Latest / The Muster on Hokonui / The Muster- Kathryn Wright: Rural Mental Health Counsellor

Transcript

The Muster- Kathryn Wright: Rural Mental Health Counsellor · The Muster on Hokonui

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: You are the sunshine of.
• 0:04
  Speaker 2: My life.
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: Welcome back to the muster on Hokonui. Catherine Wright joins
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: us next. She is a counsellor who specialises in rural
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: mental health. She's had a PhD submitted recently, or about
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: to be submitted, regarding the health, the mental health in
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: young rural people. Catherine, good afternoon. It's good to have
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: a bit of blue sky finally.
• 0:30
  Speaker 2: It is so good to see the sun, Andy. I
• 0:33
  Speaker 2: can't deny that.
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: Just changes the mood. Even just having some sun when
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: you're going about your job after what has been called shit-temper.
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: And I think we can say that because that's pretty
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: much what we've been dealt.
• 0:48
  Speaker 2: Absolutely. It's been really tough going. I think that what
• 0:52
  Speaker 2: makes it even worse is that it comes right at
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: the end of winter. It's almost like that sucker punch
• 0:58
  Speaker 2: just as you're getting to the end when things should,
• 1:00
  Speaker 2: I say in quotation marks, should be getting better. And
• 1:04
  Speaker 2: I think if that kind of weather carry-on happened near
• 1:07
  Speaker 2: the start of the winter, I think that it would
• 1:08
  Speaker 2: be a bit easier to take.
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: With your councillor's hat on here, Catherine, as well as
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: your farming hat too, I mean, you look at the
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: situation that farmers are facing at the moment, it can
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: be easy to get overwhelmed regarding workload.
• 1:23
  Speaker 2: Absolutely. And, you know, we've had this conversation once or
• 1:28
  Speaker 2: twice before, Andy. Unfortunately, this is not our first rodeo.
• 1:32
  Speaker 2: But I'm going to say basically the same things as
• 1:35
  Speaker 2: I've said in the past because they've proven to be true.
• 1:38
  Speaker 2: So first of all, I want you to think about
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: touch points on the calendar. So I know it's hard
• 1:43
  Speaker 2: to get away. It's hard to get off. Some people
• 1:46
  Speaker 2: do have someone that can kind of take over the reins.
• 1:49
  Speaker 2: But if you don't, even an evening out, having your
• 1:53
  Speaker 2: neighbours out for morning tea, something that you can actually
• 1:55
  Speaker 2: look forward to because connection is actually something that will
• 1:59
  Speaker 2: help you to regulate things It will help you to
• 2:02
  Speaker 2: shoulder the frustrations of this crappy weather. Don't underestimate it.
• 2:08
  Speaker 2: Don't forget about your basic needs as well while you're
• 2:11
  Speaker 2: going through this. So a lot of farming is automated now,
• 2:15
  Speaker 2: but remember that you do need to move your body
• 2:17
  Speaker 2: as part of holistic mental health care. So whether that's walking, running,
• 2:22
  Speaker 2: lifting weights, bike riding, whatever it is you like to do.
• 2:26
  Speaker 2: Also looking at what you're eating and also how's your sleep?
• 2:30
  Speaker 2: How can you address that? But the biggest thing, I think,
• 2:35
  Speaker 2: is to look at acceptance. So this doesn't mean liking
• 2:40
  Speaker 2: it or agreeing it. It's just saying, right, the weather's
• 2:44
  Speaker 2: going to do what it's going to do. And whether
• 2:46
  Speaker 2: or not you're angry about it, it's not going to
• 2:49
  Speaker 2: change it. So it's just going, yep, okay, that's happening.
• 2:53
  Speaker 2: it's going to be that way. What can I now
• 2:56
  Speaker 2: put my focus on, if that makes sense?
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: Now, a lot of events are happening around the province.
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: I'll talk about these shortly, but a few people commenting
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: online last night saying, well, these events are all well
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: and good, but if I get off the farm, that
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: just puts me behind the eight ball because I've got
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: a lot to do and I don't have time to
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: go and attend these events. What do you say to that?
• 3:17
  Speaker 2: It's a double-edged sword, isn't it? I guess it depends
• 3:22
  Speaker 2: on how long you're taking off. So if it's just
• 3:24
  Speaker 2: an evening, you're not going to be doing anything in
• 3:27
  Speaker 2: the evening probably. I think that the payoff would be
• 3:31
  Speaker 2: far better than the sacrifice that you're willing to make.
• 3:34
  Speaker 2: If it is going away for a day or two, yep,
• 3:38
  Speaker 2: that's really hard. But please don't write it off before
• 3:42
  Speaker 2: you've tried it. So if you can get somebody to
• 3:45
  Speaker 2: look out for the farm or to double feed or
• 3:48
  Speaker 2: do whatever you have to do, just maybe there is
• 3:51
  Speaker 2: a chance that you might feel more able to take
• 3:54
  Speaker 2: on the stresses if you've been able to let off
• 3:56
  Speaker 2: some steam.
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: You talk about diet. At this time of year, it's
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: too easy just to chuck a pie in the microwave
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: and that's your feet.
• 4:03
  Speaker 2: Yep, don't underestimate it. So people are always surprised when
• 4:07
  Speaker 2: I ask them about this. So we know that a
• 4:11
  Speaker 2: lot of our neurotransmitters that are made in the gut
• 4:13
  Speaker 2: do help us with mood regulations. And so you can
• 4:17
  Speaker 2: imagine that if you're having a Jimmy's and a V
