Rural Alive and Well
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Vyv Alomes, project coordinator
Craig Kinsella, rural outreach worker
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Project overview
Rural Alive and Well is a community suicide prevention project that was developed in response to the extreme drought conditions prevalent in the Southern Midlands and Central Highlands of Tasmania. It addresses the emotional and physical trauma experienced by men (especially farmers), their families and the general community. Project initiatives include farm visits and house calls, suicide awareness training programs and service referrals. The scope of Rural Alive and Well also includes men’s physical health issues, community resilience building, and awareness raising.
About the project coordinator
Vyv Alomes grew up on a dairy farm in Tasmania’s Bushy Park. A couple and family therapist by trade, he also has experience in mentoring, particularly for young men. Vyv has driven trucks and has a passion for motorcycles. He believes being a local and knowing how to establish rapport with farming men has given him great success.
'Sometimes you can connect with blokes through a common interest,' he says. 'If you can get them talking about bikes, after a while they’ll often open up to you about what else is going on in their lives.'
Location and origination
The project began in June 2008 and operates in the Southern Midlands and Central Highlands of Tasmania.
Activities
The Rural Alive and Well project incorporates a wide variety of activities. These have included establishing a
men’s shed in Oatlands and a referral system for clients to connect with local service providers.
Other key activities include:
Farm visits
Rural outreach workers spend a lot of time on the road, making individual house calls to men on their remote farming properties. These visits can be ‘cold calls’ or referrals from a number of different sources. Rural outreach workers will often ‘have a chat over a cuppa’ with the farmers, making enquiries about their mental state and if appropriate referring them to other services.
Suicide awareness raising and training
Rural Alive and Well organises the following training programs:
Model
Rural Alive and Well is based on the Wheatbelt Men’s Health model from Western Australia. This model focuses on improving the health of men and building resilience in communities, so they able to cope with stressful situations incurred by problems such as drought.
'The wheatbelt in WA has been hit hard by drought just like Tas, so we felt confident the model would serve our area well,' says Alomes.
Challenges
Distance presents the main challenge for the Rural Alive and Well project. Travel between farm visits is extremely time consuming, and the cost of fuel and vehicles can be a strain on the project’s budget.
'We do a lot of kilometres a week doing farm visits. We get calls from all over the state but with the cost of fuel the way it is we have to stick to our areas,' says Alomes.
Future plans
Alomes has some big visions for further developing the Rural Alive and Well project. He wants the project to reach more men in the community who are at risk of suicide, with the intention of eventually operating state-wide. He is also rallying for a men’s health peak body to be established in Tasmania.
Lessons learnt
- Men who refer other men to the project can be (and often are) at risk of suicide themselves.
- Never assume that somebody is okay simply because they say they are.
- Taking the time to develop a trusting relationship is vital in preventing suicide.
- Rural wives and farming families need the same support structures as men.
- Hobbies are an excellent ‘common denominator’ that can be used to connect with men.
Evaluation information
Rural Alive and Well employs an independent evaluator to assess the project. Project officers keep extensive logs of farm visits and activities conducted as part of the evaluation process.
Umbrella organisation
Southern Midlands Council
Project partners
Contact
Email
Vyv Alomes, project coordinator, Rural Alive and Well, or call 03 6254 5000.