South East NSW Rural Services Support Network

In 2018 the Australian government announced funding to provide increased mental health support for farmers and communities in drought affected areas under the ‘Empowering our Communities’ initiative. To help COORDINARE get a better understanding of this opportunity, we reached out to the experts to ensure new services were shaped to provide immediate support as well as fostering long term recovery and resilience for local farmers and their communities.

In November 2018 representatives from the Rural Adversity Mental Health Program, Department of Primary Industry’s Rural Resilience Program, South East Local Land Services, Dairy Australia, Dairy NSW, Rural Financial Counsellors, Southern NSW LHD, Illawarra Shoalhaven LHD, and NSW Farmers met with the PHN to scope and map what services are currently available, what the gaps were and what the priority areas should be.

With the specialist knowledge gathered around the table at our initial consultation it was identified that there was an opportunity to establish a network of rural and related services that could work collaboratively to respond collectively to a range of community issues, particularly in times of emergencies and adverse events as a result ‘The South East NSW Rural Services Support Network’ was formed.