• 4:19
  Speaker 2: for breakfast, you're probably not going to feel that good.
• 4:22
  Speaker 2: If you can try to eat a little bit better, yes,
• 4:26
  Speaker 2: that might be some preps the night before, it will
• 4:30
  Speaker 2: absolutely pay off. You will not regret looking after yourself
• 4:33
  Speaker 2: in this way.
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: When you look at the season that's ahead of us,
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: October in particular, I mean, tractor work, there hasn't been
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: any tractor out in the paddock hardly. I've seen a
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: couple of paddocks, but let's be honest, they were probably
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: worked up a few weeks back now. You've just got
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: to put things into perspective, I suppose, as well. Catherine,
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: what are your words around this?
• 4:52
  Speaker 2: Yeah, so the tractor work kind of comes with its
• 4:55
  Speaker 2: own set of issues. from my experience. And that is
• 5:00
  Speaker 2: that when you're doing something for long hours and it's
• 5:02
  Speaker 2: very repetitive, you can get stuck in your own head
• 5:04
  Speaker 2: and in your own thoughts. And that's pretty normal. Yes,
• 5:09
  Speaker 2: you can do things to kind of hang yourself out
• 5:12
  Speaker 2: of that or reset things. It could be podcasts, it
• 5:14
  Speaker 2: could be music. But there are ways to come out
• 5:17
  Speaker 2: of that. What I would like to suggest to people
• 5:21
  Speaker 2: is a little tiny exercise, if that's okay. What I
• 5:24
  Speaker 2: would like you to do is to imagine for a
• 5:27
  Speaker 2: moment that you are actually working in an office. This
• 5:30
  Speaker 2: is your job. You work in an office. You sit
• 5:33
  Speaker 2: there every day. You look out onto farmland and you
• 5:37
  Speaker 2: see the weather change. You see bad days. You see
• 5:39
  Speaker 2: good days. But you can't get out there because your
• 5:42
  Speaker 2: job is inside. I want you to think about what
• 5:45
  Speaker 2: that would be like and what your general, I guess,
• 5:50
  Speaker 2: feeling of of working outside would be would it be
• 5:53
  Speaker 2: something that you would like no matter if you had
• 5:57
  Speaker 2: to deal with the good and the bad or would
• 5:59
  Speaker 2: you prefer to be stuck inside and and if you
• 6:02
  Speaker 2: are willing to take the bag with the good i
• 6:04
  Speaker 2: think that's your answer and that's why you farm and
• 6:06
  Speaker 2: don't forget that i.
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: Think so perspective comes into it at the.
• 6:09
  Speaker 2: Moment absolutely perspective is everything.
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: How do you get that work-life balance though when things
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: are busy what do you do.
• 6:19
  Speaker 2: I think that it's something that fluctuates all the time.
• 6:23
  Speaker 2: So yes, on farm, you do have to fluctuate in
• 6:27
  Speaker 2: what hours you're putting in. And sometimes you're busier than others,
• 6:32
  Speaker 2: and we know that. So the work-life balance is not
• 6:35
  Speaker 2: going to be a completely symmetrical idea, I think. It
• 6:41
  Speaker 2: can continually be assessed. Maybe if you've spent all October
• 6:45
  Speaker 2: in a tractor, maybe there's another month that you can think, right, okay,
• 6:50
  Speaker 2: I'm not as busy then. Maybe there's weaning going on,
• 6:53
  Speaker 2: but there's not a lot else. Maybe you can put
• 6:56
  Speaker 2: in time. And I don't even mean getting off farm.
• 6:58
  Speaker 2: Maybe it's just being with your kids, doing something with them.
• 7:02
  Speaker 2: Maybe it's going away with friends or whatever it is.
• 7:05
  Speaker 2: But it's got to even out somewhere. But I think
• 7:08
  Speaker 2: that you would get into a trap if you thought
• 7:12
  Speaker 2: that you had to every day have a work-life balance.
• 7:15
  Speaker 2: You can't have that on a farm. I get it.
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: Yeah, wise words as always, Catherine. Just finally, how's your
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: PhD been going?
• 7:23
  Speaker 2: Oh, it's going great. I submit officially in about three weeks.
• 7:27
  Speaker 2: So I'm really looking forward to that. Lots of findings.
• 7:31
  Speaker 2: So my topic is actually rural community connection and mental
• 7:34
  Speaker 2: health and land use change. So farm to forestry conversions
• 7:39
  Speaker 2: and how that affects people socially. So there's a lot
• 7:42
  Speaker 2: going to come out about that. I just can't do
• 7:45
  Speaker 2: much until it's been peer reviewed. So we have to
• 7:47
  Speaker 2: be patient.
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: Well, it's the same old story. You can't eat pine trees,
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: Catherine Wright. Thanks for your time as always.
• 7:53
  Speaker 2: No worries. Thanks, Andy.
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: Catherine Wright. Yeah, there's quite a few events happening around
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: the region. Transport Service is limited to holding events over
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: the next couple of days. Waikaka, they're having a weather
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: shout for the district there on Friday the 2nd of October,
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: starting at 11.30. And the beef and lamb events as well,
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: the spring shout's getting underway this evening at 5 o'clock
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: at the Tokanui Rugby Club, and then tomorrow at Central
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: Pirates Rugby Club at Walsons Crossing. And there's a number
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: of events that are occurring around the region as well, so...
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: If you get the opportunity, the weather's looking not too
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: bad for a couple of days, go and have a
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: snag and have a chimwag with people. Sam Ruddenclaw is
• 8:34
  Speaker 1: up next of Mallet McLean plus more in Texas, of
• 8:37
  Speaker 1: all places.