Tools and tips for connection
‘Checking-in’ is a collaborative new rural wellbeing recovery project delivering bite sized tools, videos and in-person events to rural communities.
Whenever and wherever you are, ‘Checking-in’ is a collaborative new rural wellbeing recovery project delivering bite sized tools, videos and in-person events to rural communities.
The project aims to help rural communities across the North Island impacted by a tough season to come together through a series of in-person events and programmes this summer.
Headlining the project is a series of community get-togethers, events and personal development programmes across the North Island, including AWDT YOU Matter programmes, Rural Women NZ supporting community Christmas events and Farmstrong Comedy events, with more events to be announced.
Rural people across New Zealand are also invited to subscribe to the ‘Checking-in’ tools and tips email series. Delivered weekly, the 15-part series of short videos is about making the hard stuff manageable – like supporting people through challenging times, managing emotions and enjoying the good times.
Tairāwhiti sheep and beef farmer and community leader, Sandra Matthews, is one of those spearheading the campaign. She has witnessed first-hand the compounding pressure on farmers in her region, from Cyclone Hale followed by Cyclone Gabrielle and the relentlessly wet weather.
“It’s about finding the strength within, tapping into tools and tips from people who have been through tough times. The top paddock, or top two inches, is the most important thing we have,” she says.
Along with Matthews, the series features rural leaders and resiliency experts Steve Kearney (Chief Mental Health Officer for the NZ Defence Force), Michelle Ruddell (Ngati Tūwharetoa, dairy farmer and chair of the Northland Rural Support Trust) and Dr Lucy Hone (director of the NZ Institute of Wellbeing and Resilience).
