text: The Marine Corps still issues the medium ALICE pack for some radio operators. Both it and the large variant can still be found with NROTC units (who train Marine officers in addition to Navy officers). Active-duty training units (Recruit Training, School of Infantry, Officer Candidates School, The Basic School) and deployable units have switched over to the new Family of Improved Load Bearing Equipment (USMC Pack) or the slightly older Improved Load Bearing Equipment (ILBE) system. MARSOC makes extensive use of ALICE or Modified ALICE (MALICE) packs for ruck-running events in training (Assessment and Selection, Initial Training Course, and Special Operations Training Course), pre-deployment evaluations, and the Raider Games.


title: All-purpose Lightweight Individual Carrying Equipment

text: Small maneuver elements which rely on lightweight pack design and durability still use ALICE packs today.


text: Iranian Military and Law Enforcement still make heavy use of ALICE, MLC and LCE gear, but they are switching to MOLLE equipment (specifically IRGC and Army special forces) because of being more modular and to IIFS for being more lightweight.


title: Mare Nostrum

text: Mare Nostrum (; Latin: "Our Sea") was a Roman name for the Mediterranean Sea. In Classical Latin, it would have been pronounced , and in Ecclesiastical Latin, it is pronounced .


title: Mare Nostrum

text: In the decades following the 1861 unification of Italy, Italian nationalists and Italian fascists who saw Italy as the successor state to the Roman Empire attempted to revive the term.


title: Mare Nostrum

text: The term "Mare Nostrum" originally was used by the Ancient Romans to refer to the Tyrrhenian Sea after their conquest of Sicily, Sardinia and Corsica during the Punic Wars with Carthage. By 30 BC, Roman dominion had extended from the Iberian Peninsula to Egypt, and "Mare Nostrum" began to be used in the context of the whole Mediterranean Sea. Other names were also employed, including "Mare Internum" ("Internal Sea"), but they did not include "Mare Mediterraneum", which was a Late Latin creation that was attested to only well after the Fall of Rome.


title: Mare Nostrum

text: In the decades following the 1861 unification of Italy, Italian nationalists who saw Italy as the successor state to the Roman Empire attempted to revive the term. In particular, the rise of Italian nationalism during the "Scramble for Africa" of the 1880s led to calls for the establishment of an Italian colonial empire, which introduced for the first time a renewed and modern concept of "Mare Nostrum":


title: Mare Nostrum

text: The term was again taken up by Benito Mussolini for use in fascist propaganda, in a similar manner to Adolf Hitler's "Lebensraum". Mussolini wanted to re-establish the greatness of the Roman Empire and believed that Italy was the most powerful of the Mediterranean countries after World War I. He declared that "the twentieth century will be a century of Italian power" and created one of the most powerful navies of the world in order to control the Mediterranean Sea.


title: Mare Nostrum

text: When World War II started, Italy was already a major Mediterranean power that controlled the north and south shores of the central basin. After the fall of France removed the main threat from the west, the British Mediterranean Fleet, with bases in UK-controlled Gibraltar, Malta, Cyprus, Egypt, and Mandatory Palestine remained the only threat to Italian naval power in the Mediterranean. The invasions of Albania, Greece, Yugoslavia and Egypt, and the Siege of Malta sought to extend Axis control over the Sea. This policy was so far-reaching and potentially intrusive, that it threatened neutral nations like Turkey, a threat that İsmet İnönü, the president of Turkey at the time of war, countered by promising to enter the war only if the Soviet Union joined the Allies.


title: Mare Nostrum

text: Mussolini wished to create an Imperial Italy around his own idea of a "Mare Nostrum" and promoted the fascist project—to be realized in a future peace conference after the anticipated Axis victory—of an enlarged Italian Empire, stretching from the Mediterranean shores of Egypt to the Indian Ocean shores of Somalia and eastern Kenya. He referred to making the Mediterranean Sea "an Italian lake". This aim, however, was challenged throughout the campaign by the Allied navies at sea and the Allied armies and resistance movements on land. For example, Greece had easily been incorporated into the Roman Empire, but the new Greek state proved to be too powerful for Italian conquest, and Greece remained independent until German forces arrived to assist the Italian invasion. Despite periods of Axis ascendancy during the Battle of the Mediterranean it was never realized, and ended altogether with the final Italian defeat of September 1943.


title: Mare Nostrum

text: "Mare Nostrum" is the title of a best-selling novel by Spanish author Vicente Blasco Ibáñez, published in 1918. A film based on it was released in 1948.


title: Mare Nostrum

text: The term "Mare Nostrum" was chosen as the theme for the Inaugural Conference of the Society for Mediterranean Law and Culture, being held in June 2012 at the University of Cagliari Faculty of Law, Sardinia, Italy ("La Conferenza Inaugurale della Società di Diritto e Cultura del Mediterraneo"). In this contemporary usage, the term is intended to embrace the full diversity of Mediterranean cultures, with a particular focus on exchanges and cooperation among Mediterranean nations.


title: Mare Nostrum

text: Following the 2013 Lampedusa migrant shipwreck, the Italian government decided to strengthen the national system for the patrolling of the Mediterranean sea by authorizing "Operation Mare Nostrum," a military and humanitarian operation in order to rescue the migrants and arrest the traffickers of immigrants.


title: Chopping Mall

text: Chopping Mall is a 1986 American techno-horror slasher film co-written and directed by Jim Wynorski, produced by Julie Corman, and starring Kelli Maroney, Tony O'Dell, John Terlesky, Russell Todd, Paul Bartel, Mary Woronov, and Barbara Crampton. It focuses on three high-tech security robots turning maniacal and killing teenage employees inside a shopping mall after dark.


title: Chopping Mall

text: The film was test-screened under the title "Killbots" by its distributor, Concorde Pictures. After it performed poorly with test audiences, the film was re-titled "Chopping Mall", and approximately 19 minutes were excised.


title: Chopping Mall

text: In the years since its release, "Chopping Mall" has gone on to develop a cult following, and been subjected to film criticism for its perceived themes of human consumption and excess during the Reagan Era in the United States.


title: Chopping Mall

text: Park Plaza Mall has just installed a state-of-the-art security system, including shutters across all exits and three high-tech robots programmed to disable and apprehend thieves using tasers and tranquilizer guns. Allison and Suzie, co-workers at a pizzeria in the mall, join their respective boyfriends, Greg and Ferdy—along with their other friends, couples Rick and Linda, and Mike and Leslie—for an after-hours party in a furniture store where Mike, Greg, and Ferdy work. Once the mall closes for the night, the couples begin to have sex, drink, and party inside the furniture store.


title: Chopping Mall

text: Outside, a lightning storm strikes the mall several times and damages the computer controlling Protectors 1, 2 and 3, which malfunction and kill the technicians and a janitor before starting their routine patrol. When Mike goes to purchase cigarettes for Leslie at a vending machine, Protector 1 attacks him and slashes his throat. Leslie goes to find him, she is chased by Protector 1, which beams a laser at her, causing her head to explode. The others witness Leslie's murder, and barricade themselves in a stock room. The women attempt to escape through an air vent, but Suzie panics and they exit the vent system into an automotive shop, arming themselves with gasoline and flares. Meanwhile, the men break into a sporting-goods store to arm themselves with firearms. Reunited, the group use a propane tank to seemingly destroy Protector 1. While the men set up the elevator as a booby trap, the killbots ambush the women and ignite Suzie by shooting her gasoline can, burning her alive. Greg unsuccessfully shoots them before Rick drags him away.


title: Chopping Mall

text: The teenagers regroup and rig the elevator trap on Protector 2, destroying it. They then hide in the restaurant where Allison works. Inside, Greg confronts Allison and Linda about leaving the air ducts and exhibits rage due to Suzie's death, pulling his gun on Ferdy when he intercedes on Allison and Linda's behalf. Rick tries to calm him down, and Ferdy suggests destroying the killbots' main control center in hopes of shutting them all down. The group agrees and heads to the control center on the third floor. The robot throws Greg over the railing and he falls to his death.


title: Chopping Mall

text: On the run, the four remaining survivors, Allison, Ferdy, Rick, and Linda also find the first robot recovered after its earlier defeat. They take refuge inside a department store and set up mannequins to confuse Protector 1 and Protector 3. Their plan works as they fire at the dummies and one of them blinds itself with its own reflected laser. However, the blind Protector 3 kills Linda and an enraged Rick rams a golf cart into it. A bolt of electricity kills him, but his attempts successfully destroy the robot.


title: Chopping Mall

text: Protector 1 is marked as the final robot cornering Allison, Ferdy rescues her and shoots it point-blank, damaging its laser just before he falls unconscious. Despite an injured leg, Allison escapes into Ellis Paint Company and sets up a trap by mixing paint and chemicals. She lures Protector 1 inside, where it gets stuck for failing to find traction on the spilled paint and thinners. She tosses a flare into the store, igniting the chemicals and finally destroys Protector 1. As daylight appears, Allison leaves the store and Ferdy awakens. The two remain the only survivors.


title: Chopping Mall

text: In a post-credits scene, a fourth, unknown Protector says its catchphrase "Have a nice day" one last time.


title: Chopping Mall

text: Film scholar Craig Ian Mann compares the film favorably to George A. Romero's "Dawn of the Dead" (1978)—also set in a shopping mall—which he classifies as an "anti-capitalist parable for the Jimmy Carter years," suggesting that "Chopping Mall" functions as in a similar way as a comment on consumption during the Reagan Era. Mann suggests that the robots in the film, even when malfunctioning, serve as mechanical enforcers of workplace discipline and capitalist interests.


title: Chopping Mall

text: Julie Corman had a deal with Vestron to make a horror film that took place in a mall. Jim Wynorski agreed to write one cheaply if he could direct.


title: Chopping Mall

text: Wynorski wrote the script with Steve Mitchell, whom he had known since the 1970s, when they met at conventions for EC Comics, and became friends. They decided to do a "phantom of the mall"-type movie and Mitchell says it was Wynorski's idea to feature robots. Wynorski said he was inspired by the 1954 film "Gog"; he claims he never saw the 1973 TV film "Trapped", which some believe inspired "Chopping Mall".


