Rural Alive and Well has received accreditation from the national suicide prevention peak body for its Country Outreach Program.
The program provides rural counselling and support to rural communities to help deal with challenging life experiences, including mental health and welfare issues, with a focus on suicide prevention.
It has been recognised with accreditation by Suicide Prevention Australia for meeting quality improvement standards across a range of areas.
The mental health and wellbeing of rural communities is essential to a healthy Tasmania, which is why the Tasmanian Liberal Government is committed to ensuring people have access to the support they need wherever they live across the State.
Premier and Minister for Mental Health and Wellbeing, Jeremy Rockliff congratulated Rural Alive and Well (RAW) on their achievement.
“Our Government is a strong supporter of RAW, investing more than $1.5 million dollars in its Country Outreach Program for Rural Counselling and Support Services, including $200,000 specifically for addressing the needs of older people in our remote and rural communities,” Premier Rockliff said.
“We are committed to ensuring all Tasmanians, including those living in rural and remote areas, are equipped with the skills and support they need for their mental health and wellbeing.
“Organisations like Rural Alive and Well do an incredible job providing mental health and suicide prevention services that are tailored to the needs and experiences of the communities they serve.”
The Tasmanian Liberal Government is doing what matters for the community by investing in mental health services rural and regional Tasmania needs and deserves, including our Patient Travel Assistance Scheme, establishing the Tasmanian Lifeline phone number, and partnering with Life Without Barriers to launch a youth mental health program in the Circular Head region.
Quotes attributable to Troy Ainslie, local Farmer and recent winner of the ANZ Dairy Business of the Year Award:
“There has been bad stigma about mental health particularly in the Dairy industry, but across all Agriculture for a long time.
The work RAW does is addressing stigma and providing one on one support to Farmers and rural communities experiencing challenging times is excellent.
We are losing too many farmers each year to suicide.
There are people there to talk too, you aren’t alone, and RAW is there for anyone when they need it.”
Quotes attributable to Barb Walters, CEO at Rural Alive & Well:
“Suicide prevention is complex. RAW values the National Suicide Prevention Accreditation by Suicide Prevention Australia as not just something that seems good idea, but is essential for safe guarding people during vulnerable periods.
The National Standard provides the checks and balances across the sector to hold groups accountable to best practice standards.
It’s humbling and rewarding to know that the framework and foundation of RAW’s one on one support has been tried and tested by the National Standard and has been proven to meet the best practice standards and guidelines.
As Troy will share, there is still such a large stigma and barrier for reaching out for support within our rural communities.
RAW chooses to break down those barriers and support in a framework which typically looks to be an outside of the box solution, RAW has now been able to prove that you can innovate to create greater impact, whilst remaining within a framework of best practice”
