Mental health: One For The Diary

One year on from the 2019-20 bushfires, Murrumbidgee Primary Health Network (MPHN) has released its latest mental health support diary, chock-full of helpful information about mental health and wellbeing. Once again, Hutcheon & Pearce is proud to lend our support to the initiative to deliver the diaries to those who need it most.

Getting mental health and wellbeing information into rural communities is one thing the MPHN has thought long and hard about.

MPHN’s Senior Mental Health and Drug and Alcohol Manager Anita McRae said the diaries are just one initiative of the Australian Government’s Empowering Our Communities program, but an increasingly popular initiative.

“As part of our drought funding, called Empowering Our Communities, we worked with a steering committee to support us in the roll-out of the funding to ensure it gets to the people most in need. The Steering Committee members have really strong links to the community, with rural representation, people with lived experience of mental health issues as well as agencies that have rural ties. The Steering Committee was really key to ensuring the right people were engaged so we could get our information and support out to rural people who maybe wouldn’t otherwise know what MPHN does.

“One of the things the Steering Committee identified was the need to have information available in different ways and in ways people would access it and feel comfortable to access it. Having something useful people would pick up and hang onto, like a diary, that also contained wellbeing and mental health messages and information woven into it was something the Steering Committee came up with, and it’s been so well received.

“People have absolutely taken up the diaries. For example, in 2019, thousands of diaries went out the door at the Henty Field Days. Over the three different iterations of the diary, we have seen almost 60,000 go out into the community.

“Without businesses like Hutcheon & Pearce helping us to distribute the diaries and really get those messages out there, we would be missing a big audience. They have supported us the whole way through and we thank them and all our supporters for their help.”

Along with space to write in all those important appointments and milestones of the year, the diary also contains tips for managing stress, practicing self-care, how to identify if someone might need support and information that links people to mental health services. The 2021 diary also includes contact details for local and national supports available for people affected by the bushfires.

Steering Committee member, retired farmer and mental health advocate John Harper said that the diary format is a smart way of getting health and wellbeing information into the hands of farmers.

“Farmers and men in particular aren’t proactive in picking up this type of information and taking it home. But most farming business have need for a diary, so we thought incorporating our messaging in diary format that has other uses for the farmer was a good move.

“The delightful part of the diaries and Hutcheon & Pearce’s involvement is that they are businesses – they’re not focused on mental health – but to their credit, they realise that they are part of the process and so have come on board to distribute them. That’s because mental health is intertwined with every aspect of life, so it’s everybody’s business.

“You need the physical aspects of being a good farmer, and that’s being able to work hard, be resilient and resourceful. You need the equipment, which is what Hutcheon & Pearce provides. But you also need the will, the mental capacity, the mental ability to deal with all this stuff, and that’s why it’s important that this information gets out there in different formats, so people can start to understand.

“You’ve got to give credit to the PHN, for taking the idea of the diary on board and to Hutcheon & Pearce to help distribute it, but you also have to give credit to any of the farmers that actually use the diaries and read the messages, because it could help change or even save their life or other people’s lives.”
CEO Arron Hutcheon believes that anything H&P can do to support rural communities with their mental health and wellbeing is worth it.

“Hutcheon & Pearce is wholeheartedly behind helping our farmers and communities to be well and thrive.

“Agriculture is an amazing industry to be in but its cyclical nature – with the high highs and low lows and unpredictability – can make it pretty tough. As farmers, it’s taken us all a long time to recognise that we need to look after ourselves mentally as well as physically, and to look after one another to stay in this game and prosper.

“As such, we are happy to have these 2021 mental health support diaries available for collection in our Coleambally, Finley, Temora, Griffith, Lake Cargelligo and Wagga Wagga branches.”

Another initiative of the Empowering Our Communities program is Farmer Health Checks, which will be held at the Riverina Field Days in Griffith in May.

Anita explained that MPHN engages the Centre for National Farmers’ Health to do physical health checks along with psychological distress, farmer safety and alcohol use checks.

“We did the Farmer Health Checks at previous events like Henty, and found they were really important in catching some people who had health issues, but they didn’t have time to go to the GP. So we encourage any farmer who may be at the Riverina Field Days to drop in for a check-up.”

If you or someone you know is experiencing a mental health emergency call the Murrumbidgee Accessline 1800 011 944, Mental Health Line 1800 011 511, Lifeline 13 11 14, or call 000. Or to access the Head to Health website visit www.headtohealth.org.au.