| New mental health centres for youth
The Federal Health Minister Nicola Roxon has announced the establishment of 20 new treatment centres for young people with mental illness. The centres will be located mostly in regional and rural areas and will help young people at risk of mental health, drug and alcohol problems. The Government says as many as one-in-four young people have a mental health problem. The Minister says the need for more youth services is particularly urgent in regional areas where communities continue to struggle with the impact of drought and high unemployment. Young people have welcomed the announcement. 21-year-old Carla Frost of Melbourne was treated in an adult facility several years ago and she says it was a frightening experience. "I sort of thought oh my God that could be me," she said.
Shooting the Rapids
There are two groups of chimps, one a young group in a large paddock, the other a mature group that lives in an area of fenced off native forest. Truly wild chimpanzees can be seen in western Uganda (I have seen them just across the border in the Congo —the Democratic Republic of the two), but for a more easily accessible primate experience this comes pretty close. Access to Ngamba is by a large wooden canoe, and the morning of my visit Lake Victoria was deciding to do a passable impression of the Roaring Forties. The boat tossed up and down, launching itself over crests and plunging into troughs. Those of a more sensitive disposition, and more recent breakfasts, slunk, a delicate shade of green, to the marginally more stable rear where a bucket was thoughtfully provided. The chimp experience was slightly underwhelming, but the work being done is admirable.
By Kate Leckie News-Post Staff
Charles James Williams is out of work. Nonetheless, he's a grateful man this holiday season. Newly free after spending about six months in jail for burglarizing churches to support a crack cocaine habit, Williams, 55, has been welcomed into the Frederick County Drug Treatment Court. To be accepted into the program, Williams had to admit guilt for his crimes -- and the eight local churches he burglarized had to go along with the plea agreement reached by the defense and the prosecution. "I attribute it to God," Williams said. "It's nothing short of a miracle." The incentive to abide by the rules of drug court is great -- failure to do so could result in a 30-year prison sentence on burglary charges. "At 55, that would be a life sentence," Williams said. The father of two sons ages 13 and 25, wants to warn young people not to get sucked into addiction through peer pressure.
VH1's cameras watch as celebrities go through rehab
Recording devices were everywhere inside a Pasadena, Calif., residential treatment facility, yielding what is being billed as television's first look inside the mystery of rehabilitation - and all under the supervision of the only celebrity in the room without an addiction.
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