AUSTRALIA21/FEARLESS LAUNCH BOOK ON TRAUMA-RELATED STRESS

Dame Marie Bashir AC, former Governor of NSW and Patron of FearLess, today launched the Australia21/FearLess publication Trauma-related stress in Australia: Essays by leading thinkers and researchers. The book contains 27 short essays by leading Australian and US clinicians, researchers, administrators and observers of the stress that often follows exposure to, or involvement in, violence and brutality. The scope and scale of the problem are immense and it touches the lives of millions of Australians. It generates massive costs in mental health, criminality, drug and alcohol use, family disruption and lost productivity. Known to earlier generations of the military as ‘shell shock’ this debilitating spectrum of mental changes continues to bedevil large numbers of our veterans. But it also affects significant numbers of people who work as ‘first responders’ as well as victims of rape, child abuse, domestic violence and incarceration. The accounts presented here suggest that trauma-related stress is costing industries and the taxpayer many billions of dollars. A more constructive approach to prevention, early intervention and effective treatment and rehabilitation is clearly essential. The essay collection is a collaboration between Australia21 and FearLess. Trauma-related stress in Australia is available for purchase (hard copy) or pdf download here and will be available in bookstores soon. More information about the trauma-related stress project.