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Jenny Williams launched her new book Think Prepare Play Like A Champion yesterday at Immanuel College, Novar Gardens.  Over 70 people including ex and current AFL Australian Basketball Netball Hockey stars and ParaOlympian athletes, were present to hear Jan Sterling, recent FIBA hall of Fame Inductee and World Championship winning Opals coach, introduce Jenny and her book.  Phil Smyth, Adelaide 36er Multi Premiership winning coach, interviewed Mark Williams ( ex PAFC Premiership Coach, current Richmond Assistant Coach) Erin Phillips (WNBL Multi Championship Player, Opals Member), and Guy Stanton (Qantas Pilot ex RAAF Pilot) about Jenny and her influence on them and messages in her book.

A great review of the book launch is seen in Our Sporting Life SA . (copied below)

The Advertiser‘s book review is also copied below after Our Sporting Life SA.

Our Sporting Life SA

“THINK PREPARE PLAY like a CHAMPION
The irrepressible Jenny Williams launched her new publication as her old armada, Immanuel College today, called
“Think Prepare Play like a Champion.”
Typical of Jen, the presentation was the most dynamic book launch imaginable.
It was part motivational speech, part sales pitch and as always a lot of fun,capturing the essence of the lady and her family.
Special guests included coaching icon Jan Stirling, basketball great Phil Smyth (MC), 2004 Power premiership coach and sibling Mark Williams, women’s basketball star Erin Phillips and 30-year Qantas pilot Guy Stanton.
Among the crowd were SA greats including dual Crows premiership captain Mark Bickley, Australia netball star Erin Bell, ABC broadcaster Roger Wills, Bloods ’15 SANFL premiership player Jason Porplyzia, SANFL Talent Manger and Under 18 coach Brenton Phillips, other brother and SANFL champion in his own right, Stephen along with a host of other dignitaries.
If ever a person wanted a book (educational tool) to give you every opportunity to make the most of their natural talent, along with reinforcing life skills this should be on the top of the shopping list.
Books are available from:-
http://www.bestongroundperformance.com website or the Best of Ground Performance Facebook page and at Dymock’s Book Shop – Rundle Mall”

Advertiser Book Launch Coverage 1st December 2015 from website…

“SOUTH Australian sport Hall of Famer Jenny Williams on Tuesday launched her latest project at Adelaide’s Immanuel College in front of a roll call of SA sporting greats.

The release of Williams’ book, Think Prepare Play Like a Champion, was hosted by former Australian women’s basketball coach Jan Stirling and attended by her brothers, AFL premiership coach Mark and SANFL premiership coach Stephen.

Also there were sporting greats such as Olympic gold medallist Juliet Haslam, Crows dual premiership captain Mark Bickley, basketball great Phil Smyth and female basketball champion Erin Phillips.

Williams, a qualified psychologist, made presentations using videos as she outlined her approach to better sports coaching and brought up examples from her own outstanding sporting career as well as that of her family members’.

Stirling, who opened the proceedings, gave the book high praise by saying: “This is more of a resource for life than just sport.”

Williams has poured five years and enough of her own money to build another room to the family home to have the book published, and said she would be over the moon if the book just broke even — but wasn’t banking on it.

The book sums up her learnings through a career of sport and coaching, which continues to include the mentoring of current AFL players.

Her brother, Mark, summed up her work.

“She’s been a wonderful inspiration for our family and she never makes learning boring,” he said.

Williams herself spoke passionately about her project and hoped it could help others get more out of sport.

“People keep saying KISS — keep it simple, stupid — but being great is not simple,” she said. “You have to learn a lot of things.”

Think Prepare Play Like a Champion, by J A Williams, can be ordered through bestongroundperformance.com”

 

From Medscape May 1, 2015

Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) may offer an effective alternative to drug treatment for recurrent depression, new research suggests.

Results of a randomized controlled trial, the first to directly compare MBCT with maintenance antidepressant treatment to prevent relapse in patients with at least three prior major depressive episodes, showed no difference in health outcomes or cost between the two therapies.

However, investigators note that “when considered in the context of the totality of randomized controlled data, we found evidence from this trial to support MBCT-TS [MBCT with support to taper or discontinue antidepressant treatment] as an alternative to maintenance antidepressants for prevention of depressive relapse or recurrence at similar costs.”

