Community Care and Connection:
The Heart of Our Rural Mental Health Work
By Myfanwy Pitcher
Rural Aid Mental Health and Wellbeing Manager
One of the many great things about working in the MHWB team is that we get to travel throughout our beautiful country. Some days we can spend hours driving to see someone who has reached out. No complaints: the scenery is always great and always changing. We are lucky to live where we do.
One of the best things about our role is that we get to see firsthand our great communities and how everyone looks out for each other. We sit with those we’re working with, listening to that person describe how their town has wrapped around them, adding extra support without any prompting or second thought. Some examples of this are dropping off cooked meals, regularly visiting or phoning, gardening and maintaining lawns, listening and really caring. Where the person doesn’t feel they need that help being offered they are still left with a feeling of thankfulness and belonging. Both individuals and groups appear to have no hesitation to help – they just do. One person said to me ‘at the end of day we are neighbours, so we have to look out for each other’. In one town the people being helped had recently moved there and their statement was “If I had any doubts about why I moved here it has definitely gone, this town and the people are just amazing’.
When someone is struggling mentally or otherwise an offer of help even if not needed is appreciated by the majority. A person may, due to their high emotions, appear to be annoyed you have offered help. But this person mostly has also appreciated your thought and the care. We know this because when we work with these people they say, ‘Its nice to know people actually care all the same’.
The sense of belonging and being valued from being supported by those who care cannot be underestimated. Being valued results in being given hope and hope is very powerful. Never underestimate how dropping off a meal, taking time to call in or phone, or offer help with chores positively adds to this person’s road to recovery. Even though its ‘just what we do in the bush’.