Free service supports mental health in the bush

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Mental health issues are on the rise, but you don’t have to suffer in silence.

That’s the message from New Access, which is a free and confidential mental health coaching program developed by BeyondBlue and delivered by Richmond Fellowship Queensland (RFQ).

RFQ Senior Manager Lisa Inger said the program is for anyone feeling stressed or overwhelmed or impacted by everyday life issues such as work, study, relationships, health or loneliness.

“At your first appointment with your coach we will complete an initial consultation with you and develop a plan tailored to your individual needs,” Lisa Inger said.

“It’s a confidential, client-centred approach that we hope empowers clients to use practical strategies and tools to get through whatever mental health challenges they may be facing,” Ms Inger said.

“Our coaches sit down with the client through guided discovery to gather a shared understanding of what the client is going through, how it impacts them, and what they want to see in the future,” she said.

“Offering these services can be a crucial first-step for people who may feel anxious about addressing challenges in their lives, and these services are free and accessible to the whole community.”

Mental health issues are a common challenge in many communities that can impact all aspects of people’s lives, making it a challenge to address.

“There’s really a lot of different types of stressors in all sorts of areas like one’s work or relationships, or due to being over-extended personally or professionally,” Lisa Inger said.

“Changes in employment or unemployment can be a stressor, or perhaps recent injuries, illnesses or family circumstances that can lead to understandable distress,” Ms Inger said.

“Other aspects of life such as housing or study can also impact people’s mental health, so we’d really like to remind everyone that anyone can suffer from many different challenges and it can be more common than you might think,” she said.

“What’s important is recognising that everyone undergoes stress, but they don’t have to do it alone.”

While many organisations like RFQ are attempting to raise awareness and reduce stigma on mental health, Ms Inger said there’s many barriers which hinder their ability to reach those needing help; particularly in regional communities.

“Rural communities go through significant stress, but despite that there’s several major challenges involved with helping them, even as simple as reaching these communities,” Lisa Inger said.

“You can have a rural community that is not well supported and hard to reach, and it can be challenging to get word to them of the support that is available particularly if using media or communication channels that are inaccessible or unreliable for them,” Ms Inger said.

“It’s also a conundrum because some types of media that are easiest for many other communities might not be meaningful for rural communities, so we have to be very strategic about how we can get the message out there,” she said.

“There’s also the challenge of helping communities recognise that it’s okay to seek help; that you don’t have to do everything on your own; unfortunately there is a stigma in many communities, not just rural, that can be a barrier for people to reach out when they recognise they need help.”

“What’s important is recognising that everyone undergoes stress, but they don’t have to do it alone.” Lisa Inger said.

Ms Inger believes that the broader community has a role to play in recognising mental health around them and that early intervention is an important step to take.

“Being able to help those around us is quite profound, and it really is all about recognising the signs as you see them,” Lisa Inger said.

“Having a supportive community that reaches out to one-another can be a powerful way to break down that stigma, so recognising even seemingly benign issues like trouble sleeping or people disengaging from their life or work, spending lots of time worrying…these can all potentially be related to a larger issue that we can guide people through,” Ms Inger said.

“Avoiding things they used to enjoy, a lack of concentration…perhaps eating patterns or routine changes…these are all common traits you might see and what’s important is to encourage those around us who might be experiencing these warning signs to reach out early,” she said.

“The great benefit of our program is that we have a no-wrong-door approach; in the first sitting they will get an understanding of what’s going on and if they don’t feel right about something, we can link them to a more appropriate support service…we won’t leave anyone out to dry.”

With added stress on rural and regional communities from extreme weather events, people in these communities can be more exposed to developing mental health concerns.

“While all communities will face mental health challenges, regional communities face particularly unique stressors that really impact them,” Lisa Inger said.

“Environmental factors are a considerable contribution with the likes of disasters such as floods, drought…extreme weather events; these all impact small communities the most,” Ms Inger said.

“Small business owners are also impacted quite strongly, due to the stress involved with running a business, which is why NewAccess have particular programs for them,” she said.

“Services like this can help with a variety of issues; from the flow-on effects of COVID right down to the financial stresses many business owners are currently going through.”