title: Chopping Mall

text: Mitchell says they wrote up the story in 24 hours and sent it to Julie Corman. Vestron gave their approval within a week despite lack of a script. The script took around four or five weeks to write.


title: Chopping Mall

text: Wynorski says Kelli Maroney was cast because "I had seen Kelli in a couple of things and I wanted to date her. So, I figured the one way to make that happen was to put her in a movie." She replaced Dana Kimmell, who had been cast on the strength of her performance in "Lone Wolf McQuade" but Dana did not want to do anything that was sexual," according to Mitchell. "So Jim was very quick to say, "Well, she’s out, let’s get Kelli," who was pretty much game for anything." Karrie Emerson also replaced someone else.


title: Chopping Mall

text: The script was full of in-jokes, writing in characters from "A Bucket of Blood" and "Eating Raoul". The writers got the actors from the respective films: Dick Miller, Mary Woronov, and Paul Bartel.


title: Chopping Mall

text: Mitchell wanted John Terlesky to play the hero, but Wynorski wanted Russell Todd. Terlesky played the part of Mike.


title: Chopping Mall

text: "Chopping Mall" also acts as a debut film for Rodney Eastman, who later went on to star in "" and "".


title: Chopping Mall

text: Wynorski says Roger Corman took him out to lunch before making the film. He bought a yellow pad, "and after lunch he said this here is what you gotta do and he gave me film school in an hour. Everything I learned in film school didn't count, but what he said made a lot of sense and I still have that yellow pad and I live by it. I now have it memorized, many dos and don'ts."


title: Chopping Mall

text: The film was intended to be shot on location at the Beverly Center, but the production was unable to afford their fee; instead, the majority of filming took place in the Sherman Oaks Galleria, where "Fast Times at Ridgemont High" (1982) and "Commando" had also been shot. The Beverly Center was used for exterior shots instead.


title: Chopping Mall

text: Mitchell later recalls, "I think we both felt a pretty fair amount of pressure when we started shooting. It was Julie’s picture, but it was still Roger’s company, and he was the bottom line. We both very much wanted to make him happy." He says, "the specter of Roger loomed large for the first couple of days", but after the second or third night, Corman said they were doing a "very fine job". "So there was a collective sigh of relief on our part that we were making Roger happy, and that’s what really mattered," says Mitchell.


title: Chopping Mall

text: Concorde Pictures gave the film a regional test market release under the title "Killbots" on March 21, 1986. After it fared poorly with audiences, the film was truncated and re-titled "Chopping Mall", under which it was theatrically released in Pittsburgh on September 5, 1986, and in New York City on November 14, 1986.


title: Chopping Mall

text: At least two different versions of the film exist. The TV cut has some extra footage, such as a small homage to "Attack of the Crab Monsters", extended scenes of Ferdy and Allison watching TV, some aerial shots, and an extension of one of the Ferdy/Allison scenes. No official source offers this version.


title: Chopping Mall

text: The film was released on VHS in the United States by the Vestron sublabel Lightning Video in 1987. Lionsgate released the film twice on DVD, once in 2004 (with special features including a featurette, commentary, still gallery, and trailer) and in 2012 as part of an 8-horror film DVD set. It was released for the first time on Blu-ray on September 27, 2016 as part of Lionsgate's new Vestron Video Collector's Series line.


title: Chopping Mall

text: Wynorski later said, the film "did okay when it was released in theaters. It got some okay reviews and did decent business, but it really found a life on VHS and cable. That’s when it really was embraced."


title: Chopping Mall

text: In November 2011, Dry County Entertainment acquired the film rights and intended to remake the film with a supernatural twist. The film was set to be produced and written by Kevin Bocarde and directed by Robert Hall. , nothing has materialized.


title: Thursday (album)

text: Thursday is the second mixtape by Canadian singer the Weeknd. It was released on August 18, 2011, by XO. Like his debut mixtape "House of Balloons" (2011), the Weeknd collaborated with producers and songwriters Doc McKinney and Illangelo; the duo produced "Thursday" in its entirety, and it contains fewer samples than its predecessor. Recorded in Toronto, the mixtape is also notable for its guest appearance from Canadian rapper Drake.


title: Thursday (album)

text: "Thursday" has an unconventional and diverse musical style, drawing on downtempo, dubstep, dream pop, hip hop, rock, and reggae music. It contains similar themes to his previous works, exploring the Weeknd's drug use, libertinism, and experiences with love and newfound fame. He titled the mixtape as a reference to a contentious open relationship he had with a former lover.


title: Thursday (album)

text: "Thursday" received critical acclaim, who drew comparisons to "House of Balloons". It was later commercially released as part of the compilation album "Trilogy" (2012), and included the single "The Zone" with Drake. On its tenth anniversary, the original mixes were released alongside a limited edition line of merchandise designed by artist Mr. Yanen.


title: Thursday (album)

text: "Thursday" received critical acclaim. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the mixtape received an average score of 80, based on 17 reviews. Evan Rytlewski of "The A.V. Club" said, "It's a rare songwriter who can craft music that's so repellent yet also so irresistible." Winston Robbins of "Consequence of Sound" said, "Despite the ridiculously high highs of this album, it fails to maintain a great pace throughout. It struggles back and forth between "good" and "great," whereas its foregoer grabbed "great" by the balls on the first track and never let go." Benjamin Boles of "Now" said, "It's not quite perfect: his voice is the star of the show but is occasionally buried under the clever beats and production. But that's a small complaint about someone who's looking more and more like one of the most exciting artists to emerge this year." "Q" magazine stated, "Toronto outfit, The Weeknd, has been hailed as one of the most exciting new sounds in modern R&B -- hype that, on the basis of this equally startling follow-up, seems entirely justified." Brandon Soderberg of "Pitchfork" said, "Though there's less breathing space on "Thursday", and fewer melodic hooks, it still feels of a piece with "House of Balloons"."


title: Thursday (album)

text: BBC Music's Mike Diver made a positive review, saying, "File him beside Frank Ocean as an R&B star set to climb to new heights in 2012." Matthew Cole of "Slant Magazine" wrote, "The Weeknd is in full command of his craft, and at this point it's almost impossible for me to imagine that he won't deliver on the finale. He's earned my trust, as would any other artist who had already released two of the year's best albums." Tyler Fisher of Sputnikmusic said, "Listening to something like "Thursday" is the ultimate form of escapism that so many of us flock to music for. That's a quality that should be celebrated, not criticized for its lack of immediate pleasure." Jody Rosen of "Rolling Stone" gave a mixed review, commenting, "While it's refreshing to hear an R&B singer emphasizing the psychic toll of libertinism, his angst sex grows tiresome. Once in a while, can't this dude just get laid, and have fun doing it?"


title: Greater Western Sydney Giants

text: The Greater Western Sydney Giants (officially the Greater Western Sydney Football Club and colloquially known as the GWS Giants or simply GWS) are a professional Australian rules football team based in Sydney Olympic Park, which represents the Greater Western Sydney region of New South Wales and Canberra in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT).


title: Greater Western Sydney Giants

text: The Giants compete in the Australian Football League (AFL), and entered the league in 2012 as the competition's 18th active club. The club train at the WestConnex Centre in the Olympic Park and play most home matches at Sydney Showground Stadium, also located within the Olympic Park precinct. In addition it plays four home matches per season at Manuka Oval in Canberra as part of a deal with the ACT Government.


title: Greater Western Sydney Giants

text: The Giants commenced competing in the AFL in March 2012. Despite struggling initially in the competition and claiming two consecutive wooden spoons, the club reached finals for the first time in 2016 and qualified for its first Grand Final in 2019, where they were defeated by by 89 points.


title: Greater Western Sydney Giants

text: The Giants operate three other teams outside of the AFL. The club has fielded a team in the AFL Women's league since 2017 and a reserves team in the Victorian Football League (VFL) since 2021; the latter participated in the North East Australian Football League until that competition was dissolved in 2020. A netball team, known as Giants Netball, competes in the Suncorp Super Netball.


title: Greater Western Sydney Giants

text: The idea of an AFL team from western Sydney originated from the AFL's plans in 1999 to make the North Melbourne Football Club Sydney's second team. Following the momentum of the relocated Swans Grand Final appearance, the AFL had backed the move for North Melbourne, a club which had then previously gained market exposure by defeating the Swans in their first re-location Grand Final appearance. However, the venture was unsuccessful and after several games a season North Melbourne never managed to draw crowds of over 15,000 at the Sydney Cricket Ground before finally leaving the market for Canberra and later the Gold Coast.


title: Greater Western Sydney Giants

text: The AFL's interest in the Western Sydney market appeared to be rekindled after the Sydney Swans' second, more successful Grand Final appearance in 2005. In 2006, the AFL introduced the NSW Scholarships scheme also known as the Talented Player Program (TPP), primarily aimed at juniors in West Sydney market to foster home grown talent and produce AFL players, a region which despite its large and growing population, had prior to the program, produced few professional Australian Footballers. The AFL was buoyed when it gained the support of then NSW premier Morris Iemma in late 2006, and the league became a partner in the Blacktown sporting facility in Rooty Hill, New South Wales. The facility was announced as the new home base for its team out of western Sydney in 2007; it announced that it had planned to grant its 18th licence in mid to late 2008. In January 2008, the AFL officially registered the business name Western Sydney Football Club Ltd with ASIC.


title: Greater Western Sydney Giants

text: In March 2008, it was revealed by the media that the AFL had considered a radical proposal to launch an Irish-dominated team in Sydney's western suburbs, which would perform before an international audience under the "Celtic" brand name. At the time, the Irish Experiment was peaking with numerous Irish players in the AFL. The "Sydney Celtics" plan was first put to AFL chief executive Andrew Demetriou in early 2007 by Gaelic Players Association executive Donal O'Neill. It was said that the proposal originated at the International Rules series in Ireland in late 2006 when O'Neill put forward a plan to purchase an AFL licence in Sydney. The idea had been boosted by the hype generated by Tadgh Kennelly's appearance for Sydney in the AFL Grand Final, having become one of the club's better locally known players. However, the idea never materialised and the AFL has since stated that this was never a serious option.


