Hon Nathan Guy

Minister for Primary Industries

25 August 2016

Rural mental health scheme shares top award

Primary Industries Minister Nathan Guy has congratulated the GoodYarn rural mental health initiative for winning an international award today.

GoodYarn was developed as part of a Primary Growth Partnership (PGP) programme and was named joint Best Mental Health Promotion/Illness Prevention scheme at the Australia and New Zealand TheMHS (Mental Health Services) Conference in Auckland today.

“This is a great programme that has helped over 800 farmers and rural professionals since it was established earlier this year,” says Mr Guy.

“GoodYarn is a workshop which helps rural professionals and farmers understand mental health and wellness. It gives practical advice on how to stay healthy, and recognise and respond to stress in others.

“It’s been a tough few seasons for dairy farmers but it has been great to see the wider rural community support them with schemes like this.”

The initiative was developed by DairyNZ and WellSouth, a primary health organisation covering Otago and Southland, and Dairy NZ as part of the Transforming the Dairy Value Chain PGP programme.

The Transforming the Dairy Value Chain PGP programme is a seven-year, $170 million innovation investment involving DairyNZ, Fonterra, MPI and others. It aims to create new dairy products, increase on-farm productivity, reduce environmental impacts, and improve agricultural education and health.

At Fieldays earlier this year the Government announced a $600,000 funding boost for rural mental health services, on top of $500,000 announced last year.

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