Services offered by RFQ are available to all through their website or via the Beyond Blue website.

Ms Inger hopes that by offering free and accessible services, more Australians will take the first step in reaching out to seek help.

“Ultimately what’s most important is to reach out; no problem is too small to ignore,” Lisa Inger said.

“This is a completely free program and no GP referral is required,” Ms Inger said.

To check out your eligibility visit: https://www.rfq.com.au/service/newaccess/

Or email new.access@rfq.com.au

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Strategy on the Agenda at SQ Landscapes Board Meeting

by Caleb Back • 31 Oct, 2023

The Board of Southern Queensland Landscapes recently met in Toowoomba. In addition to the Board meeting, Board and Executive worked through updating SQ Landscapes’ strategy. Company Secretary Pam Murphy highlighted the importance of the latest Board meeting and what it means for the company’s future. “The updated strategy will help SQ Landscapes deliver sustainable natural resource management (NRM) outcomes that improve the lives of people in regional communities now and for the future,” Pam Murphy said. “We’re excited to continue delivering value for our region and build Flourishing Landscapes and Healthy Communities across Southern Queensland under the guidance of the Board,” Mrs Murphy said.

SQ Landscapes' Annual General Meeting 2023

by Caleb Back • 05 Sept, 2023

Annual General Meeting When: Wednesday, 13 December 2023 Where: Online via Zoom Time : 9.00am for 9.30am start

Learn How Sophie and Adrian Transformed Their Wallet and Soil at “Bellhaven Brook”

by Caleb Back • 05 Sept, 2023

When Sophie and Adrian McInnerney began adopting their “paddock to plate” experiment into their lambing business, they quickly discovered how a new and exciting approach to running their enterprise transformed their resilience and soil health. Multi-species cover cropping was the answer, and now their business has become a diverse enterprise that has embraced variations in livestock feed and crop rotation, building riparian fencing, and investing in healthier soils. This has opened the young couple to new opportunities to create new revenue streams, protect their business against natural disasters, drought, and prepare for economic hardships. Their property, “Bellhaven Brook”, located just an hour east of Goondiwindi, was the site of Macintyre Ag Alliance’s latest Multi-Species Cropping Field Day. With the support of Southern Queensland Landscapes (SQ Landscapes), the event aimed to promote the McInnerney family’s new land practices, offering an opportunity to educate land managers in the region of new ways to strengthen their property and enterprise. SQ Landscapes’ Goondiwindi-based Project Delivery Officer Keith Walker joined land managers for the workshop and highlighted how multi-species cover cropping could pave the way to rebuilding healthy soils and farming enterprises. “What was great about visiting ‘Bellhaven Brook’ is that you don’t have to be a scientist to understand this stuff. The idea is to just try and experiment like the McInnerneys did,” Keith Walker said. “These cover cropping systems are all about building your experience, experimenting and slowly developing a healthier and richer soil profile; which is the basis of all businesses; cropping and grazing alike.” Mr Walker said. “It was interesting to see the range of people, the ages from young and old, and the differences in enterprises. It’s a reminder that this genre of agriculture is starting conversations,” he said. “It’s all about implementation on the ground and getting the results for less money and experimenting with what people are doing.”

How Camels and Cool Burns are Transforming Risdon Stud

by Caleb Back • 02 Aug, 2023

Cool burns, camels, and funding for local farmers were on the agenda at 'Risdon Stud' as land managers Nick and Liz Suduk hosted the Southern Queensland Landscapes and Department of Resources site visit to showcase the success of the Natural Resources Investment Program 2018-2022 (NRIP). Risdon Stud, south of Warwick, was primarily a high-intensity horse stud, but under new ownership with the Suduk family, the focus has been on restoring productivity and landscape health. “The Suduks participated in the NRIP project, where they received on-site guidance from First Nations fire practitioner Robbie Williams from Fire Lore, for cool burning in native vegetation areas,” Project Delivery Lead Natasha Mylonas said. “This was their first exposure to this type of burning and they have since embarked on a journey towards building their confidence in applying it elsewhere on the property,” Ms Mylonas said. “The NRIP project also supported livestock fencing, largely to exclude cattle from a large patch of remnant vegetation, combined with weed management in that remnant vegetation,” she said. “It is really difficult to muster out of the remnant vegetation, so the fencing has meant easier mustering of the cattle, as well as reduced weed spread and damage to the native vegetation in the patch.” “Outside of the NRIP project, they maintain a herd of agisted camels as part of their weed management strategy and experimented with fire to manage wattle regrowth,” Natasha Mylonas said.

