Mental health commission report July 2010 - June 2011 [.pdf]

Aussie Optimism in Indonesia 2010 - Clare RobertsIn February 2010, I had the privilege of spending a week in Indonesia attending theIndonesian Psychological Society National Conference. My host was Josephine Ratna.Josephine is a former student of mine who is now an office bearer in the IndonesianPsychological Society. Without Josephine’s support, enthusiasm, and excellentorganisation skills this opportunity would not have eventuated.My trip began in Josephine’s home city Surabaya on the 1 st of February. During the day Ivisited Josephine’s office and learned of her work in promoting Australian Universitiesfor postgraduate studies. We then experienced a wonderful visit to a school for childrenand teenagers with intellectual disabilities. As much of my research work involvesfamilies and children living with disabilities I was delighted to accept this invitation. Thestaff and students arranged a full program for us, involving morning tea, visits toclassrooms, interacting with the children, plus a pop music concert and a modellingdemonstration. The children were happy, proud of their learning and very enthusiastic.In the early afternoon I gave a lecture to the Developmental Psychology undergraduatesat the Catholic University in Surabaya. By coincidence, the lecturer who had arrangedthis talk was going to Queensland to study for her PhD with Matthew Sanders at theUniversity of Queensland. My talk presented the Stepping Stones Program which is anadaptation of Triple P for families of children with disabilities. I was delighted to talkwith my hosts about parenting interventions and also received a tour of the clinical