'Time to go beyond just talking about mental health'
Federated Farmers president Wayne Langford says while people are opening about mental health, there’s still disproportionately high rates of suicide and depression in rural communities.
He says that, just a year and a half after Cyclone Gabrielle hit, this week’s storm will be an emotional “trigger point” for many of the region’s farmers and growers.
“We’ve had reports of some farms who’ve just finished replacing the fences along waterways and stuff and they’ve all just disappeared again. You kind of think ‘God they’ve gone out, had to borrow the money and what do they do now?’,” Reynolds told Rural News.
“We won’t really know the full impact for at least three or four days until we can get access,” he says, adding that there are several roads which are still impassable.
“All in all, it’s just a bit of wait and see.”
Reynolds says the region is emotionally tired as it grapples with the deaths of three fishermen who went missing on Monday, “at the same time as we’re getting our teeth kicked in by Mother Nature”.
“The support for the emotional side is really the key and knowing that people and friends are there.
“There will be a time where we’ll say, ‘we do need support in this area and we do need support in that area’… but we don’t want to go out and say, ‘we need this’ now, it’s just far too early.”
