Latest / The Muster on Hokonui / The Muster- Anna IrwIn: Beef and Lamb NZ

Transcript

The Muster- Anna IrwIn: Beef and Lamb NZ · The Muster on Hokonui

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: The Muster Events Diary, brought to you by Beef and
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: Lamb New Zealand. Click beeflamnz.com. Anna Irwin joins us this
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: afternoon in the Beef and Lamb slot on behalf of
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: the Southland Rural Support Trust. Anna, good afternoon. Always great
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: to chat.
• 0:23
  Speaker 2: Yeah, thanks, Andy. Yeah, and thanks to Beef and Lamb
• 0:26
  Speaker 2: for allowing us to fill in this support slot they
• 0:28
  Speaker 2: are Yeah, part of our response that we've been doing
• 0:31
  Speaker 2: with the rural support. So it's great to have the opportunity.
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: Thanks. I suppose over the past seven or eight weeks,
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: the Southman Rural Support Trust, you've been earning your crust.
• 0:40
  Speaker 2: Yeah, that's right. And it is a real privilege to
• 0:44
  Speaker 2: be in this position where we can step up and
• 0:47
  Speaker 2: help support the community, which is what has been happening
• 0:50
  Speaker 2: along with a lot of great people. So just letting
• 0:54
  Speaker 2: farmers and growers out there know that there is a
• 0:57
  Speaker 2: rural support trust here able to help you.
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: People are getting in touch now because let's remember not
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: that many years ago, I've talked about this a lot,
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: but farmers being of the stoic persona, not getting in
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: touch regarding their feelings and that, are they now starting
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: to realise that there are avenues out there?
• 1:16
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and I mean, we do look at numbers of
• 1:18
  Speaker 2: phone calls, obviously, and it's free and confidential, so we
• 1:21
  Speaker 2: never know who these phone calls come from and support
• 1:24
  Speaker 2: comes from. But whenever the Trust sits down, we look
• 1:27
  Speaker 2: at these numbers and There has been an increased demand
• 1:30
  Speaker 2: and you always have this like, oh gosh, is that
• 1:32
  Speaker 2: because there are more problems or because people are more aware?
• 1:36
  Speaker 2: And we like to think it is just because people
• 1:38
  Speaker 2: are more aware that there's support and that they're reaching
• 1:42
  Speaker 2: out and taking advantage of it, which is a great thing.
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: What's the messaging, I suppose? We've had the last six
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: to eight weeks. It's been really wet around the province.
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: People are starting to take stock of what they need
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: to do ahead of the spring popper. I mean, is
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: there a sense of being overwhelmed at the moment with
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: workload and everything just getting on top, as well as
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: life getting involved as well?
• 2:06
  Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely, Andy. So those, you know, mega lifts that
• 2:11
  Speaker 2: I'm sure exist in every laundry and every farm around it,
• 2:14
  Speaker 2: you know, they don't get smaller. So there are massive
• 2:17
  Speaker 2: hours being pulled, which, you know, leads to fatigue. We've
• 2:21
  Speaker 2: come out of, well, we're still coming out of a
• 2:23
  Speaker 2: really tough spring, so already fatigue there. So, yeah, there is,
• 2:29
  Speaker 2: there hasn't been a farmer that I haven't talked to
• 2:31
  Speaker 2: that hasn't talked about the long hours and the exhaustion
• 2:36
  Speaker 2: that exists. So, you know, a pretty obvious but really
• 2:39
  Speaker 2: important message here around looking after yourself and staying safe because,
• 2:43
  Speaker 2: goodness me, it's, you know, it would, the consequences of
• 2:48
  Speaker 2: just not taking a second to think about it can
• 2:49
  Speaker 2: be quite dire as well. So, yeah, so there is
• 2:52
  Speaker 2: a lot of fatigue and that's really being felt across
• 2:55
  Speaker 2: the province.
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: Mental lists, I like how you bring that up. I
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: suppose it's a good opportunity. Instead of it just living
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: in your top three inches, get a pen and paper out,
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: write things down and then correct it. Maybe a couple
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: of times a week so you can just tick things
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: off as they occur, just wee things like that I
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: suppose to keep people fresh mentally.
• 3:14
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, whatever tool you're going to use, that's great.
• 3:17
  Speaker 2: And whether it's on your phone, and even if you
• 3:19
  Speaker 2: don't have staff, if you're working solo, it can be
• 3:22
  Speaker 2: pretty handy to work through it and prioritise. And then,
• 3:27
  Speaker 2: you know, hopefully on that list, put a bit of
• 3:29
  Speaker 2: time off to reconnect, which has been a real focus
• 3:32
