Work, obesity, dementia, spirituality and lawn bowls

00:16 Peter Greco

It's just gone 5:00. A very happy Easter and a very happy and warm welcome to Leisure Link here on Vision Australia Radio - 1197 AM Adelaide... online at varadio.org... via Radio Digital in Adelaide, and Darwin through the TuneIn radio app for Vision Australia Radio Adelaide. Also the Reading Radio Network, your favourite podcast or streaming service... Our friends listening through 103.9 FM in Western Australia... and our other great friends at Disability Media Australia. You can catch link and lots of great information there as well - go to Powerd Media. Peter Greco saying wonderful to be here. Thank you for giving us some time on an Easter weekend or whenever you're listening. If you're working, thank you for working. This program coming to you from Kaurna land. 

Coming to you very shortly... we'll speak to Helen Boardman and Peter Doherty, who are preparing for the National Lawn Bowls Championships for athletes who are blind or have low vision. They're getting ready. We'll catch up with Myron Mann, who's from Bedford - now they're celebrating their 80th anniversary, which is a wonderful achievement. We'll find out much more about what they're doing and their celebrations. Michelle Barrett will join us from One Red door. This is a wonderful initiative, not long underway, but it's helping more people find work, particularly more people who are of disability or coming back from injury. So if you're an employer, stay tuned. Pat Mitchell will join us. Our resident counsellor. Pam's topic is the topic of spirituality. Very topical and very timely. 

We'll catch up with Dr Matthew Vickers, who will talk to us about weight gain or the perception that women have of being overweight. Perception that other people have about women overweight, some really fascinating research, and maybe some help that might be there for you. Neville Horton is back, our finance guru with finance facts. Look forward to catching up with Neville and Robin Brooks will join us from the Adelaide Rep Theatre. Their show is coming up very soon. The other place now this is very powerful. It is dealing with memory loss and dementia. So if you or someone you know may benefit from attending this play, your personal invitation to attend is on the radio very shortly. And along those lines, after a couple of the matinee performances, the got a bridge thing discussion, a various thing Q&A with some professionals you might like to attend and benefit from that.

The National Blind Bowls Championships are just days away. Let's find out how a couple of our competitors are preparing and speak to Helen Boadman - Helen, always great to catch up with you. Thanks for your time.

03:05 Helen

Thank you for having me.

03:06 Peter G

Peter - and Peter Doherty, your director, is with us. How are you, Peter?

03:09 Peter Doherty

I'm great, thank you.

03:11 Peter G

How's your preparation coming along? Hello. It's April 29th. It all gets underway. How are you feeling at this stage?

03:17 Helen

Great... we've been doing a lot of preparation together. Peter, of course, is the other half of the bowler. And without him, if he doesn't have a bowler, he doesn't compete. And if I don't have a director, I can't compete.

03:33 Peter G

Okay, but how did you get involved with this? Because we've chatted to Helen a couple of times. So how about you? How did you get involved with blind bowlers and in particular as the director?

03:42 Peter D

Well, I was... invited in... I can't, 2015-16 to be the manager for the Queensland team to go away on a nationals trip. And... I accepted that I had a little bit of experience with blind Blonde Belles before that around 99 2000, but not very much, in fact. But, so I went on that trip and... one of the bowlers... was short of a director for one session, and... I stood in and... quite enjoyed it. And he, he was actually a B1, which is the most challenging... athlete for a director to direct. And... I sort of come back and I kept going to... Cuba meetings... and people asked me to help them.

04:35 Peter G

And you couldn't say, no.

04:36 Peter D

No, that's my trouble. Yeah, I'd say that. Yeah.

04:39 Peter G

Well, well, what about from a bowlers point of view then? What's the director's role? What's the kind of communication? How does that all work?

04:46 Helen

Well... what happens is we get on the green and we can get the white correct, hopefully, and get our ball to the jack, but we might not be able to get the right grass, as they say. And so as the bowl curves around towards the jack, we've got to either take lots of grass if it's a fast green or less grass if it's a slow green. And that's the director's main role, is to line us up nicely on the mat and then make sure that our arm is going in the right direction. And then we've got to do the rest.

05:26 Peter G

Is there a time limit on how long you've got to prepare to bowl? Like how does that work?

05:31 Helen

Well, it's all changing now because they are going to be using stop clocks and they're doing sets play. So it's all changing this year. But it used to be that you just get on the mat, get set up. Don't take too long. Otherwise you'll annoy the other players. But now it's going to actually be 30s. And then you have to have let your bowl go. So we've also been practicing being a little quicker there.

06:00 Peter G

Asked what you think of that, isn't that a good, good move, do you think?

06:03 Helen

I think it makes... bowls very exciting to watch, which is always a good thing if you have an audience and I think stats play is going to suit me quite fine, I'm actually enjoying it. And uh, Peter, I think is enjoying it too. So... it's a bit like cricket. I went to one-leg cricket and it went to 2020. And it's all for the audience so that you can, you know, it's not long and drawn out and you spend all day bowling. Everything's much faster and the game plan has to be a little different. You have to know what you're doing before you go on the green.

06:43 Peter G

But he talked about... being a director for B1. How different is that to say a director for a B2 or B3? Do you kind of have to change your approach depending on who you're directing for?

06:54 Peter D

You certainly do. part of the classification system. The B1, B2, B3, B4 is certain amounts of... or changes in the amount of vision they have. So certainly inherent sort of adaptations you need to do for that. But every bowler is different and every bowler needs something a little bit different to the to the last one. So you got to adapt to your bowler and work quite... intently with your bowler to work out what they need and how you're going to implement that, and kind of...

07:33 Peter G

So it's kind of a general approach if you like, and then you kind of individualise it as well.

07:38 Peter D

Yeah. Yeah for sure. Yep. I've, over the years we've changed dramatically how we started off. We'd done pretty well and then we adapted certain things and we've changed our style over the period since... the 2017. I first started working with Helen when she had no idea about [?] whatsoever. And she turned up to trying to be a director for another bowler.

08:06 Peter G

Okay.

08:07 Peter D

And... she thought she could do it, and she did do it quite well, but she needed that knowledge about bowls. And then we realised, we started coaching her in bowls so she'd get that knowledge. And then we realised that she was going to be a very good bowler herself. And... we talked her into... forgetting about the directing and becoming a bowler.

08:31 Helen

The rest is history.

08:33 Peter G

Helen... it seems a game that kind of doesn't matter what age you are, you can play as far as blind bowls go.

08:39 Helen

Any age whatsoever, even 96 year olds playing, perfectly fine. 

Peter G

And the other great thing about it, Peter, is the fact that obviously these nationals, you're playing against other... athletes who are blind or have low vision, but... bowlers who are blind can play all year round at their local clubs.

08:55 Peter D

Yeah, yeah, yeah, they certainly can... you need to find a club that's... open to that. But there's more and more clubs accepting the... inclusiveness of it. Not just... blind bowlers, but... para bowls as well.

09:12 Peter G

Yeah, it's a great thing. And, Helen, as we've learned from you in the past, obviously the nationals, you're playing for your state, at a national level. But you can also go further in terms of international representation, which must be a great thrill.

09:24 Helen

Yes. May I say something about competition for blind slash VI? Yeah. So... there's not a lot of competitions... dedicated to to blind slash VI, but you can go and join your club and go into the opens. So the three main competitions dedicated... for us. So they have a section where we can go and play against our own category, you could say, or... nationals, which we're going to Western Australia in a few days, and then we have the Australian Open. We... have our own section and then also MDC, which is multi-disability competition this year in Mackay that we can go to. So other than that... we're very glad that we've got those competitions. 

If you're lucky enough to be in the Jackaroos, of course you can go internationally and play, um, all over the world wherever they go. So if we join our club and the club is willing, which my club is fabulous northern suburbs in Wavell Heights, they have accepted me and put me in pennant and all sorts of competitive games because I'm very competitive. And as long as I've got my director, which is the other half of of the bowler, then... we've been playing in all sorts of competitions with the sighted-slash-open players. I'm using slashes because I don't know what to call them exactly.

11:00 Peter G

I think the good thing about something like this and I often talk about this, Helena, it's a great way to kind of spread the message of abilities of person who's blind or has low vision. So when you're playing at your northern club there, you know, other people are finding out about Helen and vision impairment. And so it's a great way to kind of educate people without realising they're being educated.

11:19 Helen

Yes. And they're all fascinated. As soon as you put the distance boards up along the ditch at the side, and we use those so that we know how far we need to swing our arm, whether we need to send it far or or close. They inquire and they say, well, what are those for? Oh, well, how do you do this? Oh, well, what are you doing? And, um, so Peter directs me from, uh, close by in the front. Now, when I was a b4, um, he could stand at the side and just or at the back and just make sure I was swinging my arm correctly in the right direction. But now I kind of need his foot to line up. And so, like he says, you have to adapt and change. And that's usually to do with how much vision there is. Or um, if there's no vision, then, um, they might come out to your voice. Things like that. So.