title: Greater Western Sydney Giants

text: In March 2008, the AFL won the support of the league's 16 club presidents to establish an eighteenth side in Western Sydney. The Western Sydney working party devising player rules and draft concessions for the second Sydney team met on 22 July 2008.


title: Greater Western Sydney Giants

text: During 2008, the AFL Commission, whose agenda was to make a final decision on the Western Sydney Football Club, delayed it on multiple occasions. During the same year, in November, the AFL announced a A$100 million venture to redevelop a stadium originally built for baseball at the Sydney Olympics, into a boutique AFL stadium at the Sydney Showground, in the city's west.


title: Greater Western Sydney Giants

text: After a third meeting in Sydney in November, the AFL cited the Economic crisis of 2008 as being a key factor in the delays. While the AFL reiterated its stance on the Western Sydney licence, the commission admitted that the delay in the decision was due to financial remodelling of the bid in response to the crisis, and conceded that the debut of the team in the AFL may eventuate one or more seasons later than initially suggested. The expansion licence drew increasing media scepticism and public criticism, particularly in the light of a poor finals attendance in Sydney, declining Sydney Swans attendances and memberships, the economic crisis and the Tasmanian AFL Bid which had gained significant momentum and public support during 2008. An Australian Senate enquiry into the Tasmanian AFL Bid concluded that Sydney had "insurmountable cultural barriers" to the establishment of a second AFL team.


title: Greater Western Sydney Giants

text: In May 2009, AIS/AFL Academy coach Alan McConnell was appointed as the club's high performance manager. McConnell was the first full-time appointment for GWS and his new role commenced on 1 July 2009. Kevin Sheedy was appointed inaugural coach in November 2009, signing a three-year contract. His role commenced on 2 February 2010. His first senior assistant coach was former premiership coach of Port Adelaide, Mark Williams. Williams left the role at the conclusion of 2012, in order to become a development coach at the Richmond Tigers.


title: Greater Western Sydney Giants

text: In November 2010 Skoda Australia was announced as the team's first major sponsor, signing a three-year contract which included naming rights to the team's home ground at the Sydney Showground. SpotJobs became a sponsor in March 2015. They featured on the back of the Giants' playing guernseys for home matches in Sydney and Canberra and on the front of the guernseys for all the team's away games for that year only. Currently, Virgin Australia, Toyo Tyres and St. George bank are the main sponsors, along with apparel partner, Puma.


title: Greater Western Sydney Giants

text: On 4 October 2012, Greater Western Sydney confirmed Leon Cameron as its new senior assistant coach for 2013. This role expanded to Senior Coach which he held for nine years before resigning from his position in May 2022.


title: Greater Western Sydney Giants

text: In 2007 the NSW government, Blacktown City Council, Cricket NSW and the AFL agreed to the development of an AFL/Cricket centre at Blacktown International Sportspark at a cost of $27.5 million. The agreement between Blacktown City Council and the AFL was an 84-year (21 x 4) agreement. The breakdown of contributors of funding was the NSW Government $15 million, Blacktown City Council $6.75m, Cricket NSW $2.875 million and AFL $2.875 million.


title: Greater Western Sydney Giants

text: On 15 April 2012, the Giants played their first and only regular season AFL premiership game against West Coast Eagles in front of a crowd of 6,875 at Blacktown International Sportspark. The final score being Giants 10-9-69 – Eagles 23-12-150.


title: Greater Western Sydney Giants

text: In April 2013, an $11.6 million redevelopment of a former golf driving range into a new AFL training ground and multicultural community education centre commenced, signalling the relocation of GWS to the suburb of Sydney Olympic Park. Greater Western Sydney Giants presence at the complex from 2010 to 2014 was concluded with the movement of the senior team 27 km east to Sydney Olympic Park. This move was supported by the NSW Government which spent an additional $45 million to upgrade the Sydney Showground Stadium at Sydney Olympic Park providing a new home for the Western Sydney AFL team.


title: Greater Western Sydney Giants

text: Greater Western Sydney were provided with similar recruitment entitlements to the who had entered the AFL the year before the Giants. Key differences included that their access to an uncontracted player from each other AFL club was able to be acted on in either 2011 or 2012. The club was also allocated the ability to trade up to four selections in a "mini-draft" of players born between January and April 1994, that would otherwise not be eligible to be drafted until the 2012 AFL Draft. They also were given the first selection in each round of the 2011 AFL Draft as well as selections 2, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13 and 15 in the first round of the draft.


title: Greater Western Sydney Giants

text: The 2011 Trade Week saw the Giants take part in nine trades, involving two selections in the mini-draft as well trading away players who had previously nominated for the draft in return for additional early draft selections in the 2011 AFL Draft, that resulted in them holding the first five draft selections and 11 of the first 14.


title: Greater Western Sydney Giants

text: During the 2011 season, there was much speculation about which uncontracted players would sign with the Giants. In August 2011, defender Phil Davis became the first player to announce that he would sign with the new club. During 2011, four more AFL listed players announced they would be playing for the Giants in 2012 – Bulldogs midfielders Callan Ward and Sam Reid, Fremantle midfielder Rhys Palmer and Melbourne midfielder Tom Scully.


title: Greater Western Sydney Giants

text: Former Melbourne Captain James McDonald, Brisbane veteran Luke Power and Port Adelaide ruckman Dean Brogan and midfielder Chad Cornes came out of retirement to play for the Giants in 2012. McDonald and Power took on roles as playing Assistant Coaches.


title: Greater Western Sydney Giants

text: Greater Western Sydney also recruited Israel Folau, a former professional rugby league and rugby union footballer, from the Brisbane Broncos.


title: Greater Western Sydney Giants

text: Before entering the AFL, the club played in the TAC Cup in 2010 and North East Australian Football League in 2011, as well as the 2011 and 2012 AFL pre-season tournaments, and the 2011 Foxtel Cup.


title: Greater Western Sydney Giants

text: The club played its first game in the Australian Football League on 24 March 2012 at ANZ Stadium in the inaugural Sydney Derby against the Sydney Swans which they lost by 63 points. On 12 May 2012 the club recorded its first win, defeating the Gold Coast Suns in a round 7 match by 13.16 (94) to 9.13 (67). The only other victory of the team's inaugural season was a 34-point win over Port Adelaide.


title: Greater Western Sydney Giants

text: The Giants were to have numerous big losses, including five by over 100 points, beating the previous record of four set by Fitzroy in their final season, the Brisbane Bears in 1991, St Kilda in 1985 and Footscray in 1982. They lost four other games by over eighty points and finished with a percentage of 46.17, the lowest by any club since St Kilda, in 1955, had a percentage of 45.4 and, before that, Melbourne in 1919 with 43.0.


title: Greater Western Sydney Giants

text: In their second season, Greater Western Sydney fared even worse than in their debut season. The Giants lost their first seventeen games, an ignominy suffered previously by Fremantle in 2001, St. Kilda in 1910 and seven teams who finished with an 0–18 record. The most recent of these VFL/AFL teams losing all eighteen games was Fitzroy in 1964. Greater Western Sydney's combined percentage for their first two seasons was indeed the lowest by any club since St. Kilda in 1901 and 1902. Furthermore, the Giants again lost five games by 100 points or more, repeating an ignominy from the debut season.


title: Greater Western Sydney Giants

text: In round 19, they avoided becoming the fourteenth club in VFL and AFL history to finish a season winless, winning their solitary game for the season against Melbourne to snap a 21-game losing streak. Leading into the final round of the home and away season, Jeremy Cameron kicked 62 goals this season and was equal third in the race for the Coleman Medal, two goals behind leader Jarryd Roughead.


title: Greater Western Sydney Giants

text: At the end of the season, coach Kevin Sheedy stood aside for Leon Cameron, who had been assistant to Sheedy in 2013. On 19 December 2013, it was announced that Sheedy had been appointed to the club's board. Club Chairman, Tony Shepherd, highlighted Sheedy's importance when he said, "In many ways Kevin Sheedy is the father of the Giants. He's been here from the start and has helped build the Giants."


title: Greater Western Sydney Giants

text: Greater Western Sydney started their third season impressively winning two of their first three games, including beating their much-fancied cross-town rivals, the Sydney Swans 15.9 99 to 9.13 67 in their first round encounter at Spotless Stadium. They would eventually finish 16th (6 wins 16 losses), which was enough to avoid the Wooden Spoon for the first time. On 13 May 2014, Greater Western Sydney midfielder Toby Greene was charged with a number of offences including assault with a dangerous weapon and intentionally causing serious injury over an alleged assault in a Melbourne licensed venue the previous night.


title: Greater Western Sydney Giants

text: Before the start of the 2015 AFL Season, the Giants managed to sign Ryan Griffen in addition to re-signing Jeremy Cameron. The club overall had a fairly successful season, finishing 11th with 11 Wins and 11 Losses, including a victory over eventual premiers, Hawthorn.


title: Greater Western Sydney Giants

text: The Giants' fifth season was their best yet, as they recorded their first positive win–loss ratio (16 wins, 6 losses), qualified for their first finals series and finished 4th out of 18 teams on the ladder.


title: Greater Western Sydney Giants

text: A major highlight of the Giants' 2016 season was their 75-point win over three-time reigning premiers Hawthorn in round 6. Although they had beaten the Hawks by ten points in 2015, and went into the rematch as favourites, a margin of this size was unexpected. They also recorded their largest average home crowd in a season so far (12,333), and new recruit Steve Johnson kicked 43 goals in his first year at the Giants. The Giants finished fourth on the ladder after round 23, which meant they secured a double chance for the upcoming finals series. With cross-town rivals the Sydney Swans finishing as minor premiers, the mechanics of the AFL finals system meant that the Giants would play their first final in their five-year history against the Swans in Sydney.