Cultural Burning Returns to Mt Tabor on Bidjara Country

by Caleb Back • 01 Aug, 2023

Fire is crucial to maintaining our landscapes. That’s according to fire practitioner Robbie Williams, who accompanied Southern Queensland Landscapes earlier this year to bridge fire practitioner knowledge with First Nations Peoples across the southwest. Robbie has since returned to the region - this time accompanied by members of our Charleville team as he hosted training along the slopes of the culturally significant site of Mt Tabor, just outside Augathella. “This is the continuation of what we achieved last time we were in the southwest,” Robbie Williams said. “Last visit, SQ Landscapes connected me with local First Nations mobs including Kunya, Bidjara, Mardigan, Boonthamurra, Kooma, Kullilli, and Murrawurri,” Mr Williams said. “During this visit, many of these mobs agreed to trial fire practitioner training for young men in the area to bring burning back onto Country; and that is exactly what we’re here to do today!” he said. “It’s really inspiring to see these communities taking on the opportunity to learn about burning and we’re hoping this will develop into businesses the local mobs can build to manage their Country.”

Digital Artist Named Overall Grand Prize Winner of First Nations Art Competition

by Caleb Back • 01 Aug, 2023

Winners in the Southern Queensland Landscapes and University of Southern Queensland’s 2023 First Nations Art Competition have been announced to a crowd of more than 150 people in Toowoomba. Overall Grand Prize and Digital Medium Category winner has gone to Robert Claude Manns for his piece ‘Mandan’. "I wanted to express the fractured relationship that I have with some of the Mandandanji People. Unfortunately many of us feel connected to our Nation, but not always the people," Robert Manns said. "My piece was assisted through artificial intelligence (AI) art and I found that to be a really powerful tool in discovering how I wanted this art to go," Mr Manns said. "I've always been artistic, and I wanted to explore Indigenous art, but I wasn't great at it and I found the style difficult to personalise. AI and digital art has allowed me to connect with Indigenous art in my own way and explore things the way I wanted," he said. "I'm really glad it worked out and people liked the art!" "In truth, I thought I might only get an encouragement award, but to first see I won the digital art and then the Overall Grand Prize was just spectacular. There were tears in my eyes. I wasn't expecting to get so far!" Robert Manns said. "I want to thank everyone who made Indigenous art through the millenia; otherwise I wouldn't have done it," Mr Manns said. "Shortly before he passed away, my dad put me onto the competition and I thought I'd give it a go. I wish he was here to see it, as he was my inspiration for making this art." he said. "He was my inspiration and my supporter through it all."

Diversifying Your Agricultural Business into Retirement to Lever Off Natural Assets

by Kellie Stewart • 04 Jul, 2023

By Kellie Stewart When land managers Phil & Anne Donges entertained the idea of retirement they looked to the natural assets of their property located between Yelarbon, Inglewood and Texas to provide the answer. For almost 90-years ‘Glenarbon’ had supported generations of the Donges family; with key crops and land use pivoting numerous times as a result of market demands, economic climates and practice change. “Glenarbon was established back in 1932; our family came out then and it was to grow tobacco, that was in the middle of the depression,” Phil Donges said. “Five years ago we sold our main farm about 10-kilometres down the road and we decided to go into semi-retirement keeping about 100-acres of the original farm along about 1-kilometre of the Dumaresq River,” Mr Donges said. “We’re using Glenarbon now to run a few head of steers and then we’ve also gone into this eco-tourism where people can come and enjoy the environment like we like it ourselves,” he said. “We saw the ecotourism as an opportunity to give us some extra income by going into the camping side of things, but also to diversify our business so that we could in tougher seasons rely less heavily on livestock and more on the natural assets of the farm.”