12:17 Peter G

Yeah. Now, Peter, you're going to with Australia, Mandurah. I think that's how I was going to say it correctly. I know Helen told me off last time, I said it wrong. And you've got the Come and Try Day. So any members of the public can come along and I guess either try bowling or indeed try directing.

12:32 Peter D

Yeah, yeah, that's... a good initiative, they've got going. ABBA, Australian blind bowlers, they've... brought in that to... try and promote the game and... help some people out.

12:45 Peter G

But, April the 29th? Yes. So that's when the Come and Try Day gets underway. And then obviously people can hang around and watch also the competition and see... you guys in action.

12:57 Helen

Yes. And I'm going to have some visitors who live out there in Perth. And they said they definitely want to come and watch. So I might have a cheer squad on the side there.

13:08 Peter G

Oh, that adds to the atmosphere.

13:09 Helen

Yes. And then the last two days we are going to be trialling for the World Bowls.

13:15 Peter G

And we're defending champions aren't we, Australia?

13:18 Peter D

Yes. Yes we are. Yeah. From 2023, was the last...

13:22 Peter G

Yeah.

13:23 Peter D

That's the... ABBA. ABBA is the Australian Blind Bowls Association and IBA is the International Blind Bowls. And they run the worlds every few years. And then there's another one called um IBD, International Bowls for the Disabled. And they do vision as well as all the para categories. So there's three lots there that you can go and play, internationally as well as the World Bowls through Australia Bowls... and the Jackaroos and so forth.

13:59 Peter G

Fantastic. We'll put some of those details up in our show notes - so people want to get in touch. We can do that. And if they want to get in touch and see, at the radio station we can put you in touch... with people like Helen or yourselves to find out more. Helen and Peter, great to catch up again. Helen, it's always a delight. You certainly have a lovely energy about you, which we appreciate. Good luck, as you go over to Western Australia. I'm sure we'll catch up afterwards to find out how it all goes. And as I say, the details about the tournament on our show notes, in fact, I think... in fact, I know that I've heard some of the ads on Australia Radio promoting the event, so enjoy it, have a great time and be well. I'm sure you will.

14:36 Helen

Thank you. Peter, may I just say, I do have a big challenge going to the nationals this time in my category B2 there's only boys and just one girl. That's me.

14:48 Peter G

Helen, although you heard him, you handled them easily.

14:53 Helen

Although it doesn't matter in both whether you male or female, it doesn't matter at all.

14:57 Peter

So it doesn't matter about age. It doesn't matter about sight. Doesn't matter where you play. Doesn't matter about your gender. So this is the most inclusive sport in the universe?

15:05 Helen

Yes. Just go for it.

15:08 Peter D

That's right.

15:08 Peter G

Great to catch up with you.

15:10 Peter D, Helen

Thank you.

15:11 S1

That's Helen Boardman there. And also Peter Doherty - a couple of characters. So with those details up with our show notes, but from the 29th of April that Come and Try day should be fantastic. If you need any more details, please give us a call here at the radio station. It'll be great to get involved with characters like Helen and Peter. 

It's a wonderful anniversary for Bedfords, who many of us would know. Maybe some of us might not. Let's chat about it with the CEO for Bedford's Myron Mann. Myron, welcome. Congratulations. 80th anniversary. It's a wonderful achievement.

15:50 Myron

Thank you. Peter, it's... a long, proud history. You know, for an organization that has... served the community very well.

15:59 Peter G

For those that might be aware, probably not many of us are. Around 80 years ago, and you certainly weren't. Can it gets a bit of a thumbnail sketch of how might Bedford's got started, and then some of the progress that has happened since then?

16:10 Myron

Yeah. So Bedford started after the war, really, as a a place for people recovering from tuberculosis to to actually work. At that point, people were generally isolated from the community. Then as vaccines and other things came along to it, we understood more about TB. Bedford... evolved into a disability employment organisation. So employment working has always been part of our... DNA. So... yeah. It... the name Bedford, interesting enough, comes from Bedford Park, where the tuberculosis sanatorium was at the time. So, there has always been a lot of stories around where the name Bedford came from, but that's... actually where it came from.

16:55 Peter G

And quite synonymous. Now, as I said, there are many of us would know the name even if we don't know much about what you do.

17:01 Myron

Yeah. It's interesting. The brand awareness for Bedford in South Australia is very high. But as you say, most people probably think we do something with disability, but they probably don't know exactly what we do and probably don't have any idea that... we're spread across 22 different sites in... South Australia. I think most people sort of associate Bedford with... the sort of the headquarters at... Panorama.

17:27 Peter G

Yeah. 22. Wow. But I guess that's kind of, needed given the fact that, you know, we don't all live in one place, as it were.

17:34 Myron

No, we don't. And that that's sort of come about over a long history of... merging with other disability organisations. So we're spread from Port Lincoln to Mount Gambier these days.

17:47 Peter G

Those country people certainly deserve an opportunity at the sort of services and the work that you do. You talked about how you got started and the work there. I guess the way that you do things and the way that people do things that work for benefit have changed over that time as well?

18:03 Myron

Well, they certainly have. I mean, I you know, we probably... a lot of people probably think about Bedford in their early days and I think, you know, probably referred to places like Bedford as sheltered workshops, which has evolved considerably from, from that time. We we really operate very large scale businesses. We have lots of different types of employees who have barriers to employment. Disability happens to be, you know, in our DNA and the main... sort of purpose that that we have as an organisation, but we offer a very highly inclusive workplace within the South Australian community.

18:44 Peter G

One of the incredible things that you do, and I guess in a sense, ahead of your time and certainly very much what is happening to the world at the moment, well, you know, some, some exceptions, perhaps in a place where we won't want to talk about too much, but the work that you're doing in that kind of recycling and environmental area, that's... very sort of current and very topical, very 2025 or even beyond.

19:06 Myron

Yes. I mean, I think it it almost sort of goes together when you... talk about ESG, I think Bedford is, Bedford's kind of the S in the ESG. And we then have an opportunity to participate in the in the environmental... economy as well. We... recycle... televisions and computers through the national TV and computer recycling scheme. We also, we probably use, recycle almost all the waste at Mount Gambier, which is a timber processing organisation. We have absolutely no waste at all. So 100% utilisation - even the shavings go to a company called Love a Duck and they... the nest for the... ducks as they're breeding the ducks. So everything is recycled.

19:53 Peter G

Very much back to the environment. Mm, yeah. That's tremendous. You talk about 22 sites. What about how many people you might employ - what's the sort of numbers in that area?

20:02 Myron

So Bedford has roughly 1400 employees - about 900, a little over 900, people with intellectual disability. And... the other remaining sort of 500... or staff that support them. Part of that, the part of the 500 also support our day programs and our residential living... programs.

20:22 Peter

That's another important thing, isn't it, that the day programs for for people who want to access that sort of activity, that that's such an important thing as well? I guess it's part of that, as you say, the, the, the social inclusion, uh, aspect of life as well.

20:35 Myron

Yeah, very much so. We have about 450 NDIS participants who... visit our social programs, our day programs, on a weekly basis across seven sites in... South Australia. So the regions included again. And this... is sort of the where we... do a lot of learning and experiences... for people, some of the sort of getting job-ready for those people who may not quite quite job-ready. So lots of different ways to get involved in employment. And then to come in even before you're employed and learn.

21:09 Peter G

And that sort of thing is so important when we talk about... self-esteem, you know, the value of self.

21:15 Myron

Oh, it certainly is. And I think that probably the... most rewarding part of my job is to be able to walk out every day and and talk to our, uh, our clients. And, you know, this is the happiest workplace that you could ever possibly want to be. And I wish, I wish everywhere I've worked in my lifetime was, in fact, as happy as this one. But... you know, I think, you know, it's it's more than just a job. I think there's a social network here. There's a, you know, there's a... sense of a camaraderie and... safety as well.

21:49 Peter G

Well, along those lines, obviously we speak quite a bit about sport, particularly for people with disabilities on this program. And invariably if we catch up with an athlete who's done well at sport and they work at Bedford's, Bedford have kind of recognised that being a morning tea or, you know, they kind of get in the newsletter or the website or whatever kind of a big deal is made of of their sporting achievements and the fact that they're working at Bedford, obviously. But that's that's a very cool thing as well, to kind of... reward and acknowledge that the achievements of people not just at Bedford when they work.