title: Greater Western Sydney Giants

text: In their first final, the Swans hosted the Giants at Stadium Australia (ANZ Stadium), with 60,222 spectators attending the match; at the time, this was the largest ever crowd for a match involving the club. The Giants only fielded six players who had previously played an AFL final, conversely, the Swans had six players who were making their finals debut. After a close first half, forward Jeremy Cameron kicked three goals in a five-minute period during the third quarter, as the Giants won by 36 points. The win was marred by an incident involving Steve Johnson, in which he collided with Swan Josh Kennedy and was subsequently suspended for one match; this meant he missed the preliminary final.


title: Greater Western Sydney Giants

text: Two weeks later, in the preliminary final, the Giants faced the Western Bulldogs at Spotless Stadium, competing for a place in the 2016 AFL Grand Final in only their fifth year. In a close affair, both physically and on the scoreboard, the Bulldogs were attempting to make their first Grand Final in 55 years, while the Giants were looking to capitalise on their recent strong form. The Bulldogs led for most of the first half and went into half-time with a nine-point lead. In the third quarter, the Giants kicked three goals to lead by 11 points, but by three-quarter-time their lead had been reduced to one point. Early in the fourth quarter, the Giants kicked two quick goals to lead by 14 points, but the Bulldogs would kick two goals in response to take the lead, and, after scores were level with five minutes of game time remaining, a goal from Jack Macrae saw the Bulldogs win the match by six points. After the match, coach Leon Cameron said that the pre-finals bye did not have any effect on the club's performance.


title: Greater Western Sydney Giants

text: There was a lot of outside expectation on the club leading into 2017. A lot of the media were talking up the side as eventual premier, thanks to the clubs' run in the second half of 2016.


title: Greater Western Sydney Giants

text: In the off season the club traded want-away player Cam McCarthy to Fremantle along with picks 7, 34 & 72 for pick 3 in the draft. Canberra academy player Jack Steele was traded to St Kilda for a future second round pick. Unlucky, but highly talented Paul Ahern was traded to North Melbourne for pick 69. Crowd favourite, Will Hoskin-Elliott, was traded to the Collingwood Football Club for a future second round pick. Continuing the clubs strong trading with Carlton Football Club, they offloaded, Caleb Marchbank, Jarrod Pickett (like Ahern a high draft pick who never played a game for the club) Rhys Palmer and the clubs' 2nd round pick in the 2017 draft for Geelong's first round pick in the 2017 draft and picks 45, 58 and 135. The club traded in Richmond player, and former first round draft pick, Brett Deledio using Geelong's first round pick acquired from Carlton and its own third round pick.


title: Greater Western Sydney Giants

text: With its picks in the 2016 draft and the acquisition of Deledio via trade, the club added Tim Taranto, Will Setterfield (academy), Harry Perryman (academy), Isaac Cumming (academy), Lachlan Tiziani (academy) and Matt de Boer via the national draft, and another former de-listed Docker in Tendai M'Zungu in the Rookie Draft.


title: Greater Western Sydney Giants

text: The club had an absolutely horrible run with injuries over the year yet somehow managed to scrape in to the Top 4. Josh Kelly had a breakout year, all the while weighing up a return to his fathers former club, North Melbourne, on a rumoured 7-year, $11,000,000 contract. He refused that offer and re-signed before the clubs' final series. The side yet again fell at the second last hurdle, once again losing to eventual premiers, Richmond Football Club in front of a crowd of 94,000, the biggest crowd the club has played in front of.


title: Greater Western Sydney Giants

text: A hit-and-miss 2018 season saw the Giants finish seventh on the AFL ladder with 13 wins, eight losses and one draw. Despite losing just once in their first six games, they would go on to suffer a four-game losing streak which temporarily knocked them out of the top eight. They recovered brilliantly with nine wins in their next ten matches before losses to and in the final two rounds of the regular season prevented them from finishing in the top four for a third consecutive year. They dominated Sydney by 49 points in the second elimination final at the SCG before losing to eventual runners-up by ten points in the second semi-final.


title: Greater Western Sydney Giants

text: At the conclusion of the season, foundation players Dylan Shiel and Tom Scully were traded, to and respectively. Two-gamer Will Setterfield was also traded to .


title: Greater Western Sydney Giants

text: Greater Western Sydney qualified for their fourth consecutive finals series in 2019, finishing sixth on the AFL ladder with 13 wins and nine losses. They suffered a major setback early in the year when co-captain Callan Ward was struck down with an ACL injury during the club's round four victory over and was subsequently sidelined for the rest of the season.


title: Greater Western Sydney Giants

text: Jeremy Cameron became the first GWS player to win the Coleman Medal as the leading goal scorer in the competition, kicking 67 goals during the home-and-away season. He notably scored nine goals in the final round of the season against to win the award outright, after trailing 's Ben Brown by six goals heading into the match.


title: Greater Western Sydney Giants

text: The Giants entered the 2019 finals series with unconvincing form, particularly after two very poor performances against and the in rounds 21 and 22 respectively, and were expected by some to exit the finals quickly. However, they defied the odds and would eventually bound into their first ever grand final. The Giants emphatically turned the tables on the Bulldogs – who had humiliated them on their own home ground just three weeks prior – in the second elimination final to the tune of 58 points. Then, they defeated the by three points in a classic semifinal at the Gabba before holding on to defeat by four points in an equally enthralling preliminary final. In doing so, the Giants became only the second team since the introduction of the AFL final eight system in 2000 to reach the grand final without earning a spot in the top four, after the Bulldogs qualified for the 2016 decider from seventh position (and would eventually win that year's premiership).


title: Greater Western Sydney Giants

text: They met 2017 premiers in the 2019 AFL Grand Final on 28 September. They were thoroughly outplayed by the Tigers, who won their second flag in three years by a margin of 89 points – one of the heaviest defeats ever suffered in a VFL/AFL Grand Final.


title: Greater Western Sydney Giants

text: At the conclusion of the season, foundation player Adam Tomlinson was traded to Melbourne, confirmed on Tuesday 8 October 2019. A predicted transfer of inaugural #1 draft pick Jonathon Patton being traded to Hawthorn also occurred. 2017 first-round draft pick Aiden Bonar was traded to North Melbourne Football Club in the final minutes of the trade period. The Giants got in veteran Sam Jacobs from the Adelaide Crows Football Club, an exemplary ruck of his day, to strengthen their ruck stocks.


title: Greater Western Sydney Giants

text: Greater Western Sydney entered the 2020 AFL season looking to atone for their humiliating defeat in the grand final. However, despite some early optimism, the Giants' season was a major disappointment. Inconsistent performances throughout the season resulted in the Giants finishing tenth and missing the finals for the first time since 2015. They became the third team in four years to miss the finals after playing in the previous year's decider, after 2016 premiers the Western Bulldogs and 2017 runners-up Adelaide.


title: Greater Western Sydney Giants

text: During the trading period prior to the start of the 2021 AFL season, star player and former Coleman Medallist Jeremy Cameron was traded to Geelong as a restricted free agent along with two second round draft picks for three first round draft picks and one fourth round draft pick. The Giants also traded away defenders Zac Williams for one first round draft pick, and Aiden Corr for one second round pick to Carlton and North Melbourne respectively.


title: Greater Western Sydney Giants

text: The Giants also announced two new guernsey designs for both home and away games in conjunction with the teams 10th season in the AFL.


title: Greater Western Sydney Giants

text: The Giants started their 2021 season with three consecutive losses before upsetting Collingwood in the 4th round by 30 points. Injuries plagued the Giants at the start of the season, with high profile recruits Jesse Hogan and Braydon Preuss, along with star defender Lachie Whitfield, injuring themselves during the preseason. Senior players Matt de Boer, Phil Davis, and captain Stephen Coniglio were also all injured during the Giants round 3 game against Melbourne.


title: Greater Western Sydney Giants

text: Despite these injuries, GWS would go on to upset Sydney during their round 5 clash at the SCG, with the Giants winning by two points against an undefeated Sydney side.


title: Greater Western Sydney Giants

text: Due to a major COVID outbreak in New South Wales, GWS, as well as their crosstown rival Sydney, spent the final two months of the home-and-away season away from the state. The Giants were able to navigate this period well and booked a fifth finals appearance in six seasons, finishing seventh on the AFL ladder with 11 wins, 10 losses and a draw.


title: Greater Western Sydney Giants

text: GWS would meet Sydney in a final for the third time, and the first outside of New South Wales, with the match being relocated to University of Tasmania Stadium in Launceston. The Giants once again prevailed over their crosstown rival, defeating the Swans by one point in a thrilling elimination final.


title: Greater Western Sydney Giants

text: The Giants’ season, however, came to an end the following week after losing to Geelong by 35 points in the second semi final at Optus Stadium.


title: Greater Western Sydney Giants

text: GWS had a difficult 2022 season, winning just 6 of their 22 games and finishing 16th on the ladder. The Giants popular long-time coach Leon Cameron stood down after 9 years with the club ahead of their round 9 clash against Carlton following a slow start of 2 wins and 6 losses. Mark McVeigh was announced as the Giants interim coach for the remainder of the 2022 season winning 4 of his 13 games in charge. Kingsley was named senior coach of on 22 August 2022.


title: Greater Western Sydney Giants

text: On 16 November 2010, Greater Western Sydney announced their club guernseys and their nickname of the "Giants". The club self-styles its nickname in capital letters GIANTS in all of its media.


title: Greater Western Sydney Giants

text: The team colours are orange, charcoal and white, with the club unveiling two prospective home jumpers for fans to be decided on for the inaugural 2012 season. One was orange with a stylised charcoal "G" in the centre and charcoal side panels on the sides, with the other featuring an orange yoke in the top half and a white "G" wrapped around charcoal colours in the bottom half. The colour of the team's shorts is charcoal and their socks are orange with charcoal fold-downs. During the 2011 season, a clash guernsey was unveiled. The jumper has a light grey background with a charcoal rendition of the home jumper's G on the chest. This was altered in the 2012 season for a white jumper with charcoal collar and cuffs, charcoal "G" symbol in the centre and orange and charcoal stylised shoulder pads. Their Canberra guernsey is the same as their home, but with a simplified Telstra Tower next to the "G".


