Raising Minds

23/08/2026

When you're supporting a child or young person with compex mental health challenges, it's easy for your own needs to slip further down the list. 🧡

Save this for a day when you need the reminder, or share it with another parent, carer, family or kin who might need it too. 🧡

20/08/2026

To the Sunshine Coast parent wondering why "What’s wrong?” doesn’t get an answer.

What’s happening for a child or young person with complex mental health challenges might show up through withdrawal, behaviour, distress or changes that leave you wondering what they’re trying to communicate and how best to respond.

Speaking Their Language is a free, peer-led workshop for parents, carers, family and kin supporting a young person experiencing complex mental health challenges.

Together, we’ll explore practical ways to look beneath behaviour, ease tension and build greater understanding and connection.

📍 Kawana Island Meeting Place, Parrearra
📅 Tuesday 25 August
🕙 10am–2.30pm
☕ Doors open at 9.30am for a relaxed cuppa
🥪 Free morning tea and lunch provided

And you’ll be in a room with other parents, carers, families and kin who understand that this journey isn’t always straightforward.

Registrations are free. Book your place https://events.humanitix.com/speaking-their-language-kawana?c=meta_org

Free Support Group Workshop for Parents and Carers of Children and Young People with Complex Mental Health

13/08/2026

You don't need the perfect words.
Sometimes helping a young person through an overwhelming moment means:
less pressure
less talking
more space
more time
more connection
🧡 Save this for a hard day.

Want to learn more? Join us at our free upcoming Resilience in Reach Workshops - Speaking Their Language.

*Adapted from CPI's Top 10 De-Escalation Tips

12/08/2026

Ever feel like every conversation with your young person is one wrong word away from shutting down?
When a young person is overwhelmed or stuck in ‘survival brain’, communicating can become incredibly hard.
You might be trying to help, but they pull away.
You ask a question, but get nothing back.
You try to explain, but it seems to make things worse.

Speaking Their Language is a free, 100% peer-led workshop for parents, carers, family and kin who want practical ways to ease the tension and better understand what might be happening underneath the behaviour.

No judgement. No expectation that you have all the answers. Just practical tools, shared understanding and time with other families who get how complicated this can be. 🧡

📍 Kawana Island Meeting Place, Parrearra
📅 Tuesday 25 August
⏰ 10am–2.30pm, with doors open from 9.30 am for a relaxed cuppa
🍴 Free morning tea and lunch
🎟️ Free to attend

Places are still available. If this sounds like something your family could use right now, we’d love to have you with us.

[REGISTER NOW] https://events.humanitix.com/speaking-their-language-kawana?c=meta_org

Resilience in Reach is a 100% peer-led initiative of Raising Minds and Parent to Parent Queensland.

Free Support Group Workshop for Parents and Carers of Children and Young People with Complex Mental Health

11/08/2026

If caring for someone you love is simply part of your everyday life, you might not think of yourself as an ‘unpaid carer’. But for the Census, your caring counts. 🧡

When completing your Census today, remember to answer ‘yes’ if you’ve provided unpaid care, help or assistance to someone in the past two weeks because of disability, a long-term health condition or problems related to old age.

Importantly, if you receive the Carer Payment or Carer Allowance, you are still counted as an unpaid carer for the Census.

Why does it matter? An accurate picture of Australia’s unpaid carers helps inform the services, support programs and funding available to carers and their families.

The last Census counted three million unpaid carers, but caring is often under-reported because, for so many of us, it’s simply what we do for someone we love.

This Census, make your caring count. 🧡

04/08/2026

If you know a young person aged 17 to 25 who is neurodivergent or living with disability and is looking to build confidence, meaningful connections and a greater sense of belonging in their community, this opportunity from CRU - Community Resource Unit Ltd. (CRU) may be worth exploring. 💙

The 'From Presence to Contribution' program is a 12-month journey that includes:
✨ Capacity-building workshops
✨ One-on-one mentoring and coaching
✨ Leadership opportunities
✨ Support to develop goals and become more connected with their community

For many parents, carers, family and kin, finding the right opportunities for a young person can feel overwhelming. We hope sharing programs like this helps make that search a little easier.

📅 Expressions of Interest close 10 August 2026, with the program beginning in September 2026.