22:20 Myron

Yeah, I think over the last few years we really have, you know, we've... tried to to refocus our purpose. And our purpose is really about the... individual, not about Bedford. So every chance we get to to promote, you know, their accomplishments or... whatever they're doing, whether it be in a group, in... an inclusive... soccer team or whether it be Olympians who we... have here at Bedford, you know, we want to celebrate... all of their achievements.

22:50 Peter G

And I guess, like any other community or like any other aspect of life, they kind of become very good role models, even if they don't kind of realise it.

22:58 Myron

Well, they they do. And and you can you can even see that when you're out in, on the floor talking to people. We have a lot of peer support, you know, as well. So people with disabilities supporting other people with disability - because disability is such an individualised... thing that it, you know, it... there's a wide variety of... different types of disability.

23:23 Peter G

Well, the ticklish question, I guess, of making ends meet, you obviously rely a fair bit on fund raising and I guess the goodwill of the public, and of course, a lot of the work that you do is actually, you know, making money in terms of what you sell your products to, etc.. But fundraising is important. Without getting into too much trouble with your first interview with us. What about in terms of government support?

23:44 Myron

Well, first of all, we're fortunate in Bedford because we have a reasonable amount of our revenue is commercial revenue from product products that we that we make and sell. So that... helps, a lot... whereas other sort of disability providers may be totally reliant on clients who are spending their NDIS dollars with that organisation. We do have some funding from the government through grant funding on a project by project basis, but it's pretty limited compared to our total total revenue. 

And I think, you know, it's a hard sector - if you if you look across the disability sector nationally, you'll find that it's not an easy sector for organisations to... make ends meet. So we do rely on our... fundraising. We do all sorts of events during the year. And we also run a lotteries program so people can assist Bedford, anytime they want. There's always lottery tickets on sale.

24:45 Peter G

It's a fairly reasonable prizes at the end of it, too. 

24:48 Myron

Oh yeah. So we've we've had to up the ante. There's a lot of competition for lotteries in South Australia these days. So we've had to make it a little bit more... attractive. But, the odds are probably better in the... Bedford Lottery than... some of the larger ones. So it's kind of worthwhile to be in it.

25:05 Peter G

Terrific. What about for the 80th year? Any particular events you'd like to highlight? I was hoping to a quick chat to you before coming to air, and we'll catch up with you later on in the year, because as you do so much. But anything in particular you might want to highlight to today that's coming up a little extra while.

25:20 Myron

Yeah. So... we'll be celebrating, all year long. We started in Whyalla... in January. And... so we move around to all of those sites before it's over with. But we do have a the Bedford Gala, which is coming up on the 3rd of May, so there's still time to get it. Get a ticket at the Adelaide Convention Centre. It's a fantastic night with lots of entertainment and... prizes and auctions and things. So... I think, last year we had about 600 people, so hopefully more this year. Terrific.

25:49 Peter G

It's the 3rd of May, which of course is the night of the election. But we won't to worry about that too much. I think those that we're having a good time there, probably the election would be the last thing on their mind.

25:58 Myron

Well, I think somewhere there's a little... place that you can get a glimpse of the election results there. But, you know, you might have to pay to get in to see it, but that's okay. It all goes to Bedford.

26:08 Peter G

That's right. All right. We'll put the details up on our show notes as to how people can get in touch with Bedford. But... it's been great talking to for the first time, as I said, really appreciate that. And we will touch base with you... later on in the year just to see how things are going. But certainly that... gala event coming up May 3rd will be very special. And indeed, as you said, a year of celebration. After 80 years or with 80 years, it's certainly worth celebrating. Thank you for spending a bit of time with us.

26:34 Myron

Thank you Peter. Thanks for having me.

26:36 Peter G 

That's Myron Mann there - the CEO for Bedford, who are celebrating their 80th anniversary. On the Vision Australia Network through your favorite podcast service on 1197 AM in Adelaide, you're listening to Leisure Link. 

Well, over the years we've chatted to people from the rehab group doing some wonderful work, and they've got a very interesting sounding little project about to happen. Michelle Barrett is head of innovations at Ariba Management. Michelle, hello.

27:10 Michelle

Hi, Peter. How are you?

27:12 Peter G

I'm pretty good. You must be very, very excited and pretty thrilled about all this. So One Red Door - tell us a bit about how and why it's come about and then what... it actually is.

27:21 Michelle

Yeah, sure. Look, I am very excited to put it lightly. So we've been, you know, really at a rebel group, we've been on the forefront of using technology and health, disability and deployment services for many years. And for us, we sort of thought, well, you know, how do we take it to the next level? And that's really what One Red Door is for us. It gives us a place to really focus our energy around technology, data, AI, and sort of implement projects and new services and products using One Red Door as sort of a flagship.

27:52 Peter G

And this is kind of very much AI based or AI engendered or... sort of... motivated.

28:00 Michelle

Yeah. Look, AI is definitely a big part of it. It's not everything. You know, for us, we sort of see lots of different types of technologies being really important in this space. So, you know, things - such as, like assistive devices and apps. But what we're seeing more and more is that AI tends to be in everything. You know, it's sort of becoming a really kind of a core part to a lot of technology. And, you know, we've we've used it historically as part of our triage tools. So, you know, machine learning to help with predictive insights, to help support people who have had, you know, mental or physical health issues to, you know, get back to work, get back to life. So yeah, we certainly see it as core.

28:36 Peter G

That's kind of been your stock in trade, hasn't it, to get people either back to work or people to find work who might otherwise have had... work, and then for whatever reason, mental illness or physical injury or whatever, to try and get them back to work as well after that.

28:52 Michelle

Yeah. Look, that's very important to what we do. We're always trying to help people return to we say return to life, right? And work is a part of life, but we sort of see work as, you know, it's good for health. So there's a lot of evidence around work being conducive to good health. So we're sort of thinking of it of it, you know, it's not just about sort of paying bills and, you know, having that sort of side of things. For us, it's about having the opportunities that work give us in life. So yeah, that's very important to us. And technology is becoming more and more critical in that space.

29:24 Peter G

So it's not about One Red Door. Then how does this kind of play out as far as you're concerned?

29:29 Michelle

So One Red Door - we do offer a few services. So, a lot of what we're trying to do with One Red Door is, like we said, support people back to work. So one of the products that we have is called People Compass. People Compass is really designed to help workplaces manage psychosocial risks at work. So, you know, some people kind of think of it as things like, you know, job demands, job control, role clarity. And it's really where we're sort of taking work health and safety in this new era. It's really beyond, you know, just having good desks to sit at and, you know, good manual handling practices. It's really taking it to that next level. Okay. Well, what's mentally healthy work?

30:06 Peter G

What about some of the other kind of components within the One Red Door - you talked about, yeah People Compass. Yep.

30:12 Michelle

Yeah. So we also have... Lola. So it was an AI-powered... workplace injury triage tool. So it uses machine learning to help us. kind of, I guess, create tailored pathways for people. So to give you an idea, usually when we would be doing that, we would have to do some sort of assessment, you know, like we would have an allied health professional who would assess the person, develop a pathway for them. And that can take weeks, if not sometimes months. What Lola does is give us the head start because it's a very smart tool, and it kind of gives us from the beginning those risk factors so we can help support people quicker. 

We also have another service called My Direction. So my direction is really targeted at people who have had what we call work loss, or essentially just been off work due to sort of incapacity or disability or injury or illness. And it's a coaching program that includes things like e-learning and lots of different sort of supports and tools that helps people build their, you know, their sort of confidence. The what we call self-efficacy, which is really, you know, your ability to sort of take things on, you know, and take on new tasks, take on new challenges and, yeah, help people get back to work, get back to life through coaching.

31:23 Peter G

How long has it been around and kind of what... sort of success have you had with it so far? Have you had a chance to?... yeah. I mean, it's more than just a road test at the moment, is it? You kind of progressed past that area.

31:34 Michelle

Yeah, yeah. So we've actually run My Direction for many years. We've done quite a few large pilots of the program as well... and seen really good success. So we've found that the program's effective in doing things such as reducing mental health symptoms. So depression, anxiety and stress symptoms, also things like psychological distress. But what we found it's also done, which is really great: it's improved things such as what we call life satisfaction, you know. So what are those things in life that are really important to us? You know, maybe it's our relationships and our connections. You know, maybe it's things like nutrition, physical health. So yeah, we've seen the program be quite effective across all those... areas as well as, you know, actually getting people back to work as well.

32:16 Peter G

How did the name come about, that... particularly the Red Door. I'll ask you about later in a second. But the One Red Door, how did that come about?

32:22 Michelle

You know, it's funny, we said there was a lot of discussion about that, about a name for this business. We really wanted something that was, you know, unique and sort of visual, which I hope it is. I hope everyone hears it and goes, Oh, you know, you can sort of see this red door. The other thing we sort of see is, you know, it's an opening, you know, we... what we're offering through One Red Door. Yes. We have these services sitting here, but really we're we're here to partner with people. So, you know, if you've got a problem, you've got a gap. We're there to help provide a solution. So we sort of see ourselves as like the door that you walk through that we can help you. 