title: Greater Western Sydney Giants

text: The clash guernsey changed in 2014, to a white top with a G that was slightly smaller than the home jumper. Included on the guernsey was also a diagonal section of charcoal from the players left cuff down towards the centre of the bottom hem. This is repeated on the back, with the orange "G" being replaced with an orange line next to the charcoal section. The guernsey featured charcoal cuffs, numbers and collar.


title: Greater Western Sydney Giants

text: The team motto is Think Big. Live Big. Play Big. Their mascot G-Man was unveiled on 18 February 2012 before the team took the ground for their first NAB Cup match of 2012. The club ran a competition for its members to name the AFLW mascot for the side during the 2017 AFLW Season. In the 2018 AFLW Season, the mascot Gigi was unveiled.


title: Greater Western Sydney Giants

text: The club song "There's a Big Big Sound" was written and produced by Harry Angus of the Australian band The Cat Empire. The song became a bit of an Internet meme in 2019 when the Giants made it to that year's Grand Final.


title: Greater Western Sydney Giants

text: The GWS Giants's entry to the AFL in 2012 resulted in the formation of the Sydney Derby/Battle of the Bridge with their rivalry with the Sydney Swans, between the two Sydney based Australian Football League (AFL) clubs with the Giants competing against their cross-city rivals twice every season. The best performed player from every derby match is awarded the Brett Kirk Medal.


title: Greater Western Sydney Giants

text: Initially, the rivalry was a one-sided affair in favour of the Swans, who won 8 of the first 9 derbies. However, it has become more competitive in recent years, with the Giants winning 5 of the 7 most recent derbies. The Giants have played the Swans three times in finals matches, winning each time.


title: Greater Western Sydney Giants

text: The Giants have engaged in a bitter rivalry with the Western Bulldogs since the 2016 AFL season finals series. In the final moments of the first preliminary final both teams were on top of each other trying to win the game, with the Bulldogs trying to make their first AFL grand final appearance in 55 years while the Giants would be trying to make their first ever. Despite leading by 14 points at one stage in the final quarter, the Giants lost to the eventual premiers by six points.


title: Greater Western Sydney Giants

text: Since then, the two clubs would continue to play each other in the following seasons with the Giants continuingly winning over the Bulldogs. It wasn't until round 22 of the 2019 home and away season that the Giants would be beaten by the Bulldogs again, on the same ground of that of the famous 2016 preliminary final. Three weeks later, in week one of the 2019 AFL finals series, the two faced off in the 2nd elimination final where the Giants would thump the Bulldogs in a 58-point win. In that game the Giants and Bulldogs would engage in fights on field with GWS player Toby Greene attacking Western Bulldogs super star Marcus Bontempelli. A similar event would occur in week 3 of the 2020 home and away season where the two teams engaged in constant melees throughout a match that the Giants lost by 25 points.


title: Greater Western Sydney Giants

text: The Giants' training facility and offices are known as the WestConnex Centre and Tom Wills Oval, located at Sydney Olympic Park opposite the State Sports Centre. The main oval is named in honour of Australian football pioneer Tom Wills, who was born in New South Wales and has family connections to Western Sydney.


title: Greater Western Sydney Giants

text: The Giants play the majority of their home matches at Sydney Showground Stadium (known commercially as Giants Stadium), which is also located in the Olympic Park precinct adjacent to Stadium Australia. The club plays four home games per season at Manuka Oval (three regular season, one preseason), having signed a 10-year deal with the government of the Australian Capital Territory in 2012 worth $23 million. A Canberra logo is incorporated on its guernsey, with a slightly altered Canberra-specific guernsey used for the games at Manuka. The Giants also played in a special guernsey as part of the centenary of Canberra celebrations, stating that the team is "part of the Canberra community". A GWS/ACT Academy has also been envisioned, and the territory has representation on the club's board.


title: Greater Western Sydney Giants

text: The inaugural co-captains of the club were Phil Davis, Luke Power and Callan Ward. Both Davis and Ward were retained as captains in 2013, whilst Tom Scully was added to the leadership group as a vice-captain. Josh Kelly and Stephen Coniglio were named as vice-captains for the 2019 season. In 2020 Stephen Coniglio stepped into the captain role, becoming the first standalone captain since their inaugural season. For 2022, Coniglio, Kelly, and Toby Greene were named co-captains.


title: Greater Western Sydney Giants

text: In April 2016, the Giants launched a bid to enter a team in the inaugural AFL Women's season in 2017. The club had previously partnered with the local Auburn Giants Football Club and run a female Academy program. They were announced as a founding club in June, receiving one of eight licenses awarded at this time.


title: Greater Western Sydney Giants

text: Former AFL NSW/ACT Female Football High Performance coach Tim Schmidt was announced as the team's inaugural head coach in July 2016. Days later the club announced its first two players, marquee signings Renee Forth and Emma Swanson. As a result of the NSW/ACT talent pool's size and depth, the Giants were granted five priority signings prior to the draft, the most of any club in the league. Prior to the draft, the club had recruited no NSW/ACT players, instead drawing three from Western Australia, three from Victoria and one more from South Australia.


title: Greater Western Sydney Giants

text: In September the Giants won the first selection in the inaugural draft via lottery, and selected Sydney University player Nicola Barr.


title: Greater Western Sydney Giants

text: In July 2017 it was announced Giants AFL director of coaching Alan McConnell would replace Tim Schmidt as coach of side. The 2018 Giants AFLW Captain is Amanda Farrugia and the vice-captain is Alicia Eva.


title: Greater Western Sydney Giants

text: Greater Western Sydney fielded a reserves team beneath the AFL team in the North East Australian Football League (NEAFL) competition between 2012 and 2019. The senior team participated in the 2011 NEAFL season, prior to it entering the AFL the following year. Following the dissolving of the NEAFL at the end of the 2019 season, the Giants reserves team entered the Victorian Football League (VFL) in 2021.


title: Come Outside

text: Come Outside is a British educational children's television series that ran from 23 September 1993 to 18 March 1997, presented by and starring Lynda Baron as Auntie Mabel and her dog 'Pippin'. It remains one of the BBC's most successful and watched children's programmes of all time and due to its popularity, was repeated on CBeebies until late 2012.


title: Come Outside

text: The series aims to encourage young children to learn about the world around them. The starting point for each programme is something with which children may already be familiar, such as: wood, paper, boots, spiders, buses, soap and lampposts.


title: Come Outside

text: The two main characters are Auntie Mabel (played by Lynda Baron), and her dog Pippin, who was initially played by a female dog also called Pippin and later by the dog's grandson Mr Higgins. A feature of "Come Outside" is Auntie Mabel's unusual mode of transport: a small aeroplane (a Slingsby T67 Firefly) with multi-coloured polka dots.


title: Come Outside

text: Pippin was a mixed-breed dog, half Tibetan Terrier, half Bearded Collie, roughly third generation descended from the famous American acting dog Benji and was owned and trained by the award-winning animal trainer Ann Head. Pippin was quite old at the start of the first series in 1993 and so she performed the slower but complex moves while her grandson, Mr. Higgins, performed any physically demanding actions.


title: Come Outside

text: Pippin retired at the end of Series 1 and Mr. Higgins took over the role of 'Pippin' entirely for Series 2 and 3. Mr. Higgins also starred as the Bakers dog for Bakers Complete pet food commercials and is still pictured on the products. He died in 2008 of old age while his grandmother, the original Pippin, died in the late 1990s.


title: Come Outside

text: Many other animals took part in "Come Outside". Specially-shot footage included snails from London Zoo, frogs at Chester Zoo, geese at Folly Farm in Gloucestershire, rabbits at Tilgate Nature Centre in West Sussex, butterflies in the Butterfly Centre, Eastbourne, hedgehogs supplied by St. Tiggywinkles Animal Hospital and spiders from a private collection. In addition archive shots were provided by the BBC's Natural History Film Library in Bristol.


title: Come Outside

text: Elizabeth Bennett created the format and characters, wrote the scripts, directed many of the programmes and produced all three series.


title: Come Outside

text: Two different production companies were involved. Series 1 was made by "Spelthorne Productions", which has since closed; Series 2 and 3 were made by Elizabeth Bennett's production company "Tricorn Associates".


title: Come Outside

text: Series 1 was set in a cottage on the corner of Denham Airfield in Buckinghamshire, and was used to provide the exterior shots of Auntie Mabel's house. She would come out of the house, walk through the back garden and on to the airfield to climb into her aeroplane (A 1989 Slingsby T67C Firefly registered G-RAFG). The interiors were shot at Capital Studios in Wandsworth, South West London. Chronologically, this series takes place after Series 2 & 3.


title: Come Outside

text: Series 2 was shot entirely on location, including the interiors of Auntie Mabel's house, with the exception of the bathroom in the Spiders episode which was shot in a studio. The cottage at Denham Airfield was occupied and so a new location had to be found. An empty cottage on some farmland in Harefield, Middlesex was rented. To allow for the change of location to be incorporated into the show's continuity, a programme about moving house was shot to link the two locations, which makes the first series the third chronologically. The plane (now a 1988 Slingsby T67C Firefly registered G-BOCM) was kept in a field nearby.


title: Come Outside

text: Series 3 was commissioned two years later and was also shot at the cottage in Harefield. A much older plane (A 1983 Slingsby T67M Firefly) was used, now featuring a spiralled propeller


title: Come Outside

text: In every episode Mabel ventures outside and this involved shooting in many locations in the United Kingdom, such as a pencil factory in Keswick, the manufacture of Wellington boots in Dumfries, a pottery in Stoke, growing bulbs and attending the annual flower parade in Spalding, Lincolnshire and making brushes in Portsmouth.


title: Come Outside

text: Sometimes Auntie Mabel's adventures stayed closer to home. For example the episode "Buses", was filmed around the Ruislip area of North London. Scenes were also shot in Woodley, Berkshire, in the retail precinct and in the veterinary clinic.


title: Come Outside

text: In the episode "Marmalade" Auntie Mabel flies to Seville to visit an orange grove. Shooting was restricted to the one day on which the oranges were ready for harvesting. This was only known with very short notice and consequently arrangements to fly out were made at the last minute. It happened well outside the main production period by which time Lynda Baron was committed to other work and was not free to travel to Seville. To make it appear that Aunt Mabel had visited the orange grove, she was recorded in the studio against a Chroma key background while a body double was used for reverse angle shots of her in Spain.


