We were delighted to be back at the 2019 National Ploughing Championships in County Carlow this week.
Mental health professionals from St Patrick’s Mental Health Services joined our team at the Walk in My Shoes information stand at this popular national event from 17-19 September, aiming to get the chats flowing about all things mental health.
See our team at the National Ploughing Championship
We had great conversations with people of all ages attending the event, and got lots of creative entries to our mental health slogan competition. Extra points were awarded for farming puns!
Some of our favourite entries included:
Talk about nothing udder than mental health!
Keep ploughin’ through and mind yourself.
No matter how dark winter, spring always comes around.
In recent years, it has been great to see mental health in rural communities getting more attention, with initiatives like Macra na Feirme’s Make the Moove – Farmers Matter taking place across 2019.
Recognising the importance of talking about mental health in our farming and rural life, St Patrick’s has also created a dedicated webpage for farming communities, offering tips for managing mental health as well as contact details for various support services and initiatives. The page also hosts St Patrick's new mental health leaflet for farmers, which you can download here.