope and a brighter future for tens of thousands who suffer from depression. ABOUT BEYOND BLUE
beyondblue is a national, independent, not-for-profit organisation working to address issues associated with depression, anxiety and related substance misuse disorders in Australia.
beyondblue works in partnership with health services, schools, workplaces, universities, media and community organisations, as well as people living with depression, to bring together their expertise around depression.
beyondblue’s five priorities:
1. Increasing community awareness of depression, anxiety and related
substance misuse disorders and addressing associated stigma.
2. Providing people living with depression and their carers with information on the illness and effective treatment options and promoting their needs and experiences with policy makers and healthcare service providers.
3. Developing depression prevention and early intervention programs.
4. Improving training and support for GPs and other healthcare professionals on depression.
5. Initiating and supporting depression-related research.
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More Information · beyondblue: The Way Forward |
This is a copy of a response to the Beyond Blue Website which so conspicuously exhibits a flashing bust of Jeff Kennettt
Dear Beyond Blue
I visit your site because I experience anxiety and depression. Your site is well presented but has one serious flaw. Every page it seems that I go to I get Jeff Kennet’s face flashing at me. Please do not misunderstand me I am very serious about this. Jeff Kennett is a person with a background of playing a very partisan role in the community. About half of the people who lived through his reign as premier of Victoria do not agree with his world view and many of these I expect believe like me that his severe right wing policies probably caused a great deal of depression in the community. Maybe he now wants to make amends – if so well and good. But his high profile presence in your organisation gives it a partisan political taint which I strongly suggest is not furthering your organisation’s aims which I assume includes the idea of non-partisan service delivery.
In short why do you rub the noses of at least some of your target group with the flashing face and name of a man with a partisan political legacy. Whether you agree with our views or not we find this practice disrespectful and offensive in the context of a national health initiative.
Yours sincerely
AM Forbes
Thanks for your comments and they are valid points in many ways. We do think Jeff Kennett is very sincere however in what he is doing for Beyond Blue and indeed he has achieved a great deal in his hands-on involvement with this wonderful organisation. Maybe politicians of whichever persuasion go on to become non-partisan non-political but still ambitious and hard-driven individuals after they leave politics and make up for being within a political party’s rules and constraints by doing what they believe in later in life. Malcolm Fraser is a good example. But we’ll certainly pass this on to Beyond Blue as it might well represent many people’s scepticism about how public figures put their name to worthy causes once they leave office. In Jeff Kennett’s case however I do know he is very much hands-on. We as a company are happy to be associated both with Beyond Blue with Jeff Kennett as a spokesman, as we are with Prostate Cancer research where Don Argus is a high profile supporter