title: Come Outside

text: Animation sequences for stories, songs and skits was done by Penny Holten, Touch Animation, Really Animated Pictures and Ealing Animation (occasionally).


title: Come Outside

text: The episode entitled "Bricks" won the Royal Television Society Educational Television Award 1997 in the Pre-school and Infants category.


title: Come Outside

text: The BBC issued a collection on VHS tapes in the early 2000s, later released on DVD. The complete series is now available in a DVD box set.


title: Come Outside

text: The BBC also released a collection of DVDs with booklets and notes not intended for home use but instead for use in schools and other educational purposes.


title: Genetic counseling

text: Genetic counseling is the process of investigating individuals and families affected by or at risk of genetic disorders to help them understand and adapt to the medical, psychological and familial implications of genetic contributions to disease; this field is considered necessary for the implementation of genomic medicine. The process integrates:


title: Genetic counseling

text: The practice of advising people about inherited traits began around the turn of the 20th century, shortly after William Bateson suggested that the new medical and biological study of heredity be called "genetics". Heredity became intertwined with social reforms when the field of modern eugenics took form. Although initially well-intentioned, ultimately the movement had disastrous consequences; many states in the United States had laws mandating the sterilization of certain individuals, others were not allowed to immigrate and by the 1930s these ideas were accepted by many other countries including in Germany where euthanasia for the "genetically defective" was legalized in 1939. This part of the history of genetics is at the heart of the now "non directive" approach to genetic counseling.


title: Genetic counseling

text: Sheldon Clark Reed coined the term genetic counseling in 1947 and published the book "Counseling in Medical Genetics" in 1955. Most of the early genetic counseling clinics were run by non-medical scientists or by those who were not experienced clinicians. With the growth in knowledge of genetic disorders and the appearance of medical genetics as a distinct specialty in the 1960s, genetic counseling progressively became medicalized, representing one of the key components of clinical genetics. It was not, though, until later that the importance of a firm psychological basis was recognized and became an essential part of genetic counseling, the writings of Seymour Kessler making a particular contribution to this. The first master's degree genetic counseling program in the United States was founded in 1969 at Sarah Lawrence College in Bronxville, New York. In 1979, the National Society of Genetic Counselors (NSGC) was founded and led by the first president, Audrey Heimler.


title: Genetic counseling

text: Diagnostic testing occurs when an individual is showing signs or symptoms associated with a specific condition. Genetic testing can be used to arrive at a definitive diagnosis in order to provide better prognosis as well as medical management and/or treatment options. Testing can reveal conditions can be mild or asymptomatic with early treatment, as opposed to debilitating without treatment (such as phenylketonuria). Genetic tests are available for a number of genetic conditions, including but not limited to: Down syndrome, sickle cell disease, Tay–Sachs disease, muscular dystrophy. Establishing a genetic diagnosis can provide information to other at-risk individuals in the family.


title: Genetic counseling

text: Any reproductive risks (e.g. a chance to have a child with the same diagnosis) can also be explored after a diagnosis. Many disorders cannot occur unless both the mother and father pass on their genes, such as cystic fibrosis; this is known as autosomal recessive inheritance. Other autosomal dominant diseases can be inherited from one parent, such as Huntington disease and DiGeorge syndrome. Yet other genetic disorders are caused by an error or mutation occurring during the cell division process (e.g. aneuploidy) and are not hereditary.


title: Genetic counseling

text: Screening tests are often used prior to diagnostic testing, designed to separate people according to a fixed characteristic or property, with the intention of detecting early evidence of disease. For example, if a screening test during a pregnancy (such as maternal blood screening or ultrasound) reveals a risk of a health issue or genetic condition, patients are encouraged to receive genetic counseling to learn additional information regarding the suspected condition. A discussion of the management, therapy and treatments available for the conditions may take place; the next step may differ depending on the severity of the condition and range from during pregnancy to after delivery. Patients may decline additional screening and testing, elect to proceed to diagnostic testing, or pursue further screening tests to refine the risk during the pregnancy.


title: Genetic counseling

text: Presymptomatic or predictive testing occurs when an individual knows of a specific diagnosis (typically adult onset) in their family and has other affected relatives, but they themselves do not manifest any clinical findings at the time when they seek testing. The decision about whether or not to proceed with presymptomatic testing should entail a thoughtful approach and consideration of various medical, reproductive, social, insurance, and financial factors, with no "right" or "wrong" answer. Availability of treatment and medical management options for each specific diagnosis, as well as the genetics and inheritance pattern of the particular condition should be reviewed as inherited conditions can have reduced penetrance.


title: Genetic counseling

text: Insurance and legal issues should also be discussed during genetic counseling. There are laws in the United States such as GINA (Genetic Information Non-discrimination Act) and ACA that provide certain protections against discrimination for individuals with genetic diagnoses.


title: Genetic counseling

text: There are different approaches to genetic counseling. The reciprocal-engagement model of genetic counseling practice includes tenets, goals, strategies, and behaviors for addressing patients' genetic concerns. Some counselors favor a psycho-educational approach while others incorporate more psycho-therapeutic techniques. Genetic counseling is psycho-educational as patients "learn how genetics contributes to their health risks and then process what this means and how it feels."


title: Genetic counseling

text: Whether the process of genetic counseling is a form of psychotherapy is up for debate. The relationship between the client and counselor is similar as are the goals of the sessions. As a psychotherapist aims to help his client improve his wellbeing, a genetic counselor also helps his client to address a "situational health threat that similarly threatens client wellbeing". Due to the lack of studies which compare genetic counseling to the practice of psychotherapy, it is hard to say with certainty whether genetic counseling can be "conceptualized as a short-term, applied, specific type of psychotherapy". However, there few existing studies suggest that genetic counseling falls "significantly short of psychotherapeutic counseling" because genetic counseling sessions primarily consist of the distribution of information without much emphasis placed on explaining any long-term impacts to the client.


title: Genetic counseling

text: The goals of genetic counseling are to increase understanding of genetic diseases, discuss disease management options and explain the risks and benefits of testing. Counseling sessions focus on giving vital, unbiased information and non-directive assistance in the patient's decision-making process. Seymour Kessler, in 1979, first categorized sessions in five phases: an intake phase, an initial contact phase, the encounter phase, the summary phase, and a follow-up phase. The intake and follow-up phases occur outside of the actual counseling session. The initial contact phase is when the counselor and families meet and build rapport. The encounter phase includes dialogue between the counselor and the client about the nature of screening and diagnostic tests. The summary phase provides all the options and decisions available for the next step. If patients wish to go ahead with testing, an appointment is organized and the genetic counselor acts as the person to communicate the results. Result delivery can happen both in person or via phone. Often counselors will call out results to avoid patients having to come back in as results can take weeks to be processed. If further counseling is needed in a more personal setting, or it is determined that additional family members should be tested, a secondary appointment can be made.


title: Genetic counseling

text: Genetic counselors provide supportive counseling to families, serve as patient advocates and refer individuals and families to community or state support services. They serve as educators and resource people for other health care professionals and for the general public. Many engage in research activities related to the field of medical genetics and genetic counseling. When communicating increased risk, counselors anticipate the likely distress and prepare patients for the results. Counselors help clients cope with and adapt to the emotional, psychological, medical, social, and economic consequences of the test results.


title: Genetic counseling

text: Each individual considers their family needs, social setting, cultural background, and religious beliefs when interpreting their risk. Clients must evaluate their reasoning to continue with testing at all. Counselors are present to put all the possibilities in perspective and encourage clients to take time to think about their decision. When a risk is found, counselors frequently reassure parents that they were not responsible for the result. An informed choice without pressure or coercion is made when all relevant information has been given and understood.


title: Genetic counseling

text: After counseling for other hereditary conditions, the patient may be presented with the option of having genetic testing. In some circumstances no genetic testing is indicated, other times it may be useful to begin the testing process with an affected family member. The genetic counselor also reviews the advantages and disadvantages of genetic testing with the patient.


title: Genetic counseling

text: The most commonly measured genetic counseling outcomes included knowledge, anxiety or distress, satisfaction, perceived risk, genetic testing (intentions or receipt), health behaviors, and decisional conflict. Results suggest that genetic counseling can lead to increased knowledge, perceived personal control, positive health behaviors, and improved risk perception accuracy as well as decreases in anxiety, cancer-related worry, and decisional conflict.


title: Genetic counseling

text: Adult or general genetics clinics serve patients who are diagnosed with genetic conditions that begin to show signs or symptoms in adulthood. Many genetic conditions have varying ages of onset, ranging from an infantile form to an adult form. Genetic counseling can facilitate the decision-making process by providing the patient/family with education about the genetic condition as well as the medical management options available to individuals at risk of developing the condition. Having the genetic information of other members of the family opens the door to asking important questions about the pattern of inheritance of specific disease‐causing mutations. Whilst there is a wealth of literature that describes how families communicate information surrounding single genes, there is very little which explores the experience of communication about family genomes. Adult-onset disorders may overlap multiple specialties.


title: Genetic counseling

text: Genetic counseling is an integral part of the process for patients utilizing preimplantation genetic testing (PGT), formerly called preimplantation genetic diagnosis. There are three types of PGT and all require in vitro fertilization (IVF) using assisted reproductive technology (ART). PGT-M, for monogenic disorders, involves testing embryos for a specific condition before it is implanted into the mother. This technique is currently being done for disorders with childhood onset, such as Cystic Fibrosis, Tay-Sachs and Muscular Dystrophy, as well as adult-onset conditions, including Huntington's Disease, Hereditary Breast and Ovarian Cancer Syndrome, and Lynch Syndrome. PGT-SR, for structural rearrangements, involves testing embryos to establish a pregnancy unaffected by a structural chromosomal abnormality (translocation). PGT-A, for aneuploidy, was formerly called preimplantation genetic screening, and involved testing embryos to identify any de novo aneuploidy. The indications to carry out PGT-A are: previous aneuploidy in the couple, implantation failure, recurrent miscarriage, severe male factor or advanced maternal age. Finally, PGT seems to be: safe for the embryo, trustable in the diagnosis, more efficient from the reproductive point of view and cost-effective.


