Depend on You - Alcohol Awareness Week

11th - 16th November, 2022 

Attribution to jpalinsad360: https://live.staticflickr.com/7336/11064873956_6ef5b12fee.jpg

Alcohol is a part of everyone's lives, whether you partake in drinking on a regular basis or completely abstain from it. Chances are you will either know someone or may yourself be alcohol dependent.

Pearl Cove Library is hosting a Human Library event where you can privately discuss your own issues with alcohol and alcohol dependency or those of a loved one with one of our books. 

Please note this event is restricted to those 18+

What is Alcohol Awareness Week? This initiative was launced in the UK and is a week dedicated to raising the awareness of alcohol consumption. The initiative offers information as well as factsheets and support for those with alcohol dependencies.

For more information on Alcohol Awareness Week visit: 

https://alcoholchange.org.uk/get-involved/campaigns/alcohol-awareness-week-1

What is a Human Library? The idea of a Human Library is to open dialogue and address people's prejudices by allowing someone to borrow a "book". The "book" is not an item that you'd read off the shelf, rather a person that you will have a conversation with. Doing so allows people to talk to others from different walks of life and to gain a new understanding and hopefully change one's views and prejudices.

The concept was created in Copenhagen, Denmark in the year 2000 and was held at the Roskilde festival over four days. During this inaugural event over 1000 people took part during the 8 hours per day that the event ran for.

This concept was embraced by Australia and the very first permanent Human Library event was established in Lismore, NSW in 2006.

Now more than 70 countries have established Human Library events.

For more information please visit: 

https://www.humanlibraryaus.org/

https://humanlibrary.org/

Meet our books:

William Mitchell: William is a local indigenous leader in the Pearl Cove Community. He has witnessed first hand the impact that alcohol has had on the indigenous community and offers a unique perspective into the problems that alcohol abuse has had and how he and other indigenous leaders are helping to raise alcohol awareness in the community.

Constable Peter Grothe: Constable Grothe is an officer of the Pearl Cove Police Force. He has seen the impact of alcohol related violence and injuries during his time in the Police. He will be discussing the relation between crime and alcohol as well as his own personal experiences and those of his colleagues regarding alcohol and self medication in the Police Force.

Sarah Baker: Former MP and Councillor of Pearl Cove, Sarah developed a dependency on alcohol during her time working in the local government. Sadly this led to her losing her job and career. Sarah now runs AA meetings and counselling in the community and is an advocate of Alcohol Awareness.

Nurse Linda Ratchett: Nurse Ratchett is a local nurse at the Pearl Cove Hospital. She will be discussing the health effects and impact that alcohol has had on her patients in her care as well as the greater Pearl Cove community. She will also discuss the issue of self medicating with alcohol that occurs in high stress careers including the health sector.

Event details:

When: Saturday 12th November, 2022 from 12pm-3:30pm

Where: Meet at the Cove Meeting Room, Pearl Cove Library. Bookings with our books will take place in the adjacent group study rooms.

Bookings: Bookings are $10 per person, space is strictly limited so please ensure to make a booking and you will be allocated a book(s) and time. 

To book a session please either contact: 

Phone: (02) 9XXX XXXX

Email: events@pearlcovelibrary.com.au 

Online Booking: https://www.eventbrite.com.au/

Need support?

Depend on You will offer details and contacts to local AA meetings and will also offer details on contacts for drug and alcohol counsellors in the Pearl Cove community.

Additional information and support is available at:

Drinkwise: https://drinkwise.org.au/

The Alcohol and Drug Foundation: https://adf.org.au/

Any additional questions please contact Julian English via email: julian.english@pearlcovelibrary.com.au

Julian English

Job Well Done: The Way We Worked.

 

Vanishing jobs, skills and crafts.   

A Human Living Library Event for the New South Wales Seniors Festival

They are serious for the camera, but what did they get up to in their off times?  

Photo credit: Metro Transportation Library and Archive   ( 1958)"LAMTA - PBX Switchboard MTA_0067" by is licensed with CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.

Did you ever wonder what it was like to be a dunny man?  What did telephone operators get up to when the phones weren’t ringing?  Where did spice sellers in Iran get their stock?