And of course, Red is a rebel group. Everything is red. Our founder and group CEO, Marcela, is Chilean and loves red. And it is, yeah, it's everywhere.

33:07 Peter G

It's her company, so she can do whatever she likes. If it's her favorite colour, then Red's everyone's favourite color.

33:13 Michelle

Yeah, 100%. Oh, look, it's become my favorite colour now, too. I'm, like a bit obsessed, so...

33:19 Peter G

Well, yeah. Spoken like a loyal, loyal employee. What about Lola? Because you're probably too young for this. Michelle. But there's a great song around in the 60s and 70s by the kinks called Lola. Anyway, I'll get you to... check out YouTube later, because we won't talk about it on air. But what about Lola?

33:37 Michelle

It's funny you say that because many people have said this to me. And I must say, I was not familiar with the song before. But you are. Yeah. The name is actually an acronym, so it stands for Lean On Learning Assistance - and learning assistance being machine learning. It is also, on a side note, very hilariously, it is my dog's name. And also Marcella, our founder and group CEO had a dog named Lola as well. So a little bit of a shout out to our dogs and the acronym. But yeah, I must say I didn't know about the song.

34:09 Peter G

Okay. Well, dare I ask what you think of the song? I guess it's, I guess maybe in a sense, given what's been happening in the last few weeks with diversity, equity, inclusion, I mean, the... song's probably, you know, as relevant as it was the 50 or 60 years ago.

34:24 Michelle

Oh, yeah, I'd say so. 100%, yeah. Oh, well, that's a catchy tune. So I hear it. It gets stuck in my head.

34:31 Peter G

Yeah, it's a big word for sure. So who's kind of One Red Door aimed at? Is it... individuals? Is it organisations? Is it companies? What's what's your kind of target there?

34:41 Michelle

Yeah, really more, companies. So, you know, we partner with lots of different types of companies. So larger small companies, they might be people, businesses that employ people because obviously we work a lot to help workers and workforces. We also work a lot with government and insurance companies, agents, you know, people in sort of insurance schemes. So yeah, that's that's really our main sort of target area.

35:05 Peter G

It's a great point, though, because I know over the time we've spoken to yourself and Marcella and other... fabulous staff from... the Ariba Group and Live Big, etc., it is very much a collaboration of a number of different entities, isn't it? It's not just the individual that the employee. It's not just the bosses if you like, but you talked about government and other not for profits. So it's a very sort of eclectic... collaboration of... you know, all different parties coming together to make good things happen.

35:34 Michelle

Yeah, that's really important to us. Like, particularly, you know, people who have lived experience, you know, of mental ill health, people who have lived experience of disability. But those people are all quite critical. And there's a lot of research around when you implement technology in health, disability, employment, if you don't have everyone's voice in the room, it can fall over really quickly and you don't necessarily achieve what you're trying to achieve. And you know, for us that, you know, we just did not want that to happen. So it's really important for us to collaborate with everyone. We want everyone's voice in the room, you know, to make sure that we're... going all towards the same goal and the correct goal.

36:09 Peter G

It's such a great point, isn't it? Because at the end of the day, everyone's kind of lived experience or, you know, there's an organisation called Every Australian Counts. I mean, you know, that's kind of part of it as well. Everyone's voice is very, very important. Everyone's got something to contribute.

36:25 Michelle

Yeah, absolutely. And you know, we run a lot of pilots, you know, so when we launch programs it's part of our piloting to, you know, get get our services, get these products out to people who can experience, give us the feedback. But really, even before that, it's that design element, you know, before you even get something out to market. We want to make sure we've got as many sort of eyes on it as possible and, you know, make sure it's even things like being trauma informed, you know, that's really important as well. You know, how you message information. You know, how people learn. People learn differently. So it's really important for us just to make sure that we're yeah, sort of lining everything up as best as we can so that it's as effective as possible, for sure.

37:04 Peter G

So kind of a live document if you like. I mean, this One Red Door might... have... more handles put on it as we go along.

37:12 Michelle

Oh, yeah. Absolutely. Yeah I think watch this space. You know, it's it's a really growing area. And because it's so related to technology, I mean, look, you can see what happens is happening with technology. It's absolutely going gangbusters. But I think for us as well, it's also that, you know, in in disability in particularly and, you know, using things like you're seeing these sorts of technologies like brain computer interfaces where they're, you know, implanting brain chips into people's brains and people who are, you know, paraplegic, disabled, can use their brains to, you know, use computers and move like it's yeah, it's unbelievable what we're seeing. 

So, look, I think the sky's the limit. And that's what for us, what One Red Door really represents. Like it gives us this opportunity to kind of go, you know, and look ahead, look to the future. And so go, Okay, well what's next? What's coming?

38:03 S1

Yeah. Well it's the old saying isn't it? If you're not running quickly, you're standing still - because it is such a fast moving area. So it's good to be able to keep up with that and good that, you know, if you sort of get in in, in the red door, then there's lots of things to be explored from it as well.

38:17 Michelle

Yeah, absolutely.

38:18 Peter G

All right. So how can we ring the red door, doorbell. How can we find out about One Red Door

38:24 Michelle

Just come to the website would be the best idea. So it's one... and yeah all the details are there. You can read about our services and our people. So, yeah. Get in touch.

38:36 Peter G

Yeah. One Red Door is only red door. Michelle, congratulations. I think you should take all the credit. Head of innovation. That sounds very, very much like it's your baby. So, along with your dog, Lola, it's all you're doing.

38:49 Michelle

Yes. Not quite, but okay. Yeah. Sounds good.

38:53 Peter G

Put that on your CV. I'll go your referee, Michelle.

38:56 Michelle

Thanks, Peter.

38:57 Peter G

Great to catch up.

38:58 Michelle

Yeah.

38:58 Peter G

You too shall go there from the Ariba group. Also the head of innovations and the One Red Door. So all that information up with our show notes. But it sounds great. And certainly Michelle and the team... do a tremendous amount of wonderful work.

39:15 Jared

Hi, I'm Jared Clifford, three time Paralympic medallist and the winner of the Russell Short Award. And you're listening to Leisure Link with Peter Greco on the Vision Australia Radio network.

39:35 Peter G

Oh, it's wonderful as always catching up with our resident counsellor, Pam Mitchell, round about this time the third week of each month. And Pam's given us some time on Easter Sunday to speak to us as well. Pam, really appreciate you speaking. Just thank you and Happy Easter.

39:47 Pam

Happy Easter to you and to everyone tuned in. My goodness, as we all get ready to go on Easter hunts tomorrow.

39:54 Peter G

Hey now Pam, I sort of along those lines. You're going to talk to us about religion, but more about sort of faith and spirituality.

40:02 Pam

I think it's just such an appropriate topic, Peter, helped by you to just possibly shed some light on this and in our discussions together. And look, it's not too... separate from religion at all. It's to... be inclusive of that and, but to expand that topic and... look a little bit beyond that. So many people just quickly, you know, especially the Christian community will mourn as well as which was yesterday, as well as celebrate, especially Easter Sunday, when we look further back at the... Hinduism is the longest registered religious field... whatever we want to call that... sector in looking at just the Earth and what it provides and, ceremony around that. 

So, you know, there are a lot of people that will be celebrating in that vein, but today... I'm just going to take it as a definition, a little more of a stretch. And it's, you know, in different areas. As I've looked, it's recognition of often quoted as something greater than myself. We sort of think there has to be something else, you know, there must be something else. And we puzzle about that. We have incredible conversations about that with people, possibly even this Easter over the fish and the loaves. But it just comes to the fore sometimes, either when we're celebrating something or deeply troubled, there has to be something else. 

It also comes as sometimes for people with a struggle, with people that are suffering loved ones around them, and they they just hang on to some hope, some hopefulness and hopefulness they know comes from from something more than they can offer and they can give. And so sometimes spirituality is locked into that hopefulness, something more than our own sensory or human practice or experience. It's like some people describe it as the essence of being human in spirit. Spirit. Gosh, I can't even say it. Spirituality is connected to my soul, my... inner being. My... belief, my core feeling around this, being tuned in to those sensory capacities of that. 

And I guess that's quite this... like, isn't it... animal? Because they have this incredible system of just sensing danger or sensing something nearer, sensing something that might be prey or there might be food or whatever. It is incredible sense. And sometimes we feel that sense and tune into that there. Some people feel that it gives an added purpose. Knowing my purpose. What? What am I here for? You know what? What's my plan here? What's my. What's my real purpose here? I want to do something that's meaningful can go in with spirit. I want to give, I want to, I want my journey here to be useful, can connect with feelings of spirituality in a piece itself, and look at us as we struggle all around... this often at the moment, very sad world. It's far from peace, every corner of it. 