title: Genetic counseling

text: Genetic counseling can also involve medical evaluation and clinical work-up for couples with infertility and/or recurrent pregnancy loss, as these histories can be associated with parental chromosome aberrations (such as inversions or translocations) and other genetic conditions.


title: Genetic counseling

text: A rapidly expanding field in genetic counseling is cardiovascular genetics. More than 1 in 200 people have an inherited cardiovascular disease. Hereditary cardiac conditions range from common diseases, such as high cholesterol and coronary artery disease, to rare diseases like Long QT Syndrome, hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, and vascular diseases.  Genetic counselors who specialize in cardiovascular disease have developed skills specific to the management of and counseling for genetic cardiovascular disorders and practice in both the pediatric and adult setting. Cardiovascular genetic counselors are also integral in local and national efforts to prevent sudden cardiac death, which is the leading cause of sudden death in young people. This is done by identifying patients with known or suspected heritable cardiovascular diseases and promoting cascade family screening or testing of at-risk relatives.


title: Genetic counseling

text: Cancer genetic counselors see individuals with a personal diagnosis and/or family history of cancer or symptoms of an inherited cancer syndrome. Genetic counselors take a family history and assess for hereditary risk, or risk that can be passed down from generation to generation. If indicated, they can coordinate genetic testing, typically via blood or saliva sample, to evaluate for hereditary cancer risk.  Personalized medical management and cancer screening recommendations can be provided based on results of genetic testing and/or the family history of cancer. While most cancers are sporadic (not inherited), some are more likely to have a hereditary factor, particularly when occurring at young ages or when clustering in families. These include common cancers such as breast, ovarian, colon and uterine cancers, as well as rare tumor types. General referral indications can include, but are not limited to:


title: Genetic counseling

text: Genetic counselors specializing in neurogenetics are involved in the care of individuals who have or are at risk to develop conditions affecting the central nervous system (brain and spinal cord) or peripheral nervous system (the nerves that leave the spinal cord and go to other places in the body, such as the feet and hands, skeletal muscles, and internal organs). Effects of these conditions can lead to various impairments some examples of which include cognitive decline, intellectual disability, seizures, uncontrolled movements (e.g. ataxia, chorea), muscle weakness, paralysis, or atrophy. Examples of neurogenetic disorders include:


title: Genetic counseling

text: Pediatric genetic counseling can be indicated for newborns, infants, children and their families. General referral indications can include:


title: Genetic counseling

text: General indications for referral to genetic counseling in the preconception or prenatal setting may include, but are not limited to:


title: Genetic counseling

text: Prenatal genetic counseling may help with the decision-making process by walking patients through examples of what some people might do in similar situations, and their rationale for choosing that option. Decisions made by patients are affected by factors including timing, accuracy of information provided by tests, and risk and benefits of the tests. This discussion enables patients to place the information and circumstances into the context of their own lives, and in the context of their own values. They may choose to undergo noninvasive screening (e.g. ultrasound, triple screen, cell-free fetal DNA screening) or invasive diagnostic testing (amniocentesis or chorionic villus sampling). Invasive diagnostic tests possess a small risk of miscarriage (1–2%) but provide more definitive results. Testing is offered to provide a definitive answer regarding the presence of a certain genetic condition or chromosomal abnormality.


title: Genetic counseling

text: Psychiatric genetic counseling is a sub-specialty within genetic counseling focused on helping people living with a psychiatric disorder and/or their family members understand both the genetic and environmental factors that contributed to their illness and address associated emotions such as guilt or self-blame. Genetic counselors also discuss strategies to promote recovery and protect mental health and address any questions on chances for recurrence in other family members. While currently there is no single gene solely responsible for causing a psychiatric disorder, there is strong evidence from family, twin studies, and genome-wide-association studies that both multiple genes and environment interact together. Like other areas of genetic counseling, patients at all different stages of life (pediatric, adult, prenatal) can have psychiatric genetic counseling. Since the etiology of psychiatric disorders is complex and not fully understood, the utility of genetic testing is not as clear as it is in Mendelian or single gene disorders. Research has shown that individuals who receive psychiatric genetic counseling have significant increases in feelings of empowerment and self-efficacy after genetic counseling.


title: Genetic counseling

text: Psychiatric genetic counselors can help "dispel mistaken notions about psychiatric disorders, calm needless anxiety, and help those at risk to draw up a rational plan of action based on the best available information".


title: Genetic counseling

text: In 2018, there are nearly 7000 genetic counselors practicing worldwide, across at least 28 countries.


title: Genetic counseling

text: Genetic counseling in China (mainland) has been primarily provided by pediatricians or obstetricians for prenatal or birth defect diagnoses. Most genetic tests can only be performed in academic institutions as research tests or in commercial direct-to-consumer companies for non-clinical use.


title: Genetic counseling

text: In China, genetic counseling is steered by the Chinese Board of Genetic Counseling (CBGC), a not-for-profit organization. CBGC is composed of senior experts engaged in genetic education and research. CBGC is committed to establishing standardized procedures of genetic counseling, training qualified genetic counselors, improving health for all, and reducing the incidence of birth defects. CBGC was established in 2015 and is the major professional organization for genetic counselors in mainland China, providing training through short term online and in-person lectures, educational conferences, and certification for trainees.


title: Genetic counseling

text: Genetics education in China began in the 1980s when selected medical schools began offering genetics courses that focused predominantly on molecular genetics and had limited clinical content. At present, there are no official master's level graduate programs in genetic counseling or clinical genetics in China, and there is great variability in the duration and content of genetics curricula among medical schools and professional organizations.


title: Genetic counseling

text: The Chinese Ministry of Health has not yet recognized genetic counselors as an independent health care occupation. There are no official statistics for the number of health care professionals (e.g., physicians, nurses, and lab technicians) who are providing genetic counseling services in China.


title: Genetic counseling

text: Genetic Counselling is a developing field in South Africa. Currently, there are about 20 registered genetic counsellors practicing in the country. In South Africa, genetic counsellors work within academic institutions, in the private health sector and more recently, private genetic laboratories. A few qualified genetic counsellors have been employed outside of the country or in other professions, owing to funding limitations that have impacted employment opportunities, particularly in the academic/public health sector.


title: Genetic counseling

text: The first Genetic Counselling Programme in South Africa started in 1989 at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, in the Gauteng province. A second programme started in 2004 at the University of Cape Town in the Western Cape province. These are the only two programmes offering Masters level genetic counselling training in South Africa. Currently these courses are running at full capacity.  This is a two-year degree and includes a research component. The majority of students enter the Masters programme with a science background but those with a psychology background are also considered.


title: Genetic counseling

text: The Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA) requires two years of internship. Often the first year forms part of the master's degree in Genetic Counselling and a further 12-month internship thereafter. Genetic Counsellors are required by law to register with the HPCSA in order to practice as genetic counsellors. At the end of the training period, registrants submit a portfolio to HPCSA for assessment. If successful, the intern will be registered with the HPCSA and will be able to practice as a Genetic Counsellor in South Africa.


title: Genetic counseling

text: There is a professional organisation for Genetic Counsellors in South Africa, Genetic Counselling South Africa (GC-SA), which provides information and guidance to the HPCSA and others regarding professional issues. The GCSA is a focus group of the South African Society of Human Genetics (SASHG).


title: Genetic counseling

text: The profession of genetic counseling is established or developing in more than 11 European countries including Austria, Denmark, France, Ireland, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the UK. Genetic counselors (GC) trained in other countries are beginning to establish genetic counseling-related roles in at least 7 more. As of 2018, there were about 900 genetic counselors practicing in Europe. There are at least eight genetic counseling training programs. Formal GC registration occurs through two different programs: in the United Kingdom (UK, via the GCRB as described below) and the European Union via the European Board of Medical Genetics (EBMG). Genetic counselors are not currently recognized as a profession in several European countries including Austria, Belgium, Germany, and Portugal. This is likely due to legal restrictions in these countries, stating genetic counseling is a medical act, and therefore must be conducted by physicians.


title: Genetic counseling

text: Training programs currently exist in Austria, Italy, France, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal (currently inactive), Romania (currently inactive), Spain, and the UK. While genetic counselors practice in the following countries, currently no formal genetic counseling programs exist in Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Sweden, and Switzerland.


title: Genetic counseling

text: Due to the limited Master's level Genetic Counseling programs located in Europe, the EBMG organization recognizes practicing genetic counselors that trained in the US, Canada, South Africa, and Australia. These counselors must possess current registration and/or certification from their home country as well as be working full time in Europe for 1 year to apply for Registration with EBMG.


title: Genetic counseling

text: The majority of Genetic Counsellors in the UK work in the National Health Service (NHS) in one of the 33 Regional Clinical Genetics Services (some renamed Genomic Medicine Centres in England), Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland. Others work in specialist roles in the NHS, education, policy or research. A minority work in the private sector.


title: Genetic counseling

text: The first two-year MSc in Genetic Counselling program established in the UK was from the University of Manchester in 1992, followed by Cardiff University in Wales in 2000. 2016 saw major changes in the way genetic counsellors are trained in England. A 3-year training programme funded by Health Education England, the Scientist Training Programme (STP) uses a combination of work-based training in Genomic Medicine Centres and a part-time MSc in genetics (Genomic Counselling) from the University of Manchester. Recruitment is performed nationally through the National School of Healthcare Science (NSHCS). A 3-year part-time MSc in Genetic and Genomic Counselling is also now delivered by Cardiff University, through blended learning, with most of the teaching delivered online, alongside some short face-to-face teaching blocks in Wales. A 2-year MSc Genetic and Genomic Counselling program began at the University of Glasgow in Scotland in 2016. Prerequisites for acceptance on all the programmes include a degree in a relevant science or a nursing or midwifery qualification, and experience in a caring role.


