Creating Calmer Farmers in Hay

A health, nutrition and wellness workshop for the local community of Hay to assist in dealing with the stressors of drought.

Creating Calmer Farmers in Hay

A health, nutrition and wellness workshop for the local community of Hay to assist in dealing with the stressors of drought.

Reaching Out -

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The issue

Farmer’s in the region were dealing with a drought period which saw the one of the driest years. With the dramatic lack of rain and increasing feed prices farmers were becoming more stressed and looking after themselves less.

The solution

Active farmer in conjunction with Murrumbidgee Landcare developed a wellness roadshow which stopped in Hay to undertake a workshop on nutrition, mental and physical health and mindfulness. The workshop covered the impact of physical health for mental health benefits, the benefits of keeping a good social network, keys to having a healthy diet, what a bad diet can do to you, and what mindfulness is and how you can use it to relax to improve sleeping and reduce stress.

The impact

The workshop was run in Hay with 16 attending the night from across the region. The night also had an information table where there were over 30 flyers/brochures/booklets available to the farmers containing drought assistance, mental health, dealing with pest animals, workshops, contact details etc. At least 12 attendees took information that was relevant and useful to them or other farmer they knew. Care packages were also developed by CWA Hay branch from donated pharmacy products and handed out to each participant that attended.

Learnings

The attendees were people who wanted to build and develop themselves regardless if they were on-farm or not. There was a great mix of men and women on the night with everyone interacting in all activities. Full credit to the presenters for their professional, informative and collaborative approach to the series of workshops.