Landscape restoration and rehydration reverses years of damage

by Kellie Stewart • 05 Jun, 2023

It’s amazing how quickly a landscape can rebalance itself according to Jarrod and Sam Thomson of ‘Gum Gully’, located some 14 kilometres south of Drillham in Queensland. The couple purchased the 820 hectare property in 2020 and since then have been working to reverse landscape damage caused by years of drought and overgrazing. “Gum Gully is a very diverse farm with a lot of timber ranging from Mallee box to belah, sandalwood and a lot of native pastures,” Jarrod Thomson said. “It’d been really knocked around by the droughts and our main goal was how do we bring back this place to make it a viable enterprise again?” Mr Thomson said. “Quickly realising that we had to rehabilitate the land and rehydrate it fast; desertification had set in and we were struggling to grow galvanised bur,” he said. Rehydration works included some contouring and soft engineering works combined with farm dams to slow the flow and manage water across the property to maximise each rain event regardless of whether it was 10mm or 100mm.

Tree Planting and Truth Telling at Gummingurru

by Caleb Back • 05 Jun, 2023

Reconciliation was on the agenda at Gummingurru for National Reconciliation Week. First Nations, local community, and avid gardeners came together for a round of truth telling and tree planting. Located north of Toowoomba, Gummingurru is an ancient and sacred site for Western Wakka Wakka Peoples, serving as a stopping point for First Nations Peoples on their way to the Bunya Mountains. Western Wakka Wakka man Shannon Bauwens, a First Nations man from the Bunya Peoples’ Aboriginal Corporation (BPAC) led the event with a smoking ceremony and a round of truth-telling at the yarning circle near Gummingurru. “Reconciliation is about talking to each other. Coming together and making something positive as a community,” Shannon Bauwens said. “This yarning circle we are standing in now represents thousands of years of storytelling,” Mr Bauwens said. “Today is all about sharing our stories and finding new ways to come together as a community; whether you are Indigenous or not,” he said. “We have people from all different Nations, from Western Wakka Wakka, to Bunjalung, Gomeroi, and more.”

Lorinda Otto Joins Southern Queensland Landscapes’ Team as Incoming Roma Node Manager

by Caleb Back • 05 Jun, 2023

Meet Lorinda Otto. She is Southern Queensland Landscapes’ latest addition to the team as our Relationship Lead and the incoming Roma Node Manager for the Southern Queensland and Northern New South Wales Innovation Hub. Lorinda joins our team with a wealth of experience in stakeholder engagement and community networking, working with government, non-government, community organisations, farmers, small businesses, and apprentices/trainees. “I’m all about connecting land managers and helping them understand how to become connected with innovation, upskilling, resilience, and cost-saving programs.” Lorinda Otto said. “My parents were farmers. Farming is in my blood and I have a passion for our environment. Outdoor experiences have helped shape who I am today.” Ms Otto said. “I was born in South Africa and I attended university in Johannesburg and initially started in the dental industry as an oral hygienist, but when we emigrated to Australia, I decided to be a stay at home mum for three years before later working at Queensland Health for nine months.” she said. “Following my work with Queensland Health, I worked briefly in the energy industry at Powerlink for 18 months which opened a door for me to work at Santos in their administration, community engagement, and data catchment fields.” “That opportunity led me into the government sector where I enjoyed five years in the Department of Employment, Small Business and Training, as their Senior Field Officer conducting key stakeholder engagement, supporting small business, and also monitoring the progression of apprentices and training programs,” Lorinda Otto said. “I worked across seven western shires, many of which are in SQ Landscapes’ catchment including Bulloo, Murweh, Ballone, Maranoa, Quilpie, and the Western Downs - alongside Banana and Blackall,” Ms Otto said. “I want our agricultural sector to be strong and healthy and I believe I have a role to play in that!” she said. Lorinda’s team includes Ally Southern, an Adoption Officer based in St George. They will work closely across the SQ Landscapes region to help land managers drought-proof their property and prepare for a more resilient industry. As the incoming Roma Node Manager, Lorinda will have lots on her plate, but she’s eager to rise to the challenge and bring her unique style to the role!