title: Genetic counseling

text: Genetic counselling training programmes are accredited by the UK Genetic Counsellor Registration Board (GCRB) and the European Board of Medical Genetics (EBMG). Genetic counsellors in the UK are regulated through the GCRB, although currently GCRB registration is voluntary. The GCRB registry was accredited in 2016 by the Professional Standards Authority under its Accredited Registers programme. Over 200 genetic counsellors are currently registered through the GCRB. Genetic Counsellors trained through the STP programme are expected to be eligible to apply for statutory regulation through the Health Care Professions Council and it is planned that soon there will be equivalence arrangements with the GCRB to ensure statutory regulation for GCRB registered genetic counsellors. In order to be eligible for GCRB credentialing, one of two sets of requirements must be met: completion of a 2-year Master's of Science degree and 2 years of experience as a genetic counselor, or completion of a 3-year combined Master's program and work-based training. In addition, a portfolio including a 50 case logbook, evidence of supervision, case studies, essays, and recorded counseling sessions is required.


title: Genetic counseling

text: In order to be eligible for EBMG credentialing, a Master's of Science in genetic counseling is required, along with a portfolio including a logbook of 50 cases, case studies, references, and reflective essays. Both the EBMG and the GCRB also offer an alternative route to credentialing in which the applicant completes a nursing degree.


title: Genetic counseling

text: There are an estimated 430 GCs and trainees in Australia and New Zealand, where genetic counseling is a patient-centered, psychotherapeutic process. In order to practice as a GC, individuals must first attain a recognized Master's degree, after which time they can practice as an Associate. Then, following at least two years of supervised practice and successful passing of assessment as set by the Australasian Society of Genetic Counsellors' Board of Censors, an individual can then be accredited by the Human Genetics Society of Australasia and registered through the National Alliance of Self Regulating Health Professions as an independent GC. Most GCs practice in public or private hospital settings, but roles in private ambulatory care, genomic diagnostic laboratories, industry, and in academia (teaching and research) are becoming increasingly common. Both public and private healthcare services are available in Australia and New Zealand. Genetic services are offered through the public health system in all states and territories. In the public system, genetic testing is paid for by the State Governments when the test is deemed clinically appropriate by the GC and clinical geneticist. GCs in private practice may also offer genetic testing, which is largely paid for out-of-pocket by the client/patient.


title: Genetic counseling

text: A one-year graduate diploma program was established in 1995, and a two-year Master's level training program was established in 2008. There are currently two Master's training programs in Australia accredited by the Human Genetics Society of Australasia (HGSA).


title: Genetic counseling

text: New graduates practice as an Associate Genetic Counselor under the supervision of a certified genetic counselor and a clinical geneticist. They can submit to the HGSA certification process via a portfolio application after one year of practice. Recertification is currently voluntary and available by completing continuing education units (CEUs).


title: Genetic counseling

text: Genetic counselors with training from the UK, Europe and Australia are eligible for registration and GCs from other countries are considered on a case-by-case basis.


title: Genetic counseling

text: More information can be found through the Australasian Society of Genetic Counsellors, a special interest group of the Human Genetics Society of Australasia.


title: Genetic counseling

text: A genetic counselor is an expert with a Master of Science degree in genetic counseling. Programs in North America are accredited by the Accreditation Council for Genetic Counseling (ACGC). There are currently 52 accredited programs in the United States, four accredited programs in Canada, and four programs with the intent to become accredited. Students enter the field from a variety of disciplines, including biology/biological sciences and social sciences such as psychology. Graduate school coursework includes topics such as human genetics, embryology, ethics, research, and counseling theory and techniques. Clinical training including supervised rotations in prenatal, pediatric, adult, cancer, and other subspecialty clinics, as well as non-patient facing rotations in laboratories. Research training typically culminates in a capstone or thesis project.


title: Genetic counseling

text: As of May 2019, 29 states have passed genetic counselor licensure bills that require genetic counselors to meet a certain set of standards to practice. These states are Alabama, Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Virginia, and Washington. Almost every other state in the United States is in the process of obtaining genetic counseling licensure.


title: Genetic counseling

text: Although genetic counseling has been established over four decades, the first licenses for genetic counselors were not issued until 2002. Utah was the first state to do so. The American Society of Human Genetics (ASHG) has since encouraged more states to license genetic counselors before they are allowed to practice. ASHG argues that requiring practitioners to go through the necessary training and testing to obtain a license will ensure quality genetic services as well as allow for reimbursement for counselors' services. Laws requiring licensure ensure that "professionals who call themselves genetic counselors are able to properly explain complicated test results that could confuse patients and families making important health decisions".


title: Genetic counseling

text: Insurance companies usually do not reimburse for unlicensed genetic counselors' services. Patients who may benefit from genetic counseling may not be able to afford the service due to the expensive out-of-pocket cost. In addition, licensure allows genetic counselors to be searchable in most insurance companies' databases which gives genetic counselors increased opportunities for earning revenue and clients the opportunity to see "the level of coverage insurers provide for their services".


title: Genetic counseling

text: The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) does not currently recognize genetic counselors as healthcare providers and therefore does not reimburse for genetic counseling services unless they are provided by a physician or nurse practitioner. On June 12, 2019, H.R. 3235 "Access to Genetic Counselor Services Act of 2019," was introduced to the U.S. House of Representatives by U.S. Rep. Dave Loebsack (D-Iowa) and U.S. Rep. Mike Kelly (R-Pennsylvania). H.R. 3235 would authorize CMS to recognize certified genetic counselors as healthcare providers and to cover services furnished by genetic counselors under part B of the Medicare program. Genetic counselors are those licensed by states as such, or, for those in states without licensure, the Secretary of Health and Human Services will set criteria through regulation (likely ABGC certification). Genetic counselors would be paid at 85% of the physician fee schedule. Other providers currently providing genetic counseling services will not be affected by the bill.


title: Genetic counseling

text: As genetic counseling continues to grow as a branch in the medical field, employment rates of genetic counselors are expected to grow by 21% over the next decade; this statistic suggests that approximately 600 new jobs will become available in the US over this time period. Graduating from an accredited program with a passing score on the board certification exam increases the job prospect. As of May 2019 the median annual wage for genetic counselors was $81,880; the lowest 10% earning less than $61,310 and the highest 10% earning more than $114,750. This includes the varying industries in this field, such as medial and diagnostic laboratories, offices of physicians, hospitals, and colleges/universities.


title: Genetic counseling

text: Out of the approximate 100 genetic counselors practicing in the Middle East, most are located in Israel and Saudi Arabia, with a few located in Lebanon, Oman, and Turkey. In Israel, licensed genetic counselors must work under the supervision of a medical geneticist.  Most practice in genetics departments in hospital settings, with a few working in industry or research.


title: Genetic counseling

text: The first training program in Israel started in 1997. There are currently three programs that offer a master's degree in genetic counseling, training 20 students per year. The first training program in Saudi Arabia was a graduate diploma in 2005 with a master's degree being available as of 2015. There are two training programs available in Saudi Arabia with approximately 10 trained genetic counselors graduating per year.


title: Genetic counseling

text: The Israeli Ministry of Health offers licensure to genetic counselors in Israel following an exam written one year after their post-graduate work and 85-case logbook. Recertification is not required as licensure is permanent after the exam. Licensure is also offered through the Saudi Commission for Health Specialties (SCFHS) following a panel interview, testing, or oral exam by a medical board; recertification in this country is under review at this time, but all counselors practicing in Saudi Arabia are expected to obtain a license from the SCHS.


title: Genetic counseling

text: The National Society of Genetic Counselors (NSGC) blog provides information about current topics in genetic testing and genetic counseling.


title: Genetic counseling

text: Many studies have examined the attitudes of the lay public toward genetic counseling and genetic testing. Barriers to obtaining genetic counseling include lack of understanding of genetics by both patients and healthcare providers, concerns about cost and insurance, and fears of stigma and/or discrimination.


title: Genetic counseling

text: The reach of genetic testing and health equity is expanding due to telephone counseling. Telephone delivery has proven "less expensive, yielded non-inferior cognitive, minimized psychological distress, facilitated informed decision making, and achieved positive counselor-patient interactions." As a result, telephone-based genetic counseling and testing are now commonly offered and reimbursed by many insurance companies.


title: Genetic counseling

text: No simple correlation has been found between the change in technology to the changes in values and beliefs towards genetic testing.


title: Genetic counseling

text: An increase in genetic counseling outreach efforts are needed to intentionally extend opportunities to populations that have been historically underrepresented in the profession to create a more diverse and inclusive workforce and access to services. Given the history of low engagement of under-represented minority populations in both clinical genetic services and genetic research, both of these aspects will be challenged and must be addressed before the benefits of precision medicine will be fully realized.


title: A Perfect Ending

text: The film immediately introduces the two main protagonists. Paris (Jessica Clark) is a young, dark-haired woman who works as a high-priced escort/call-girl, but is a creative artist by nature. Rebecca (Barbara Niven) is a rich, blonde, middle-aged wife. The initial voice-over also narrates a cancer affliction that has grown beyond hope.


title: A Perfect Ending

text: Rebecca has lived a wealthy yet unhappy existence in creating a seemingly perfect family with her husband Mason Westridge (John Heard). The signs of trouble are their hostility towards each other and conflicting opinions about whether Jessica, Rebecca's only daughter who has a different father, should receive equal stock shares of the family business as her two half-brothers. It is revealed that Mason had attempted to, and possibly succeeded in, sexually assaulting Jessica.


title: A Perfect Ending

text: Rebecca feels an emotional emptiness and confides in her two lesbian best friends that she has never had an orgasm, and that she and Mason only have sex once every six months, which is fine with her. One of her friends suggests that Rebecca try a very discreet escort service run by her own cousin (Morgan Fairchild).


title: A Perfect Ending

text: It is then that Rebecca meets Paris and through a series of very discreet meetings, Rebecca eventually warms up to Paris' gentle advances and achieves her goals of having sex with another woman, and experiencing true happiness and satisfaction.


title: A Perfect Ending

text: We learn that Paris, who is well appreciated for her services, seems to be in agony over a past mistake that had led her to this profession. It is implied that Paris' husband died after she accidentally pushed him into the road and he was hit by a car shortly after their wedding day. It is Rebecca who later helps Paris to let go of her past and heal.