With the difficulties Melbourne experienced in 2020, and the backdrop of the effects on the rest of the world of the pandemic, people are struggling and the Conference Health team have seen Dr Nedley’s Depression and Anxiety Recovery Program (DARP) take off like never before.
During last year, the Casey Church health team received a grant from their local government to spend on depression recovery in any way they saw fit. They approached the Conference Health Director, Pr Andrew Jasper, asking about hosting DARP, not for the community, but for church members with the intention that, through their involvement, they would go on to undertake training to become facilitators and associate directors in 2021. Their plan was to package both programs together, one following the other.
The first part of this new ‘program’ started in September over zoom. It was very popular and even people beyond those directly involved were interested. When it came time for the training segment of the program it was November. A venue in Marysville became available and it was decided that, rather than running the training program with the usual format, Saturday evening and Sunday, it would be made into a weekend long summit, commencing Friday evening.
It was a great weekend, with over thirty people (more than had participated in the zoom program) training to help others recover from anxiety and depression.
Presenters and guests included Pr Christian, Dr Nedley himself, Pr Don Mackintosh (DARP’s Spiritual Counselor) and local psychiatrist, Dr Horatio Selegea.
Out of this initiative, we now have six churches planning and implementing Depression and Anxiety Recovery programs for their communities. DARP has never been more relevant to our community than it is now!
