Mental health and wellbeing
Your mental health and wellbeing can be impacted during difficult times. Depression, feelings of hopelessness, financial worries, and devastating emergency events can all take their toll.
Don't be afraid to seek help for yourself, or for someone you are worried about.
Support is always available for your mental health and wellbeing. It can be accessed for free whenever you need it. Many services offer confidential counselling 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, via telephone or online chat.
Medicare Mental Health
Phone: 1800 595 212 – 8.30 am to 5.00 pm weekdays (except public holidays)
The national Medicare Mental Health phone line and website helps you access the mental health and wellbeing resources and services that are right for you. You can choose a suitable care option, whether that’s face-to-face, over the phone, or online.
Mental health emergency
Phone: 13 14 65 – 24 hours a day, 7 days a week
For help in a mental health emergency, the Mental Health Triage Service is available. This service is staffed by trained mental health professionals who can help connect you to the support you need in a mental health emergency.
24 hour counselling services
Lifeline Australia
Phone: 13 11 14
Lifeline Australia is a national charity providing anyone experiencing emotional distress with access to free 24-hour crisis support and suicide prevention services.
Their emergency services are available via phone, text or online chat, with online resources available.
Beyond Blue
Phone: 1300 224 636
Beyond Blue provides free information and support to help everyone in Australia achieve their best possible mental health, whatever their age and wherever they live.
MensLine Australia
Phone: 1300 789 978
MensLine Australia provides phone support and online counselling for men in anywhere in Australia.
13YARN
Phone: 13 92 76
13YARN provides free and confidential crisis support for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
Kids Helpline
Phone: 1800 551 800 – free call
Kids Helpline offers confidential counselling for young people aged 5 to 25. It is Australia's only free youth support service.
Qualified counsellors are always available via web chat, phone, or email to talk to you for any reason.
Parent Helpline
Phone: 1300 364 100
For parents and carers of children up to 5 years, the Child and Family Health Service Parent Helpline offers phone support.
They provide a confidential, free service with information and help for health, behaviour, nutrition and parenting.
Suicide Call Back Service
Phone: 1300 659 467
Suicide Call Back Service provides telephone and online counselling for anyone at risk of or affected by suicide.
Many of us moved here decades ago with big plans for our children to be living on the land.
From a young lad, I've dreamed about being a farmer.
As a little boy, I'd farm the backyard at our farmhouse.
But that hasn't gone the way the way we planned it.
Less rain every year and not much other resources to rely on.
Not only are we losing our crops, our livelihood, but then to live in the townships, we're losing our towns.
Hi, my name is Balwinder Kaur I live in the Riverland.
I do deal with a lot of people that are impacted by the drought.
This is not just dirt this is more than dirt for us, this is a future we promise our children.
But our children are moving to the cities so we can't stop them from going.
But that's the life they have to lead because there's nothing here for them.
And the flow on effect of it is, is our population is going to the cities.
They're all disappearing, the young people.
There's no future for them here.
And which is emptying the towns.
People have been on the land for 3, 4 generations, and suddenly the banks have to sell up because there's no produce.
You can't keep the feed up to the animals.
You can't grow the feed.
Then we diversified and went into horticulture because we had the Murray River there and we could pump out of it.
But the river prices, the water prices, the deaggregation off the Murray River itself, and it's just making it harder and harder.
I feel sorry for the young people.
Kids are like sponges.
They soak up the quiet anxieties and the hushed whispers at the dinner table.
They’re often acutely aware of the family's financial circumstances, especially if Mum and Dad have been talking about it at home.
When a family farm or horticultural operation is under threat it's not just the business that's at stake.
I’ve lived in Bordertown from 2012 originally from Afghanistan, so I came to Australia as a refugee.
We work at JBS.
When the drought is coming up and we don't have enough rain, we don't have enough sheep or lamb.
So our work hours are reduced because the company has reduced production.
I see people struggle with sleep, concentration, focus, appetite and a loss of motivation.
Some people struggle through connecting with their loved ones.
I got the opportunity to take on the family farm three years ago.
That was the start of about three years of drought and on top of the drought, we had a cattle price crash.
I just really found it a down time and a alone time, questioning had I made the right decision? Do you really want to be a farmer? Are you really supposed to be a farmer? I remember this particular day where my wife saw me she pulled me aside one night and gave me a haircut, and she had bought me new work clothes.
My old work clothes were in tatters.
There were times where she was like, “Is that jumper still keeping you warm?” She cut my hair and she brought out these new work clothes and she was like, “Steve, you're a boss now go out and act like it”.
And that was an incredible moment, a defining moment where she reminded me who I was.
I have learned something very important that we can't sit home and just stay inside the house, especially the women coming from different backgrounds, different cultures.
So we don't get to go out as the men do.
So we have made groups to go out in the community.
So we meet together, we have coffee, we have a chat.
Where possible, it's important to take time out and spend time with your kids.
Doing the simple things like cooking together, homework together, or gardening.
Seeking help is not a sign of weakness is actually steps towards looking after yourself and your family.
It's important to seek help.
Some people delay seeking help.
They may not prioritize or think it's just a luxury, but it's important that we get help in a timely manner.
For those who speak other languages, the system becomes even harder to navigate.
Remember, your health matters.
It's important to look after your mental well-being and physical well-being through good rest, movement, connection, and by taking time to slow down and rest.
We start to talk with the councils and they make another community gathering like Tatiara multicultural groups.
followed by Bordertown Islamic Community Centre and we come out and we talk to them and if we need help, we ask them to help us for any reasons that we have and the future that is our hopes and this makes us strong with everything that's happening in the world, especially here in the community.
So if we feel numb and detached, we talk to each other, we support each other, and so we can get on with tough times and we always have hope.
So every cloud has a silver lining.
It will change.
But we're going to have to be tolerant enough and durable enough to get through these hard parts.
What you go through can break you or it can make you stronger.
And I'm incredibly fortunate to be in a position where I look back and I go, what an incredible season to go through and have it make me stronger.
I had the community.
I had the friends.
I had the relationships beforehand, and these seasons have made those things stronger.
Look after yourself and prioritize your own needs.
This isn't a luxury, but a necessity.
This message is to let you know that we're all in the boat together.
The tractor drivers, the doctors, the school teachers, and us farmers and our farming families.
Remember, you are not alone.
We have interpreters available and we're here to support you.
Wellbeing support for farmers and their families
Rural Aid
Phone: 1300 175 594
Rural Aid counsellors provide mental health and wellbeing support for farmers and rural communities throughout rural Australia. Call the free Counselling Intake Line to access confidential support.
ifarmwell
ifarmwell is a free online tool kit to help farmers cope with life’s challenges and get the most out of every day, regardless of their circumstances. It is designed based on what Australian farmers have said they want and that research shows will help.
Its Weather it together campaign helps keep farmers connected, focus on what they can control, and able to ask for professional mental health support if needed.
R U OK
R U OK provides free resources to help you check in on friends and family, and where to find support for your mental health.
Their Mateship Manual is a guide to supporting anyone affected by a natural disaster or emergency.
Headspace
Phone: 1800 595 212 – 3 pm to 10 pm)
Headspace provides free online and telephone support for 12- to 25-year-olds around Australia.
Emerging Minds
Emerging Minds provides free information and resources to support the mental health and wellbeing of infants, children and families.