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Welcome to Someone is Missing – An Emotional Resource for the Families and Friends of Missing Persons. This new resource has been developed to provide you, as a family member or friend of a missing person, with information about various mental health issues. It recognises that you – and your loved one who is missing – experience significant mental health concerns and these should not be overlooked or trivialised in any way. The information included in this resource provides insights into mental health experiences, as well as practical coping strategies. This resource is special because it offers information not typically provided by other resources. Existing resources for the family members and friends of missing persons typically provide practical advice about what to do when a loved one is missing (some organisations that might be able to help with this are listed in Chapters Six-Ten). While this information can be very useful these resources usually fail to explore practical ways of coping with the experience of loss. This is why this resource offers only information about mental health matters. Many of us have a narrow understanding of the term mental health, usually associating it with psychological problems. But, just as we all experience different degrees of health, we all experience different degrees of mental health. It is important to understand mental health in its broadest meaning. It includes both positive experiences, like happiness and contentment, as well as negative experiences, like the stress and strain you may feel because someone you care about is missing. Yet, it must be recognised that this resource offers only an introduction to mental health matters. You are encouraged to talk to other people about your experiences and concerns – including General Practitioners, the providers of mental health services, your family members and friends, as well as other people who are affected by the disappearance of a loved one. Further details about available sources of support are included in Chapters Six-Ten. There is no common definition of missing persons universally accepted across all agencies and the community. However, the following are two nationally agreed definitions, the first is used by Australian police and the second is a more "consumer friendly", broader definition: Law enforcement definition: Consumer friendly definition: The resource is divided into ten chapters: Chapter Two: Understanding Your Experiences Chapter Three: Common Mental Health Issues Chapter Four: The Reunion Chapter Five: Overview Chapters Six-Ten: Sources of Information
and Support We hope that this resource offers you the information that might be lacking in existing materials for the family members and friends of missing persons. However, the usefulness of this resource depends solely on one factor – your feedback. We are keen to ensure that this resource meets the special needs of the family members and friends of missing persons. Yet, we can only do this with your advice. If some of the content in this publication is of little use, or perhaps you know of other information that should be included, please contact us. We warmly welcome your feedback – whether it be positive or negative. A feedback form is provided with this resource. Although this resource may appear lengthy and overwhelming we encourage you to use it as you need. This may mean reading only those parts that are of interest to you, and revisiting the resource at later stages of your personal journey. No matter how you decide to use this resource, there is one message we hope to convey: Despite the emotional turmoil and heartache associated with the disappearance of a loved one, you can survive – whatever the outcome. Emergency Contact Numbers Families & Friends of Missing Persons Telephone Support and
Counseling Service Families & Friends of Missing Persons Unit Counselling Service NSW Police Missing Persons Unit Kids Help Line Community Health & Mental Health Centres
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