Find out more and register your interest via https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/FPTC2026 or by contacting 07 3844 2211.

02/08/2026

"I didn't feel so much like an outsider."
That was one of the most powerful pieces of feedback we received after a recent workshop.
Supporting a child or young person with mental health needs can be incredibly isolating. It can feel like the people around you don't quite understand what your family is navigating, leaving you carrying the weight on your own.
That's exactly why our Resilience in Reach workshops exist.
Not to tell you how to parent.
Not to judge your journey.
But to bring together parents, carers, families and kin who understand what it's feels like to walk this path, while sharing practical knowledge and lived experience that can help you move forward with greater confidence.
Because sometimes the most important thing you hear isn't advice.
It's someone saying, "Me too." 💙

If you're supporting a young person experiencing mental health challenges, we'd love to welcome you to one of our free peer-led workshops.

🔗 Visit the link in our bio to explore upcoming workshops.

31/07/2026

A huge thank you to everyone who stopped by the Raising Minds table at Tuesday's Arafmi Ltd Carer Forum to chat with us about our Resilience in Reach initiative. 💙

It was a privilege to meet so many parents, carers, families and kin, hear your stories, and share how our free peer-led workshops are supporting families navigating child and youth mental health challenges.

A special congratulations to Sandy, who was the lucky winner of our Event Cinemas gift voucher, announced by our CEO, Craig! 🎉 We hope you enjoy a well-deserved trip to the movies.

Thank you to the team at Arafmi for bringing carers, lived experience organisations and the sector together for such a valuable day of connection, learning and collaboration.

It was wonderful to connect alongside so many passionate organisations and advocates, including:
💙 Jonty Bush - Member for Cooper
💙 Kerri-Anne Dooley
💙 Queensland Mental Health Commission
💙 Queensland Health
💙 Eating Disorders Queensland
💙 Kookaburra Kids
💙 Mobile Healing Hands

We're grateful to everyone who took the time to stop, ask questions and learn more about how we're helping families build confidence, connection and resilience through lived experience.

We can't wait to see many of you at one of our upcoming workshops.

28/07/2026

"I don't know how to get them to talk anymore."
It's one of the things we hear most often from parents.
The reality is, many young people desperately want to communicate what they're experiencing - but distress, anxiety, trauma or overwhelm can make finding the words incredibly difficult.
Research shared in our Speaking Their Language workshop co-design found many young people stayed silent because they were trying to protect the people they loved, worried they'd be misunderstood, or simply couldn't explain what was happening inside.
The good news?
Small changes in how we listen can make an enormous difference.
💜 Listening without judgement.
💜 Making time.
💜 Being patient.
💜 Helping young people feel understood.
If conversations at home have started feeling harder lately, you're not alone.
Our FREE Speaking Their Language workshop explores practical, lived-experience strategies to help parents, carers, families and kin better understand what's happening beneath the silence and build stronger communication with the young people in their lives.
📍 Free | Peer-led | Available online and in person during August 2026. Visit https://rir.raisingminds.org.au/speaking-their-language/ to claim your free ticket.

26/07/2026

Sometimes it's not that they won't talk. It's that they can't find the words. 💙
When a young person is experiencing anxiety, trauma, overwhelm or emotional distress, communication can become one of the hardest parts - for them and for the people who love them.
If you've ever found yourself wondering...

💭 "How do I get through to them?"
💭 "Why do they shut down?"
💭 "Am I saying the wrong thing?"..you're not alone.

Our free Speaking Their Language workshops are designed by people with lived experience to help parents, carers, families and kin better understand what's happening beneath the silence.

Together we'll explore:
✔ Why communication becomes difficult during mental health challenges
✔ Practical ways to reduce conflict and strengthen connection
✔ Strategies that help young people feel heard, understood and supported
✔ A welcoming space to connect with other families who truly get it

📍 Join us online or in person throughout August.

🔗 Learn more and register: https://rir.raisingminds.org.au/speaking-their-language/

Tag a parent or carer who might need to see this today. 💙

Supporting a a child or young person with complex mental health can be exhausting. Join our Brisbane workshops for parents & kin. 100% lived experience led. 100% free to attend - no clinical jargon, just real support from people who understand.