My family has been farming our property near Warren for over 100 years. Country people are notoriously poor at asking for assistance and are reluctant to accept it. By necessity we have had to be self-reliant. Limited and misleading media coverage has sometimes left me feeling misunderstood and increasingly isolated. The lack of access to services and resources has further heightened this feeling of isolation.
Trauma, illness, grief, depression and anxiety don’t discriminate and are by no means exclusive to rural communities.
The impact from these and other issues is compounded in communities that are also under climatic stress, in this case drought.
My ability to cope with stress and make sound decisions has been compromised by the cumulative effects of issues over the last 5 years.
Ironically, this started with flooding, then loss of family members, the burning down of our historic homestead and now the present drought, the worst in my memory. I feel it’s important to understand that although rural communities are in drought to focus programmes or initiatives on this issue alone, or to just target farmers, has been a mistake.
I was fortunate to attend a Healing Your Life program at Quest earlier last year.
As a result, I became convinced my community would benefit immensely from a visit by Petrea. Generous funding was made available through the Helen Lyons Foundation to enable this and Petrea came out west and delivered a series of workshops about self-care and resilience for farmers and our community.
Quest understands that no one size fits all. In a comprehensive and holistic approach (mental, physical and spiritual), backed by the latest medical research into areas such as health, wellbeing, meditation and mindfulness, neuroscience, epigenetics and communication the workshop gave us the tools to help us help ourselves.
I’ve received nothing but positive feedback from people thankful for the opportunity to attend a workshop.
Once again, a sincere and heartfelt thanks on behalf of the Warren community. Please donate to Quest for Life’s EOFY Financial Appeal so they can be here for people and communities in crisis.