And so many of us are collectively, spiritually connected in wanting peace and having that inner peace with ourselves so that we can put down the the wrestle, I suppose, and let's help ourselves to hear and make sense of. And how can I actually feel more purposeful in terms of what my approach might be, the way I live, the way I greet people, my kindness, my gratitude? How might this magnify out? And then you get connected with things like Reiki and yoga and tai chi. Those different mediums, meditation, just breathing, where we slow our body and we allow ourselves to come into a more reflective space. And the body actually in that space feels more fluid and connected than often it does when we pummel and and, and batter it by running marathons. And there's nothing wrong with doing that. 

But we don't necessarily think about our well-being in that time, other than needing to pace ourselves to get over that line. The line we've set for ourselves. But when we slow up and we're we're more reflective and give ourselves that time, we often have that sense of spirituality, that sense of inner peace. I often describe it as the hair's going backwards on my arms. I had this, you know, beautiful feeling that is just something dimensional to how I'd normally talk about peacefulness. It's that real, touching inner peace. 

I have a little book I've referred to often over the years in this program that Mother Theresa wrote, and she speaks of joy, and she talks about joy that really I feel today is closely connected with spirituality in her interpretation. Joy is, she says, is what we experience on the inside, how it fills us up. Not the loud, loud sounds of external laughter, but the internal sounds of being totally at one and so joyfully radiant in that moment. And I think glimpses of this happen at times. 

We don't walk around feeling like this all the time. You know, you'd probably be accused of having something that is a little bit grating to smoke or something, but we have glimpses. We have, you know, people will describe. That was a magic. It was a magic moment. Oh, wow. I just felt like whatever it was and it was just the best feeling.  And this comes with that. Sometimes when you have those feelings more a sense of wanting to reach out, to extend gratitude, to encourage each other, to have courage, to feel like we want to reach out in that spirituality context of those moments where we've had glimpses to want to share this and do more. 

One of those came for me earlier this week. It was during the gather round and at the end of it, hearing just politically, that nevertheless, it was a good moment where the farmers are going to get this incredible package here in South Australia for their drought torn existence, and how that there's a lot of gather around happening at a human level in Peterborough. I'm not quite sure whether they're having that, but with some of the more legendary figures to go up and encourage crowds to come and collect money and rally around. But so too is this government's a state government package going to be raised. 

And I just had one of those hairs going backwards on my arms moment thinking, oh yes, please. These people are that are truly suffering and as as a community, I think, you know, what way to extensive spirituality, to have that awareness, to have that inner feeling, that inner joy, that yes, something is happening for those people that feed us every year in some adverse circumstances, many over recent years, as this drought has worn on, but now, sensing that they have some relief coming their way, won't solve everything, but it will solve some things that in their immediate surrounds. 

So happy Easter everybody. May you have glimpses of magic moment. May you have some hairs going backwards on your arms too, as you go around your Easter hunts and see see what's left. It's a joy to be on the program. Today is to Saturday with you all. Happy Easter everyone!

48:16 Peter G

That is wonderful and I love that he's going backwards on your arms. I've not heard it before, but it is so descriptive. And your piece made that happen to me today. So, your work in action as you spoke.

48:28 Pam

Really hairy moment.

48:31 Peter G

Have you and David, we... I feel like I'm.... I feel like it's Christmas and I say thank you for all you do. I mean, you'll be back next month, but, you and David have a great Easter and a lovely message. Thank you for spending a bit of time with us.

48:42 Pam

You're most welcome.

48:43 Peter G

And if people want to contact Pam, Pam is the counsellor in Pam's zone, right? 0418 835 767. Thanks, Pam.

48:51 Pam

Cheers. Have a good one. Bye.

48:53 Peter G

Pam Mitchell joins us around about this time the third week of each month. And if you want to contact Pam, 0418 835 767.

49:03 Vision Australia Radio ID

Keep in touch with Vision Australia Radio in Adelaide on 1197 AM

49:10 Peter G

Let's talk about a very sensitive topic, the topic of white and white loss and perhaps perceptions by the society. Let's chat about it from juniper, their clinical director, Doctor Matthew Vickers. Matt, great to talk to you. Thanks for your time.

49:23 Matt

Thanks for having me.

49:24 Peter G

That's a well concerning research in a sense, regarding perhaps the the way women think society... views their weight issues.

49:32 Matt

Yeah, absolutely. We've conducted some research, and our new reports highlighted just how challenging weight loss can be for women, especially those who are over 40. In particular, that it's not just about diet and exercise. Things like their hormones, genetics and environment all play a role. And some striking findings we found in that research is that 76% of women feel they're held to higher weight standards than men. And on top of that, nearly a quarter of them who've turned to medical weight loss feel guilt or shame about it, which shows the stigma that still does exist.

50:01 Peter G

There's a kind of a situation where people see something and think, or they make assumptions from it that, you know, obviously they don't care or they, you know, they eat too much or they don't exercise.

50:11 Matt

Yeah. I think there's still a lot of stigma about this concept of willpower and, you know, personal choice and a standout stat from that research that, you know, almost half of the women do believe that his weight loss is mainly about willpower. But at the same time, 47% of them disagreed that being overweight is a personal choice. So there's a lot of conflicting beliefs there. That's, you know, about what factors drive weight gain and weight loss. But the reality is that many women have tried countless diets and programs, only to be left feeling frustrated and judged when they don't see results.

50:44 Peter G

And of course, there's a lot more evidence these days regarding the kind of hormonal component, if I can put it that way, and its impact.

50:51 Matt

Absolutely. So there's still a lot of misunderstanding around medical weight loss and the medical treatments that are available these days. Certainly try to address some of those, you know, underlying causes of weight loss, which isn't just about eating less and moving more, but it's or trying to find an easy way out through a medical pathway. But these treatments really do allow people to make those long term lifestyle changes by addressing some of those... hormonal changes that we've seen, and will see in weight loss and make it a lot easier... to get on top of those things that are driving obesity.

51:27 Peter G

Obviously, we talk about health and... the issues of... getting access to services quite regularly on this program. And you've also found this and this talking point in particular of, sort of weight... assumptions, if you like, is particularly clear or particularly relevant for women who might live in regional rural areas.

51:46 Matt

Yeah, we've seen certainly at Juniper, you know, about 30 to 40% of our patients live in regional and remote areas. We know that accessing services can can be a challenge in those areas. In particular, I think it's hard to get in to see a GP sometimes. Even if you've got a great local GP, it can be hard sometimes to see them regularly, particularly in rural, remote areas, but even more so for allied health, you know, dietitians, health coaches, physios, exercise physiologists. There's not as many in those areas. 

And we know that when it comes to weight loss or managing obesity, it's a complex chronic disease. It does need that multidisciplinary team to support you, to help you make those lifestyle changes. The medical therapies are not, you know, silver bullets. They're not a magic fix. You do need to address all of the lifestyle factors. And being having a good, supportive team around you can certainly make that easier. But given those access challenges in rural, remote and regional areas, that could be really, really difficult for for anyone who's trying to undertake that.

52:42 Peter G

What about the fact that, you know, the internet is around these days? Can that kind of alleviate that, that issue a little bit?

52:47 Matt

Yeah, I think one of the biggest barriers as well is a lack of knowledge about what treatments are available. And there's a lot of misinformation as well. I think, you know, certainly contributing to that stigma side of things, whether it's the judgment aspect, although that's not always just confined to sort of, you know, peers in the general public. We find that a lot of patients, they also face stigma and judgment from from healthcare professionals at times as well. 

And so there is a really important aspect here around ensuring that you do speak to the right people to to get the information about what's available, whether you may be eligible for medical treatments, address any concerns around side effects, but also understand, uh, you know, what, what it takes in terms of those wraparound services I mentioned around making sure we're addressing diet, lifestyle, emotional, psychological support, all of those things will factor quite, quite significantly in your weight loss journey.

53:34 Peter G

But what about, I guess these days, the... sort of internet or the... influencers... the kind of... social media, it's kind of the equivalent of maybe, you know, glossy magazines of 30, 40, 50 years ago, probably before your time. But you know what I'm saying? You know, the sort of ideal woman should look like this in magazines, etc.. Is that kind of now reflected in social media today? And women are kind of being judged by what they look like compared to what they look like, if you know what I mean.

54:03 Matt

Yeah, absolutely. It was probably a lot easier, I think, you know, a few decades ago to potentially avoid it, you know, if you didn't want to go look at that kind of standard, you just wouldn't read those types of magazines and generally avoid it. Or you might see it occasionally on TV. I think with social media and and the internet and... you know, even mainstream kind of media on TV and streaming apps and things like that these days. What's in movies? You know, that perception of... body image has certainly changed... and not necessarily in a good way. And we've certainly seen that play out around the stigma around obesity. 

