biancah

Hey, we moved to Australia in December only to find that the state we moved to (SA) put a freeze on jobs! We are now looking to move to another state in order to get work. After two months of networking and agency work we may have found an 'in'. We need to be an employee to apply for jobs so getting on the casual pool opened up more possibilities. In the end, we are falling for another state. We started looking out of necessity but we are now seeing better possibilities elsewhere. Luckily we had a bit of cash to fall back on but it would be really hard if people think they can walk in to a job here. We had a contract lined up that fell through and then the freeze on jobs made it super hard. In saying that NSW has loads of job and other states have plenty on offer.

Thank you Tracyadams for the reply. The work sounds interesting at Inverbrackie and I would imagine the stories from the people must be amazing and sad at times too. I had a look at Glenside and the developments there. Wow! It sounds like they are putting a pile of $$ in to it and have a great vision for modern day mental health services. I see they are taking registrations of interest so we can put an application in that way. Can I bother you with one more question, actually two. Is there Mental health services at Royal Adelaide or is Glenside it's partner hospital as such? Also, where abouts are the forensic mental health units in Adelaide? Thanks in advance.

Thanks for the info ceridwyn. I have friends talking about the rise in petrol prices but to be honest, it is still much cheaper than in NZ. We have a small population so thigns like petrol, power and utilities are expensive here. Our power bill is over $500 a month, Petrol is over $2 a litre with road taxes on top of that and rents/house prices have soared since the quakes. Seems a lot of people want to stay in a broken city. I appreciate Victoria had some rattles but the fact they still have a city centre and no damage to roads is a huge draw card for us. Christchurch is really decimated. A lot of businesses have had to close because of the quakes, many have been displaced and our local Westfield mall is sadly the shopping hub of Christchurch now. Aside from a very small container 'city' which backs on to a department store, there is nothing going on in town besides demolition. There is sadly, stuff all here anymore

Thank you for the information. I will check out the South Australian govt website too. My husband's background is in acute/forensic nursing. We have been told of a place called inverbrackie that might offer some interesting work. Does anyone know about Inverbrackie?

Thanks for your reply but we have been to Melbourne and Sydney. Besides the fact we couldn't afford to buy there and live there, we are looking for a quiet family lifestyle so huge cities don't appeal so much.

Hi there My husband and I are looking at moving our family to Adelaide. Earthquakes in Christchurch have taken their toll and we have always liked the sound of Adelaide but never been there yet. My husband is experienced and qualified in Mental Health. I am comprehensively trained with a Post Grad Dip. I have the majority of my experience in Mental Health but have also worked as a clinical lecturer teaching the nursing degree here. we are looking at one of us working for the first 3-6mths while we get our family settled in and find kindy, schools etc. We are keen to know, where are the best hospitals/learning institutions to be applying to, what suburbs should we be looking in to work at those hospitals etc. We have a young family so are looking for a community that is family orientated too.

I know you are specifically looking for Australian practices but I completed my degree in New Zealand in 2001 and we practiced IMIs on each other. We used sterile water for injection and teeny 26g needles. It was quite intimidating initially as we didn't want to hurt each other but as our clinical tutors advised, patients are real people too. Of course this was all done in the simulated units with clinical tutors observing, it was a teaching session after all. We got the orange first but oranges lack muscle fiber. We never practiced deep IMIs. I am not sure if the students still do practice on each other. I realise it doesn't set a precedent for Australia but it's not like New Zealand is a third world education provider either.