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 elcome to another edition of GAMMA Connecting.
This brief newsletter is for GAMMA men, as well as being for those interested in GAMMA, and those who may use our services one day or have in the past.
It’s been a profoundly busy year at GAMMA, especially from an administrative perspective. Keeping the organisation functioning properly, as well as keeping up–to–date and relevant has been a real challenge in 2009. For that reason, it’s been a delight to have two really good things happen.
Our Mid–Year Dinner, with Keith (from Brisbane) speaking, was well attended and a very good night of well worthwhile input from Keith, followed by excellent discussions, along with good food and most of all – lots of good men.
At a recent special meeting we opened the Executive Committee to include a number of men who had been involved in GAMMA in the past and received great benefit from their offers of much needed assistance and more than anything a feeling of support for our ongoing work from them.
Isn’t it great when there is evidence that something you value is moving in the right direction?
 s part of an ongoing effort to keep GAMMA aware of, open to, and useful for, men of all ages, race, ethnicity, and backgrounds we are attempting to constantly assess those needs and how men find/access us for help when they need it.
Please give just a few moments of your time to complete a brief (ten question) survey helping us to clarify some of the information that is considered critical.
Click here to take the survey. Note that the survey closes on October 3rd, 2009.
If this survey is helpful in shaping a more useful and effective GAMMA in 2009/2010 we may survey again for more detailed information in the near future.
- Co-Presidents: Jase Hodson and Peter Kadwell
- Secretary: Scott Middleton
- Treasurer: vacant
- Committee: Vic Stephens, Graham Foreman, and David Hoskins
These men, along with our dedicated group of telephone volunteers and a small team of assistants, form the backbone of GAMMA.
Any extra hands will always be appreciated.
 emember that you can contact us by e–mail at .
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e are thinking about a potential book of GAMMA stories in the years ahead.
The ideas for such a book being two fold:
- The book could be a resource for men who are facing a journey of their own, helping them to see that they are not alone and that other men have come through it O.K.
- Secondly, the book could be circulated to medical people, allied health professionals, counsellors, sexual health clinics and community workers (among others) alerting t to the difficulty of a GAMMA–type of experience, thereby giving them clues about how they may be of more support to their clients in the future.
If you are interested in helping us create a book of stories about men who had experienced journeys such as ours, we’d love to hear from you. You may like to contribute your own story, if so we hope to have the assistance of a writer to assist you towards achieving just that.
Does any one have a connection/relationship with writers, publishers, or the like? Or has anyone done some published writing? If you have, please tell!
 en often wonder if they should have, if they need or would benefit from, professional help from a counsellor or psychologist.
The answer is not spelt out in any manual or list of rules, but .... there is a well–known and respected scale of stress factors and if any person is affected by a number of these factors at any one time, then they are in a seriously stressful situation and seeking help would be wise move.
Listed high among the stress factors are:
- Instability in terms of primary relationships
- Suffering from loss and grief
- Doubt about yourself, your image or your hopes
- Fears for your family
- Moving home
And these are only a few of the factors.
If you face many of the above, seeking a variety of trustworthy and accessible supports would be very wise. On our Support and Links pages you will find referrals that we believe could be at the least a starting point but hopefully will prove helpful for you.
GAMMA can certainly be one of your supports, however from experience we are aware that GAMMA alone is often not enough in moments of real stress or difficulty.
e hope to see you at a GAMMA meeting or social function very soon.
We’d also appreciate you joining us for our Annual General Meeting on Wednesday 7th October, 2009.
See the Annual General Meeting page for more details.
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