The findings were published online April 21 in the Lancet.

High Relapse Risk

Investigators led by Sarah Byford, PhD, professor of health economics, Centre for the Economics of Mental Health at the Institute of Psychiatry at King’s College London, in the United Kingdom, note that individuals with a history of recurrent depression are at high risk for relapse.

Dr Byford told Medscape Medical News that previous research has shown that maintenance with antidepressants reduces the likelihood of relapse by up to 66%. The problem is that patients tend to stop taking maintenance medications, typically because of side effects or a preference for psychotherapy.

MBCT is a manualized group therapy aimed at enabling individuals to learn skills to combat depression by becoming more aware of, and reacting more constructively to, their body sensations, thoughts, and feelings.

It combines mindfulness-based stress reduction techniques with cognitive-behavioral therapy for acute depression. The intervention consisted of MBCT with counseling on how to taper antidepressants.

MBCT has been shown to reduce risk for relapse or recurrence compared with usual care, but it had not been compared with maintenance antidepressant treatment in a definitive trial.

To determine whether MBCT-TS was superior to maintenance antidepressants for prevention of depressive relapse or recurrence, the investigators conducted a single-blind, parallel, group randomized controlled trial.

The study included 424 patients with recurrent depression in primary care practices randomly assigned to receive either MBCT (n = 212) or continued maintenance with antidepressants (n = 212). MBCT consisted of eight 2.25-hour group sessions led by a trained therapist and daily home practice with the option of participating in four refresher sessions every 3 months for 1 year. The patients were aware of their treatment, but the research assessors were blinded to the patients’ treatment assignment.

After 2 years of treatment, there was no difference in the effectiveness between groups for depression relapse, defined by meeting DSM-IV criteria for a major depressive episode. Relapse occurred in 44% of MBCT patients and in 47% of maintenance antidepressant patients (hazard ratio, 0.89; 95% confidence interval, 0.67 – 1.18).

Although the investigators postulated that MBCT would have superior effectiveness, their “finding of no difference suggests that both groups improved substantially,” said Dr Byford.

The researchers also assessed the economic costs of MBCT-TS vs maintenance antidepressants. It examined costs of heathcare and social services, as well as costs associated with lost productivity from time off work and reduced productivity at work. The study showed no significant differences between groups in all types of costs.

The trial also showed no differences in quality of life between treatment groups. Quality of life was measured by two questionnaires, the WHO Quality of Life Instrument and the health-related quality of life, EuroQuol-5D-3L.

Ten serious adverse events, including four suicides, were reported. The adverse events were evenly split among treatment groups. None of the adverse events were deemed related to the intervention.

Although the investigators found no evidence that MBCT-TS is superior to antidepressants in preventing relapse, the investigators note that it may provide a viable alternative to antidepressants, allowing “individuals to stay well and maintain a good quality of life.” However, Dr Byford noted that the problem now is that “there are too few MBCT-trained therapists to whom general practitioners can refer patients.”

Important Treatment Option

In an accompanying commentary, Roger Mulder, MB, ChB, PhD, professor, Department of Psychological Medicine, University of Otago, in New Zealand, said that despite the study’s apparent negative result, the findings have substantial clinical significance.

MBCT “might offer a similar ongoing protective effect as that of maintenance antidepressants. MBCT therefore provides an alternative effective treatment for patients who cannot tolerate or do not wish to have maintenance antidepressants,” Dr Mulder writes.

“Depression remains a disabling condition with high prevalence and a large clinical burden. Despite the increased use of drugs, the long-term outcome of mood disorders has not improved in the modern era. Having an alternative non-medication strategy to reduce relapse is an important means to help patients with depression,” he adds.

The research was funded by the UK National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Health Technology Assessment program and NIHR Collaboration for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care South West Peninsula. Dr Byford and Dr Mulder report no relevant financial relationships.

Lancet. Published online April 21, 2015. Full text

Finally found a great list I saw at the GP Conference from the Black Dog Institute about online psychology help. Great to supplement a chat to a professional or to start having a rummage around your head to see whats going on if you are feeling stressed down or anxious...www.moodgym.anu.edu.au www.mycompass.org.au www.thiswayup.org.au  www.ontrack.org.au  www.ecouch.anu.edu.au www.mindspot.org.au  www.eheadspace.org.au  www.biteback.org.au