A Big (heartfelt) Thanks to Madeline Egan & Jessie Macgregor from Swinburne Uni & community idea platform Plan Big for helping promote our Tough Times Talk Up Round. The girls were excellent in helping with idea generation and event considerations, with their final PR Media kits produced to the highest industry standard.

Click to join the Facebook Event here.

Big Thanks to the Geelong Football Club for having us and also donating a Cats pack that will be a raffle prize on the day (July 7) – including a signed cats jumper, signed football (printed), Cats hat and keyring.

If haven’t already check out the facebook event here

Pictured Volunteers: Jordy & Jesse Heis
Photos: Dana Heis

Good friends and supporters of YABI, Jordy Chenery and James Ryan, recently launched Virtual Fitness which is Australia’s largest FREE Health and Fitness website!

Unlike many other sites out there, the diversity of Virtual Fitness makes this site a must see for anyone who has even the slightest interest in health and fitness. As you may already know, exercise causes the production of positive endorphins in the brain and is a vital component to boosting your overall mental health. Who doesn’t feel good after they exercise?

Virtual Fitness is packed with features exercise library alone consists of over 1000 exercises, complete with photo and video instructions, and possibly the most comprehensive descriptions on each available today.  Find your nearest gym, personal trainer, yoga or pilates studio using their online directory, find healthy recipes, read articles and interviews with athletes and other well known Australian identities and join their community to chat with other like minded people.  Further to this, the team at Virtual Fitness have promised that this is just the beginning and to expect a whole bunch of additional features as the year progresses!

Recently the boys held a series of FREE grueling bootcamps in Port Melbourne, producing great results!

Virtual Fitness Bootcamps - Port Melbourne

YABI are proud to be partners with Virtual Fitness and look forward to combining together on some positive health and fitness events moving forward. Other great supporters of YABI Lola Berry & KOMB Athletic are also onboard as partners, providing a ‘team effort’ to improve Australians’ Health habits!

Check out the Virtual Fitness site today and start improving your health today!

If you are interested in being a participant, please read the following information….
Best Regards, YABI

Bipolar Disorder Research Study – Call out for participants

The Monash Alfred Psychiatry Research Centre (MAPrc) and the Brain and Psychological Sciences Research Centre (BPsyC) at Swinburne University are inviting participants to take part in research investigating the causes and consequences of emotion abnormalities in bipolar disorder.

You will be required to attend two 4 hour sessions at the Alfred hospital in Melbourne to complete questionnaires, a short interview and a number of non-invasive cognitive and emotion tasks. You will be reimbursed for your time and participation at $50 per session.

Does this sound like you?

• Have a diagnosis of bipolar disorder
• 18-65 years old
• Aren’t pregnant
• English is your first language
• Aren’t vision or hearing impaired
• Aren’t substance or alcohol dependent
• Don’t have a history of severe head injury or neurological disease
• Are willing to donate a sample of blood for genetic analysis

The study is also currently recruiting control participants for use as a comparison group.  If you do not suffer from a mood disorder and do not have any immediate biological family members affected by a mood disorder you may be eligible to participate.

For more details please contact:
Tamsyn Van Rheenen
T.Rheenen@alfred.org.au
Phone: 03 9076 6593

Check out our Melbourne Weekly – Port Phillip Article online here

And we had Justine Crowley from Weekend Notes come down and play with us for a week, and check out her photos and review here Thanks Justine!

YABI, Australia’s all-new and innovative organisation dedicated to Youth ADHD and Bipolar, will be giving sufferers of either condition or volunteers the opportunity to play beach volleyball for free, aiming to prevent social isolation and increase community strengthening in St Kilda.

From Tuesday 14th of February, running until Early April, YABI (Youth ADHD and Bipolar Initiative), will be fielding 2 mixed beach volleyball teams per week, (8 players) and are searching for a pool of at least 20 players to draw upon. In a great show of support, all players in the YABI teams will play at no cost thanks to Vic Beach and enjoy free pizza and a beverage at Republica Bar located at the St.Kilda Sea Baths. Team singlets will be donated at cost price by new high quality sportswear company KOMB Athletic and will display the names of local sponsors on the back.

Founded in 2010, YABI is a ground-breaking organisation which supports both males and females aged 18-30 with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and Bipolar Disorder. The organisation is run by young Victorians Jordy Heis and Michael Mant-Smith, who both have been touched by the silent, yet deadly disorder.
YABI has been set up to support youth affected with ADHD and Bipolar, allowing them to meet others with similar life experiences and encourage them to be confident and proactive with their health, whilst unashamed of the challenges facing them.
Jordy Heis, is thrilled to launch the Beach Volleyball Project as a platform to raise further awareness of these disorders, and at the same time, offer an opportunity for a group of people to come together and have fun whilst being physically active.
“This project will help raise awareness of our organisation in St.Kilda and the surrounding community by giving mental health sufferers the option to play a fun, social sport at no cost. We also hope the project will alert us to community minded people and businesses in our area looking to donate funds, time or resources to our case. We couldn’t have done this without our current project sponsors” he said.