Or, are you fascinated by Vietnamese or Persian traditional craft? Are you interested in learning some traditional Indigenous Australian life skills?

If you said 'yes', then this is the event for you!  

Come along to our Human Living Library and be a “Reader” of some of our “Books” in a listen about past jobs and cultural crafts that you might have never thought about. 

Human Living Libraries are a phenomenon that originated in Denmark in 2000 and have been staged by libraries around the world. Their goals are to promote social change by challenging stereotypes and reducing social stigmas.  This works by opening up a dialogue between people to allow conversations that normally don't happen.  Having these conversations promotes a wider understanding of human diversity and a realization that our similarities are greater than our differences.

During our Pearl Cove Library Human Living Library event the "Books" are our local community members who act as interactive "books" in short one-on-one sessions who are "checked out" by "readers" for an in-depth conversation around specific themes.

The theme of this session will be a lighter one with a look at social changes via a focus on jobs and skills that have been left behind through the stories of the people who worked them.  These people are both the older members of the community, but also those who now call Australia "home" and have had to leave much of their physical culture behind.  Learning their stories will build bridges to our past.

Click here to learn more about the Living Human Library

 Saturday, 2 April 2022

10:00 am to 3:30 pm
The Pearl Room, Pearl Cove Main Library
$10.00 per participant

Contact details for further questions: Catherine Gilbert: 2137 8694

or email the Pearl Cove Library Pearlcovelibrary@nsw.gov.au

 Bookings Open 15 March Online at: the Pearl Cove Human Library Eventbrite or on the day (depending on availability) but book early to avoid disappointment!

Our line-up includes an
·         Indigenous Australian with knowledge of cultural                                 practices
·         Switchboard operator
·         Dunny man
·         Movie projectionist
·         Drover
·         Calculator (Human!)
·         Hmong weaver,
·         Vietnamese duck shell lacquer-ware artisan
·        ( Former) Iranian spice seller
·        Persian miniature painter

Are you interested in reading more about jobs that no longer exist?    24 Jobs That No Longer Exist | Mental Floss 

Tradtional Crafts of Vetnam?

Traditional handicrafts of Vietnam

Crafts of Iran?

CRAFTS – Encyclopaedia Iranica (iranicaonline.org) 

Catherine Gilbert

How to Thrive Over 55

                                                       How to Thrive Over 55

   Mental Health Month 2021

                                                    A Human Libraries Event

                                Hosted by Pearl Cove Library

                                    Thursday 21st October 2021 from 4.30-7.30 pm

                                                         at Pearl Cove Library.

         

Our Topic for this Event is "Suicide and Depression in Over 55's" This is a very real and important topic for the Pearl Cove community. Given that our current population has 25.6% that are 65 and over.

       Pearl Cove Library is hosting a Human Library Event that coincides with Mental Health Month 2021, What is a Human Library you ask? The Human Library was first established by a group of colleagues in Copenhagen in 2000. It is a real place where people are on loan to readers. Essentially meaning the ‘books’ are the people/topics, and the borrowers, are the listeners. Often having a conversation that the reader is leading, by asking questions, they’ve probably not had the opportunity to ask before. These sessions often will last 20 minutes per borrower.

https://www.humanlibraryaus.org/ 

           

            Have you found yourself in a sudden change? almost a redundancy of previous life? Have the kid's moved out? Have you reduced your hours of work or retired? 

             

            Are you perhaps feeling alone? sad or even frightened about this next stage of life.?  Then please join us on-

              

                              

         

           Our Books are-

           1.    Lorraine Age 57, - survivor of depression and suicide.

           2.    Bob Age 62, - widower and recent retiree.

           3.    Morgan – Phycologist. Amazing Ageing Psychology Clinic.   

           https://amazingageingpsychology.com.au/                

           4.    Lindy – Probus Pearl Cove Coordinator.   

           

For bookings please use https://www.eventbrite.com.au or alternatively you can call the Pearl Cove Library on 9672-4563

For any further information please contact- Sue Cook Library Technician at Pearl Cove Library Suecookpearlcovelibrary@gmail.com or please phone 9672-4563  

          

Please note this is an over 18 event.