But even around age groups, you know, we're seeing young people being affected quite significantly by what they're being exposed to in social media and, and traditional media as well. We know, based off the research that we've done, you know, 80% of responders agreed that the media fails to accurately portray the challenges of losing weight as well. So it's not just, I think, the body image, but even anyone who's trying to, you know, take... the journey to try and address their weight and improve their health, that they're often seen as if they take medical pathways cheating or taking the easy way out, which I think doesn't help. It's certainly not true. And certainly... makes just makes it more challenging.

55:13 Peter G

What about the kind of opposite end of the spectrum? Of course, particularly very young people and eating disorders when they don't want to eat?

55:19 Matt

Yeah. So it's always a tricky balance. And I think, you know, we need to be conscious around addressing obesity, whilst many people may come at it from a... you know, body image or perhaps, you know, people may label it as a cosmetic treatment. The reality is... obesity is a chronic disease. It's the major risk factor for a number of serious conditions like heart disease, diabetes and cancer. And so it's really important that we do address it as a health issue fundamentally. And that will allow us to avoid creating, you know, worsening outcomes for those who do have challenges around body image. But being able to speak to it as a health issue, first and foremost, I think, is... how we break down some of that stigma, but also avoid harms where that can occur.

56:04 Peter G

I meant the weight loss drugs. I mean, they're not a cure all, surely. I mean, I think we're probably still unaware of the very long term effects. They're taking them over a long period of time. And also the side effects are probably played down by those that want to promote it.

56:18 Matt

Yeah. I mean, there's a couple of and this is why it's important to speak with, you know, your GP or weight loss specialist, to get this information and certainly personalise it for yourself. The medications themselves have been around for quite a while. I think they've they've become sort of mainstream in terms of how we talk about them in the last few years. They've actually, you know, this class of medication have been around for 20 years. So we do have a good amount of long term data in terms of safety. Like all prescription medications. There are risks, and you need to talk to your health professional about what those risks are and how that applies to you. Specifically, they're not appropriate for everyone, and there are some side effects. There's ways to manage and avoid those side effects... but, and they can be incredibly effective. 

But when they're paired with that wraparound service with those supports around addressing diet, lifestyle, exercise, emotional psychological support, which are a multidisciplinary team of healthcare professionals will be able to help you with. It's certainly not something you can kind of take the medication, do nothing else, and kind of go it alone. You do need that extra support to to certainly at least make it sustainable. You don't want to kind of lose a lot of weight with the medication. And then if you come off the medication or don't make any of those changes, what we'll often see is the weight will come back. And that's not healthy either. So it's a matter of trying to address things more holistically in a sustainable, long term manner.

57:37 Peter G

And that holistic approach, I guess that also includes you touched on it well, but the psychological approach, I mean, I mean, if women think they've failed or, you know, then it becomes a bit of a vicious circle. And perhaps they go back to binge eating... to, you know, to sort of deal with the depression, etc.. So that sort of psychological support is an important component too.

57:54 Matt

Absolutely. And there's a number of ways to address that, I think. You know, learning and educating about mindful eating and education around diet and lifestyle is a good way to approach it. Additionally, I think, you know, having community is another big thing. So, peer support, people who are on the same journey is really important. We've seen, certainly with our patients at juniper respond really well to that. Not everyone's going to engage heavily in a in a community. And some people do want to go it alone and perhaps just want, you know, close family and friends. But I think that's where that education and sort of the support around understanding the journey and the complexities of obesity, you can then sort of pass that education on to friends and family as well. 

And that will help, I think, you know, address the stigma that you might be taking the easy way out or it's not. You know, it's a willpower problem. It's not. And the more people that are aware of it, certainly we can address a lot of the psychological aspects. There are some people that are going to need more, you know, serious interventions than that. And certainly that's why it's important that you do see a sort of weight management specialist or a GP who specialises in this area to address some of those issues, or at least help direct you to the right person who can help address any underlying... sort of psychological aspects as well.

59:10 Peter G

And putting a report like this out there for the public is a kind of good, just by virtue of the fact that a women don't think that, you know, it's just their problem. It is a problem. Shared can be a good thing as well. And... you know, people can sort of be made more aware of it. So that's got to be a good thing as well.

59:26 Matt

Yeah, absolutely. I think, you know, it's really important that we normalise these types of conversations. And, you know, two thirds of the population are overweight or obese in Australia. And those numbers are getting worse. We're not getting better over time. It's heading in the wrong direction globally, but in particular, Australia is not doing particularly well on the world scale, and there's a huge number of factors that are driving that. But I think changing this, you know, concept around obesity, that it is a medical condition, it is a chronic disease. It needs to be addressed in that way, in the same way we treat many other chronic diseases and support patients through it and avoid, you know, this negative stigma around it being a willpower or a personal choice that people are making and help... improve access... to the treatments that we know are going to be incredibly effective for patients, I think is really important.

1:00:15 Peter G

The website's a good starting point to get some more information.

1:00:18 Matt

Yeah. Can I talk with you? If you've got a great regular GP, speak with them, try and find a weight management specialist. Or you can always come to Juniper and speak to our team, at WWW Juniper.

1:00:28 Peter G

We'll put that information up with our show notes. Matt, good to talk to you. Really appreciate that. It's a sensitive topic. You've handled it well. We appreciate you... letting us know a little bit more about it.

1:00:37 Matt

Thanks very much, Peter.

1:00:38 Peter G

That's Dr Matthew Dickerson, who's the clinical director for Juniper. All those information up with our show notes.

1:00:44 Program ID

You're in elite company listening to Leisure Link here on Vision Australia Radio, digital at [?] radio.org and through the TuneIn radio app.

1:01:02 Peter G

Well, it's great to welcome back to the program our finance guru, Neville Horton. Neville, great to have you back with us. Welcome.

1:01:10 Neville

Yeah. Thank you Peter. I'm very pleased to be back.

1:01:12 Peter G

How are you going with all this market volatility?

1:01:15 Neville

I'm taking absolutely no notice whatsoever because I take a long term view. If it's a short term view, I'll probably be a bit worried about it, but that I'm not concerned with that I don't even bother checking the market on the long term view. It doesn't matter as long as the money's there in ten years plus when I want it. And I believe it will be despite the volatility that goes on. In the meantime, you've just got to wear that. If you can't handle the volatility or if your spouse can't handle it, you can't invest in shares long term. But if you can handle it and just totally ignore the crashes. 

I've been through four of them in my career and I haven't changed one investment because of the crash. First one was 2019 47 and I just left it alone. And five years later I was I dropped 50% value in the first week of October 87th, but I just left it alone. Five years later, I was back to full value and I had my dividends. And so what did I lose? Absolutely nothing. But short term, the market is not a good idea. You're gambling. You want to gamble? That's fine. You might make a lot of money, but not with my advice. I'd just go long term. To be completely safe. But that's it. 

Peter... you might be aware of the fact that... there's been quite a bit in the press about the difficulty for young people to... purchase a house. Yes. Now... virtually saying it's impossible. Well, this is not necessarily so. It's difficult, but it can be done. Not as easy as it was 50 years ago... for whatever reason, I'm not sure, but... it can be done. And I have worked out a plan that will, in most cases, get a young couple their house in less than seven years. It takes a bit of discipline, but nevertheless, we all went through this, I think, years ago, it was easier then, but nevertheless, we had to be disciplined. 

So the point is this that if our listeners... more likely their families, are in a situation where they want to purchase their first home. They should ring me on 0452 596 855, and I will talk to them about it and tell them how to do it. I devised this plan. I don't say it's unique, but I'm not seeing anyone else mentioning it, so it's unusual for that way. So having said that point, I'll repeat the number. Get your pens and pencils out and we'll be ready next time I give you the number. Now, in the meantime, there's an article in The Melbourne Age this morning about a financial planner that used a Ponzi scheme to rip off clients. He's been jailed. But I think it's probably appropriate if I tell the listeners how they work out where they've got a safe, competent financial planner - and I have to mirror my history and qualifications because I believe I've got the necessary features for this. 

First thing is that they have to have a licence, and they have to be working for a company which has an investment licence. It's not easy to get at all. I've had my company's investment licence for about 50 years, and I think it's about the third one I did for some reason or other. But anyway, um, that the. Secondly, I always believe it's a very good indication of the integrity of someone that you don't know and so forth. In my case, an example. I have lived in Melbourne all my life. I am a professional. I've got no bad strikes against me at all. I have... a family, including two grandchildren and one great grandchild, and I'm not going anywhere. 