Start Date: Tuesday 14th of February (Every Tuesday night until early April)
Start Time: 6:00pm
Location: Beach behind St.Kilda Sea Baths
Registration: Via YABI’s facebook page (www.facebook.com/yabiaustralia)
Cost: Free to registered members of YABI Teams
Sponsors: Vic Beach, Republica, Engage Marketing, KOMB Athletic, Effective Health Solutions & Hypoxi
Age & Skill Level: 18-30 years old, both genders, all skill levels welcome
Only 20 team spots available, each receive free singlet
Ends.

For further information, interviews or photos please contact:
Jordy Heis
yabi.org.au
E: jordy@yabi.org.au
M 0407 356 044

Challenge: Snowboard 1 million vertical feet and raise awareness for YABI!

Extreme sports enthusiast, entrepreneur and friend of YABI, Barron Hanson is attempting a challenge few others have ever even thought about: Snowboard 1 Million Feet in 40 days! Using the premium snow conditions in the Northern Hemisphere, Barron will snowboard in the US & Japan, and will need to average 25,000 feet per day to keep on track for his record breaking attempt.

After graduating University in Australia in December 2011, Barron, 21, was looking for a unique adventure challenge before starting full time work with Liquid Snow Tours in April. He says “snowboarding is a form of meditation” and he “cherishes every minute he is in the mountains”, which is understandable given he is from the desert country of Australia!

Barron is tracking his progress through this blog 1 Million Feet including sharing all his thoughts, concerns, encounters and experiences he has along the way. Keep up with his regular blog posts for constant inspiration and a laugh at the humorous situations Barron often finds himself in!

Follow him on Facebook here.
Twitter here.
Donate to his 1 Million Feet Social Project here.

Barron is part owner of I Like to Party, a travel company based in Wollongong.
Developed in 2008 in the party islands of Greece, “I Like to Party” has realised a universal and unifying brand and has quickly become synonymous with a good time through an expanding repertoire of events. These include various social events such as pub crawls, music festival tickets and extras, parties and beach BBQs, and also international snow tours to New Zealand and Japan.

Quick one guys…Reminder about our event on the 7th December in St.Kilda.
Guys we would love to welcome everyone down to St.Kilda on Wednesday night whether you are looking for a support and networking group and are suffering a mental illness, or whether you would like to become a volunteer!
Jordan Chenery will give away a heap of freebies and taste testing and we’ll give you the lowdown as to why we are doing what we are doing for mental health awareness.
Can’t wait to see you there! Cheers Jordy, YABI Director
Details here: http://www.facebook.com/events/280941871945108/

$45 includes all drinks and a DJ, WHAT MORE COULD YOU WANT!!!

YABI Xmas Party Event Poster St.Kilda

It’s with great pleasure that we announce our end of year function! After some tough blood, sweat and tears in the last couple of months of this year to get Youth ADHD Bipolar Initiative (YABI) from ‘side project’ to ‘let’s give this a real crack for a while’, we’ve loved almost every minute of it!

We know we have a loyal and interested following of fans across many different social media platforms, particularly facebook and twitter, we’ve seen the stats and got great feedback on how to get better.

We’ve met a lot of great new connections that we know will become strong mentors and friends in the ensuing years. We’ve made some mistakes, and we’ll continue to, but it’s how we learn from our mistakes is what will make us more vigilant and steadfast in our cause: to promote Bipolar and ADHD Awareness and remove the stigma of mental health in the community.

We’d love to meet some new friends and fans at this Awesome Warehouse party we’ve got planned for December 10th, we can’t wait to see you all there!!

Buy your tickets here:
YABI XMAS WAREHOUSE PARTY

Best Regards,
Jordy Heis
Director, YABI

Effective Health Solutions

Recently Mike caught up with Jordan Chenery from Effective Health Solutions who specialise in Group Fitness & Corporate Training Sessions in Melbourne, Geelong and Torquay. They have also trained elite athletes including various AFL Players and TV Celebrities including Madeleine West, and speak regularly to Adrian Leijer who has played in the EPL and is Captain of the Melbourne Victory in the A-League.

As you would know exercise is vital to make us feel better, have more energy and most likely live longer. Physical activity stimulates various brain chemicals that may leave you feeling happier and more relaxed. You may also feel better about your appearance and yourself when you exercise regularly, which can boost your confidence and improve your self-esteem. So of course, exercise as a vital component of YABI’s ‘wholistic’ approach to improving health.

Jordan will be joining us for our ‘Support and Networking Meeting’ on December 7th, (Facebook Event page), and will speak about the benefits of exercise and fitness specifically for mental health sufferers. Also, for those interested, Jordan also runs a health supplement company called JJ Supplements and they will have a table you can sample and get advice about the perfect nutrition supplements for you. Check them out on facebook here.

As a bonus to YABI Supporters….Effective Health Solutions, Jordan has made the amazing offer to give 2 FREE PT Sessions in his South Melbourne Location!

A very warm welcome on board the team at Effective Health Solutions and let’s aim to get a whole lot fitter and stronger going forward!

Follow Effective Health Solutions online via:
web – www.effectivehealthsolutions.com.au
facebook – EffectiveHealthSolutions
twitter – @EffectiveHealth