Kevin Markwell
Northern Rivers residents have had to confront major hardships over the past few years.
It hasn’t been easy for some and overcoming adversity doesn’t come with a one-size-fits-for all prescription.
Some of us have to look outside the box and into alternative therapies and treatments in an effort to better understand our own minds, create a more enjoyable life or to treat chronic pain.
The Change Your Mind panel at this year’s Kyogle Readers and Writers Festival is guided by author Sally Breen.
The panel will explore opportunities for people to understand alternative and complementary therapies and treatments drawn from lived experience and from both fictional and nonfictional works.
“From various iterations of the famous quote, ‘the pen is mightier than the sword’ to Martin Luther’s famous call to action, ‘If you want to change the world pick up a pen and write”, the power of words to change people’s minds has long been understood” Dr Breen said.
For award-winning writer and journalist Tim Baker, it was his diagnosis with stage 4 prostate cancer and his dissatisfaction with some aspects of conventional medicine that led him to reconsider his own views on various kinds of alternative therapies. He has written honestly about his own journey in his memoir, Patting the Shark.
“Psychedelic Assisted Therapy is being heralded as the greatest breakthrough in mental health care in decades, with compelling research showing remarkable results in people suffering treatment-resistant depression and trauma.
“In my own case, it helped shift debilitating depression and suicidal ideation brought on by cancer treatments, with long lasting benefits. I just wasn’t prepared to wait for the Therapeutic Goods Administration to grant its approval to try and save my own life,” Mr Baker said.
Recently, Southern Cross University announced a clinical trial using group-based arts programs and MDMA-assisted therapy to help flood survivors suffering from PTSD. The university also has a number of research programs examining the effect of medicinal cannabis on sleep disorders and fibromyalgia.
Explore this topic with Sally Breen, Tim Baker and SCU Professor of Law David Heilpern as part of the Kyogle Readers and Writers Festival, Saturday, May 18 at 3pm at the IndyNR Stage, The Fellowship Centre, Bloore Street, Kyogle.
For more information about the festival visit kraw.com.au
All our festival stories are in one place here.
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