Victoria Drought Resilience Adoption and Innovation Hub

Supporting Mental Health in Farming Communities

Vic Drought Hub - Farmland 1
  • Southern Farming Systems
  • Mental Health

Greater support for mental health in rural communities is a recurring theme from farmers, merchandisers, advisors and the financial sector. This project aims to:

  • Equip advisors, rural suppliers and banks with skills to assist in supporting the mental health of farmers entering and during drought.
  • Address a drought resilience priority by identifying support gaps for people who are working in the agricultural sector, to better identify and respond to mental health needs with their clients.
  • Pilot training sessions in Feb with farmers agriculture students, (Marcus Oldham College) and a merchandise/advisory group (Gorst Rural). Sessions conducted by Mary O’Brien from Are you bogged mate?
  • The Vic Hub plans to share this initiative across more nodes and is coordinating a health network for drought resilience amongst the primary health networks associated with the Vic Hub partner Universities and regional nodes.