Now, what you've got to worry about with what this shows us is that they moved from city to city after they rip people off. I actually was connected with one another personally many years ago, and when things got too hot for him in Melbourne, he went to Adelaide and when it got hot in Adelaide, he went to Perth. In other words, they moved around. If it's a pretty good indication that they're at least honest, whether they're competent or not, I don't know. The best places for competency is experience and should have qualifications. I mean, there's really no excuse for not having a law degree or an accountancy degree. They should have it if they haven't got it. That's a bit of suspicion. 

They tell the members listeners that this is a situation, and if they've got any queries on it, and ring me on 0452 596 855. And on last Monday I gave a talk on financial matters to a local Probus club here, and it might be interesting to the listeners to learn of the various facets of the talk, because it applies to them. Yeah, this I work on the basis of. I'm advising a family, and a family to my mind, as mine does, consists of grandchildren, young teenagers, people about to start work and eventually getting to people my age who have retired. There's four areas. 

Now, the first one, as I said, you know, the grandchildren is a specific area in that a lot of complications, but a very good. I've got the answer to them and I can pass them on to. The other one was... the teenagers, get them on the right track for superannuation. This is very, very important. I've got my grandchildren on the right track for superannuation, and they're sitting on hundreds of thousands now in their 30s. So that's a very important to educate. And it's a way maker. Then you get the so they handle their compulsory super. This is a big thing. Compulsory super. Most people got it. 

And if they've had the experience because you've done something which I suggested get them the experience, they will follow through... in most cases to... put the compulsory super into a proper fund and not be sucked into this advertising from the industry funds, which, by the way, having a little bit of problems with some of the things that are doing, but they infer that they're great. They're not only making 99.5%. The fund I use makes, made 14.35, over 28 years, and that's a hell of a performance. So I did you got that, that area. 

Then we get to the... retirement, it... people such as myself, and most of my listeners, possibly you've got to if you're getting a full pension, I can't help you can't do better than a full pension. But if you're on a part pension or no pension, there could be possibilities of getting at least a part pension. And I can give advice as to how to do it. Now, the last thing I want to say is this I give talks to rovers and youth groups, no charges on these matters, and I had 20 people there on Monday and two of them have followed through, and they're going to talk to me later about what they should do. So they need the advice. So I'm happy to give... in the Melbourne area, to give the talks. 

And if the listeners are connected with breakfast clubs or U-3a, they might like to hand my number over so someone can ring me and discuss the possibility of me giving a talk on these very important, practical areas that I met. I aim at putting money in the pocket of the listeners, and this is what I'm talking about now. So I think that's about enough for one day, Peter. But my number is 0452 596 855. If you haven't written it down, ring Peter and he'll give it to you and me up here.

1:09:44 Peter G

Yeah. Just before you go, so your talk - you're happy to go out to service clubs, if you like, and speak to them. And you won't... charge at all.

1:09:53 Neville

No, no. Look, I enjoy talking about fun, and I might get a client or two out of it. I haven't yet, but I might. I've got two of them in the pipeline. I like doing it. And anywhere in the Melbourne metropolitan area. No, no, no, look, I talked long term, Peter. And it's ten years plus if you unless you can see approximately ten years ahead of you, you don't go into the share market. And that is the best way to to invest the other way to hopeless. And because of inflation mainly. And they say, you know, fixed interest is safe. It's anything but safe. You don't do it. The share market on a ten year basis in Blue Share is safe. 

And I'm not worried about what happens in Paris or anything. We'll go over it. Well, the market might go. It might go down 50% tomorrow. Doesn't bother me. I'm not interested at all tomorrow. I mean, the next ten years. So I say to people. But. But if you can't stop worrying about the share market, or if your wife or husband can't sell, or I don't do it because it's only going to cause a lot of trauma, even though it's the right thing to do. 

So you have to be convinced that you believe what I'm saying. Ten years plus a blue chip shares. Nobody has ever lost and they've made a lot of money. So I can't emphasize that enough. And I'm aware of the fact that in the community, there is a feeling that the share market is risky, not if you do it the right way.

1:11:16 Peter G

That's Neville Horton there. I find that scary. 0452 596 805. Father's nervous number. And of course, Neville's advice there is general. So if you do need to invest, then please seek some professional advice. Neville's... information there is,  well, there finance facts rather than advice. So, if you want to make an investment, then seek out your professional advisor.

1:11:43 Emma

Hi, I'm Emma Merritt, a member of the Australian Gliders, and you're listening to Leisure Link with Peter Greco on the Vision Australia Radio network.

1:11:54 Peter G

Well, look,the Adelaide Rep, their next season coming up. Sounds like it's going to be a great show. Let's chat about it with one of the, I think one of the stars of the show, Robyn Brooks. Robyn, lovely to meet you. Thanks for your time.

1:12:04 Robyn

Thank you for having me.

1:12:06 Peter G

Now, this is... a bit more serious. Often we talk about... productions and, you know, they're comedies and people can't keep a straight face. But you're tackling a pretty serious topic with this one.

1:12:16 Robyn

Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. This is very much a serious play. the. The Other Place is about a woman who gets early onset dementia, and her life sort of begins to sort of unravel throughout the play. So it's quite serious and quite... hard, hard topic, I suppose. Yeah.

1:12:35 Peter G

What's it like playing in a role like that or in a... play like that?

1:12:39 Robyn

It's really interesting because I... have a musical theatre background, so... I've done a lot of... singing and dancing on stage. And so this is a very straight change for me to be doing that. So she's on stage the whole entire show. The play goes for about an hour and 20 minutes. So there's a lot of lines to learn, but it's definitely quite taxing emotionally because not not only am I just, you know, having to remember all these lines, but there's so much of the relationships with the other characters on stage, and she's up and down in her emotions and her thoughts and all that sort of thing. So it's yeah, it's been quite challenging.

1:13:15 Peter G

What about from a sort of actress or actor's point of view? is that you kind of relish the challenge of it. It kind of gets you out of your comfort zone compared to perhaps what you had been doing.

1:13:25 Robyn

Oh, yeah, it's definitely out of my comfort zone. Yeah, I'm really relishing it. When David asked me to do it, I thought... he meant the other part, which was a much smaller part. And so it was. It was really to look at this and go, Oh, wow, that's a lot of... stage time, a lot of lines. And but it has been a real challenge to try and learn it all. And it jumps around. It's not a very linear play. So it jumps into different times and... with different people, but also on her own like she's giving lectures as well. So yeah, it's been quite, quite a challenge. But it has been really good. It's been... very different for me, but I am enjoying it I guess.

1:14:03 Peter G

Well, I'm guessing, but, uh, yeah, probably. Like a lot of people we kind of know or know of someone who might be going through something like this. Do you kind of draw upon those experiences or how do you kind of approach, you know, playing this role with some sensitivity and I guess some sort of, you know, quote unquote, lived experience.

1:14:22 Robyn

Yeah, I haven't, um, had any personal experience, but we've had a lot of discussions. Within the play, David has had someone very close to him he knows with dementia. David's the... director David Sinclair, and other people in the cast have have mentioned their experiences as well. And, um, I went and read the book... Still Alice and then saw the movie as well to try and sort of learn a little bit more about it myself. Yeah. Because it is... something that is in society and probably a bit more prevalent these days than or we notice it more, I'm not sure. Maybe because we're getting older, we notice it more. But yeah, it's really it's really quite... difficult to explain. You know how a woman of, you know, intelligence, she's a scientist background really starts to begin losing that that mind and memories that she had. And she sort of makes up her own reality as well.

1:15:16 Peter G

Yeah. That would that would be a certainly very, very challenging. I mean, I guess from sort of... an actor's point of view, it's hard to kind of judge the response from the audience, because I guess if it's a musical, there may be singing or, you know, even dancing along. If it's a comedy, they're laughing along, I guess. How do you kind of read the audience and their sort of reaction to how... and what's going on on stage?

1:15:39 Robyn

Yeah, I think I...

1:15:40 Peter G

That's... probably hard to answer, for...

1:15:43 S9

Yeah, it's probably is a bit... I think it's going to be quite different because there's, there are... some lighter moments in there, and some funny sort of comments that are made sort of to break up, I guess the, the seriousness of it the whole time. And when I'm doing the lecture part, she's in the scientific mode and she's trying to take all these scientific terms. And because it jumps around, I think it it might be quite difficult for the audience to keep up with it, but they're all sort of falls into place like this... Ah, yeah. That's why that happened or that's why that happened. 

So I'm hoping that there'll be those moments of, you know, revelation or stillness that the audience respond to. It gets sad at the end. But there's also it also turns around with more hope, I suppose, as well. So it's not left completely. You know, this is... what's happening. It's not at the end of it all.