  Speaker 2: for the Rural Support Trust over the spring and the
• 3:36
  Speaker 2: whole wider sort of coordination group and stakeholders as those
• 3:40
  Speaker 2: opportunities to connect, which we know in its Mental Health
• 3:44
  Speaker 2: Awareness Week this week, you know, that's one of the
• 3:46
  Speaker 2: really strong pillars of wellbeing is to sort of reconnect
• 3:49
  Speaker 2: with people. So hopefully that's on people's lists as well.
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: As far as Mental Health Awareness Week, what does the
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: Rural Support Trust, what do they do to get involved?
• 3:59
  Speaker 2: Yeah, so a lot of our thing is around messaging
• 4:02
  Speaker 2: and promoting of events. So we've got Fishing for Farmers
• 4:06
  Speaker 2: in coordination with a whole group of stakeholders there this Sunday. Like,
• 4:10
  Speaker 2: what a cool opportunity to get off farm, you know,
• 4:14
  Speaker 2: either with your neighbour or even with your kids. So
• 4:17
  Speaker 2: that's on this Sunday, so just look on the Facebook page. So, yeah,
• 4:20
  Speaker 2: it's bringing an awareness of that it's OK to feel,
• 4:27
  Speaker 2: you know, pretty frustrated and tired. But if things are,
• 4:31
  Speaker 2: you know, really if stuff is getting... on top of you,
• 4:35
  Speaker 2: that to reach out for help, or so that might
• 4:38
  Speaker 2: be a friend, it might be the rural support trust,
• 4:41
  Speaker 2: just pick it up early and reach out. And at
• 4:44
  Speaker 2: that point, you know, we can work through things and
• 4:47
  Speaker 2: the outcome can be a lot better than if you
• 4:49
  Speaker 2: just let it bottle up.
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: That's the purpose of these events, I suppose, Anna, to
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: give farmers an outlet to go and do stuff. I mean...
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: Just staying on the farm and working and working, yes,
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: everybody's got the work to do, but every now and
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: then when you get to breaking point, you just have
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: to take a reset.
• 5:06
  Speaker 2: Yes, absolutely, and particularly if the sun comes out, a
• 5:10
  Speaker 2: bit of sunshine on your back when you're doing something
• 5:13
  Speaker 2: you love or around people that you enjoy really does
• 5:17
  Speaker 2: just help immensely.
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: So fishing for farmers, I think, like surfing for farmers,
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: biking for farmers, for example, there's heaps of initiatives that
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: are coming up over summer as well. So there's certainly
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: plenty on, right?
• 5:31
  Speaker 2: Yeah, that's right. So just keep an eye on. We
• 5:33
  Speaker 2: try and share the ones on our Facebook page or listening.
• 5:37
  Speaker 2: We will be advertising them on the radio as well
• 5:40
  Speaker 2: and in the print. So, yeah, just keep an eye
• 5:43
  Speaker 2: out for those things. And most of them, almost all
• 5:45
  Speaker 2: of them are free. And, yeah, just keeping an eye out.
• 5:48
  Speaker 2: And we'd love to see as many people along and
• 5:50
  Speaker 2: bring your neighbour.
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: The Southland Rural Coordination Group, what's this about?
• 5:55
  Speaker 2: Yeah, so, look, we've always been so lucky down here
• 5:58
  Speaker 2: in Southland that people that work alongside farmers, you know,
• 6:03
  Speaker 2: roll up their sleeves and really get involved when things,
• 6:06
  Speaker 2: you know, are pretty tough. So we've always had awesome
• 6:09
  Speaker 2: support from all our stakeholders. And I want to thank
• 6:12
  Speaker 2: them for... the events and everything that's been happening. But
• 6:15
  Speaker 2: we have got a more focused rural coordination group, which
• 6:18
  Speaker 2: is Humane Levy Bodies, so Beef and Lamb, thank you,
• 6:23
  Speaker 2: Dairy and Zed, MPI, Thriving Southland, Feds, and this time
• 6:26
  Speaker 2: around rural coordinators, contractors too, Andy. And that has been
• 6:32
  Speaker 2: supported with Emergency Management Southland. So we're really lucky to
• 6:35
  Speaker 2: have a new regional manager down here. And a shout
• 6:38
  Speaker 2: out to Phil McKay has been, blimmin' goodies come down
• 6:41
  Speaker 2: from Canterbury, actually, and brought a lot of learnings. He's
• 6:45
  Speaker 2: really rural-focused. He's a farmer by background. So it's been
• 6:49
  Speaker 2: a really useful group to bring in what's happening and
• 6:53
  Speaker 2: then just quickly get actions and then, you know, push
• 6:57
  Speaker 2: that out wider to all the people that work with farmers.
• 6:59
  Speaker 2: So that's worked really well in this particular response, and
• 7:03
  Speaker 2: we'll be looking to carry that forward, you know, once
• 7:06
  Speaker 2: we start to get some more favourable conditions too.
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: Those days are ahead of us, Anna. Always good to chat. Lovely.
• 7:13
  Speaker 2: Thanks for your time, Andy.
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: Anna Irwin of Southland Rural Support Trust, 0800 787 254.
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: Get in touch with the team. And as well, Beef
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: and Lab New Zealand, beefflamnz.com slash events to receive the
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: e-diary into your inbox every Friday morning. Mel Young's up next.
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: You're listening to The Muster.