Rural Aid Steps Up Mental Health Support for Regional Schools

Rural Aid’s Mustering Growth program is continuing to grow, with multiple regional schools across New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland benefitting from the wellbeing initiative this year.

The Mustering Growth program aims to equip students with the skills to manage the emotional and social challenges often faced in rural areas. From pressures related to farming life to isolation and lack of mental health resources, rural children are disproportionately impacted by issues that can affect their wellbeing.

Since its inception in 2023, the program has reached over 800 students across 32 schools, helping children develop vital skills such as emotional regulation, resilience, and coping strategies.

"The Mustering Growth program was basically a product of those big ongoing disaster events that we had a few years ago," Rural Aid CEO John Warlters said.

"It became really clear to us that young people are impacted by these events just as much as their parents are and so we wanted to make sure that there was support available to those young people."

The program teaches practical strategies to build resilience, improve communication, and support positive mental health in and out of the classroom. Through interactive sessions, students learn to express their emotions, support their peers and seek help when they need it.

"Our counsellors go into a school and they work really closely with the kids at that school over the period of a week," Mr Warlters said.

"It turns out to be a great way of developing trust with the kids and then showing them some ways that they can better understand why it is that they feel the way that they do at certain times, particularly after these big, big events. We also then give them some coping strategies for when they do have those really strong emotions again, that way they'll understand them a little bit better and know how to manage them."

The program is offered nationally with seven more schools in regional Victoria and NSW set to benefit from the initiative in Term 3.

Principals from participating schools have praised the program, reporting increased confidence and emotional awareness among students who’ve taken part.

"I think the program's longevity is proof that it's an initiative that the schools, the kids and their parents see as being really valuable," Mr Warlters

"It's been more than 800 kids across 30 plus schools that we've been working with in recent years. We just look forward to that continuing."

"The next programs that we've got coming up are in New South Wales and Queensland with a couple of schools in each state and we're very much open to having conversations with other schools across the country about how we might be able to accommodate what they need also."

Rural Aid is inviting Australians to consider supporting the continued growth of the program, donations can be made at www.ruralaid.org.au/donate or by calling 1300 327 624.

Schools interested in participating in the program are encouraged to register their interest at http://www.ruralaid.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/RA_MusteringGrowth_intro_2024.pdf

"This is very much a program designed for those young people and we hope it continues to be really valuable and important to them," Mr Warlters said.