1:16:34 Peter G

Don't give it all away, Robyn. We want to sort of go and see how it finishes. Yeah. I believe you're doing something a little bit different as far as... after 1 or 2 of your performances go.

1:16:42 Robyn

Yeah. So we've got... two of the matinees on. We've got this Sunday, the 27th of April and the Saturday the 3rd of May. We're having a Q&A after the performance with... the cast, the director and some advocates from Dementia Australia. So, yeah. So the audience can come and ask some questions and see if there's some services or support that. If they do know anyone living with dementia that they talk to them about as well.

1:17:09 Peter G

Does that kind of happen organically? Someone from the cast or someone from Adelaide kind of had that idea and sort of expanded on and actioned it.

1:17:16 Robyn

Yeah. Thanks so much from the rep. Had that idea. You know, I think it is important when you're dealing with such a topic, a medical topic, and there may be reactions from the audience surrounding it that they have gone and go, yeah, let's, let's get some someone in to talk about this, the expert to talk about this and, and what there is available out there.

1:17:37 Peter G

It's a great idea rather than kind of. Thanks for coming everyone. Go home and you've got a few questions that you'd like to discuss. And yeah, that that's obviously a very positive thing, Robyn, you said there's a lot of lines in it. Have you discovered a secret to learning the lines? How's that all going? You're about... well, 4 or 5 days away from opening - opens... so later on this week on the Thursday, doesn't it?

1:17:58 Robyn

Next week, yeah. Tuesday the 24th. Yeah. No, I don't know if there's any secret, but... I walk every morning, so I have an app that I put all my lines in and I've read all the other, I read all the other lines in and then take you can take your own lines out of there. So while I walk, I do all the lines so people around the streets probably think I'm a little bit odd,  mouthing all these words as we go through. But it's the best way. And then do it, originally do it in chunks, separate chunks. And then with this app, it really helps me just to... flow through.

1:18:30 Peter G

Is it the sort of thing that, you know, you kind of got to know when you come in or when other people come in, like to interact with them? That's probably as important in a sense, as learning your own lines.

1:18:40 Robyn

Yeah. Yeah. Well, that's, you know, part of the rehearsal process is to go through all that and the, the parts where I'm on stage with my... Scott Neil plays my husband Ian in it and, Tegan [?Gully, Chris] plays... the woman and a doctor and, I think she's a neurobiologist is in there. So she plays those. So in those scenes, it's more conversational. So they're much easier to learn because there's that sort of bounce off somebody else. But then when it goes into my lectures, It's just chunks of things. And this scientific terminology I have to learn. It's been quite interesting as well.

1:19:16 Peter G

You're a teacher by profession, aren't you there, Robyn?

1:19:18 Robyn

Yes, I am, but I'm a music teacher.

1:19:20 Peter G

Ah, well, that probably couldn't be further away from the science lab, could it?

1:19:25 Robyn

No. That's right.

1:19:26 Peter G

Yeah. But but I mean, I guess you kind of touched on it from a sort of a, you know... well, not a professional in the sense that you get paid. But from an acting point of view, it must be a great experience to kind of, you know, put on your CV to play a role like this.

1:19:39 Robyn

Yeah. Yeah. It has, indeed been a really good experience and something very different. Very, very pleased I've... gotten involved and yeah, like you said before, it's taken me out of my comfort zone and really made me kind of focus and, and in a different way than you would like when you approach a musical, I guess you learn the music, you learn your dancing, and then there's a few lines in between. But this is really had to focus on the script, focus on the character and focus on the interactions with the others on stage.

1:20:09 Peter G

I noticed a little tongue in cheek rubbing. Do students that you teach come along to play like this, or will they do you think?

1:20:15 Robyn

I don't know that they will with this one... only because I've only just started at... the school, for the last five weeks. But... in the past, I have had lots of students come to shows, which has been it's just been great because I think they see another side to you and and they obviously see that. Oh, actually, you know, you can be creative or you can be doing, you know, acting or singing or whatever outside of inside of work or outside of a school setting, which I think that's really good for them to do that.

1:20:46 Peter G

You said an hour 20, so maybe it's a bit shorter than a conventional... theatre performance, maybe a little bit shorter than... otherwise might be the case.

1:20:53 Robyn

Yeah, yeah. There's no interval straight through. Yeah. Our 20... so, well, let's see if we can get it down to that. We have we can get to do the final few runs. So we'll see how we go.

1:21:03 Peter G

Hey, what's that like? So I guess when you sort of first get together, you probably spend hours trying to sort of hone it and then, you know, 24 hours or so before you hit the big time, as it were, you've got to kind of make sure that everything's going to be right on the night.

1:21:16 Robyn

Yeah, yeah. Well, the first rehearsal, apart from, you know, a read-through is really taking apart the script and the different parts of it and, and how you might say this bit or what does this bit mean? So there's a lot of... thought and discussion that goes on in the early stages of rehearsals. But at this stage we're, we're into running, trying to, you know, splice it all together. As for me, because it's non-linear and I jump from scene to scene, I'm still trying to get my head around some scenes, so hopefully I have that already by next week. And then we, uh, Wednesday, because it's the reps and they own the art. We're on stage from Wednesday to practice on stage, so we'll have the set there. We'll have the sound which adds another element to it, and then lighting will sort of come in as well. So once once that sort of happens, you're sort of in the flow of it, I suppose.

1:22:07 Peter G

Right, now it's called The Other Place, as you said, part of the Adelaide Rep's season. They're coming up. Just give us the dates when it starts and also the two matinees. And also we'll put this information up with our show notes. But if you've got it handy as to how people can book, that would be great as well.

1:22:23 Robyn

Yeah. Yep. So we've got our we have it on the 24th of April. Yeah. And to the 26th, the Saturday. And then we've got a matinee on the 27th of April, on Sunday at 3:00. And then we're back the next week from the 30th of April to the 2nd of May at 730, and then Saturday, the 3rd of May at 3 p.m. And it's at the Arts Theatre, so Angus Street, Adelaide, and bookings are at [08] 8212 5777 or at the Adelaide Rep dot com.

1:22:55 Peter G

Beautifully done Robyn. Good luck. It sounds like a very powerful thing and hopefully a lot of people will get a lot out of it. And I guess at the same time, you know, for some people it might be, um, something that, you know, they might want to speak about it afterwards or seek some more information from... the authorities or appropriate authorities afterwards as well. So we thank you for spending the time with us, and we wish you and the theatre company all the best with the... season.

1:23:19 Robyn

Thank you very much, Peter.

1:23:21 Peter G

The Reverend Brooks, who certainly is the star. That sounds like a very worthwhile getting on to the other place. The Adelaide Rep, [08] 8212 5777 Wideload rep all that information up there. She said it sounds like a great show to get along to, both for entertainment but information purposes. If you want more details about the Adelaide rep, [08] 8212 5777. Tuesday, it opens. 

The pre-poll for this year's election, and you can register if you're blind or low vision to vote by telephone, call 1-800-913-993... 1800 913 993. From Tuesday. You ring your register, they give you an ID, then you ring back with that ID so totally anonymous. And then you vote both for the Senate and the House of reps as well. Or that information AEC, AEC, gov and that phone number to register 1800 913 993... 1800 913 993. A couple of quotes before we go. 

Mark, who's our headline watcher from the eastern states, saw this just after the election was announced and probably even more relevant now after the events of the last couple of weeks. The headline went Ready, set, spend! And that certainly seems to be what is in vogue at the moment. So thanks, Mark for that. And Clarissa has sent her quote through. Clarissa says breathe to live. Breathe deeply. To heal. Thanks very much, Clarissa. A lovely message there. Really appreciate that. And Reeva Bryce, back with us next week to talk more about that sort of thing. 

Some birthdays before we go. Grace Brimble are having a birthday. That wonderful paratriathlete who went to Paris last year, Ben Row. We spoke to Ro Wednesday night. His new single out. And, Ben having a birthday as well to coincide with that single Crystal Keller tremendous advocate also having a birthday. And, Lockie Willett having a birthday, very much involved with Special Olympics. Went to the world Summer Games in China a few years ago. 

That's it for the program. Sam Rickard, thanks so much for your help. Pam Green, thanks so much, as always for yours. Reminding you that Leisure Link is available on that favourite podcast platform of yours. If you like the show, even if you don't like the show, just tell some friends about it. The more people we have, the happier we are. Thank you so much for making yourself available. Thanks to those people that are spreading the word about Leisure Link. Coming up very soon, Vicky Cousins is here. Easter egg and Hot cross Buns is stuck because he's here to present Australian Geographic. So stay tuned to that. Why? I have a little bit of a chocolate and a little bit of a hot cross bun as well. 

Be kind to yourselves, be thoughtful and look out for others. All being well, let's link back at the same time next week on Vision Australia Radio and the Reading Radio Network. This is Leisure Link.