Calendar’sstories aiming to help

Stefan BRADLEY

FARMERSaround the region have been enjoying the 2023 Gippsland Jersey yearly calendar,which contains photos and storie from dairy farmers to encourage conversations around mentalhealth.

The 2023 calendar is the fifth that dairy company GippslandJersey has released, featuringtales of strength and resilience from the region’sdairyfarmers for each month.Sale, Kilmany, Denisonand Meerlieu areamong the towns represente by the participants.

GippslandJersey co-founder and director Sallie Jones, said she was grateful to the dairy farmers who openedtheir hearts out.

“Eachyear it is ablessing to be welcomed into thesefarmers’lives, andonto their farms, and to hear their stories. Iabsolutely love putting this calendar together.Wehope to do moreinthe next calendar…(the farmers) look forwardtoitevery year,” she said.

“And it has saved lives, it has led to peer support with farmers reaching out to other farmers who have shared their stories.

“I think the conversations about mental health have definitely changed in our region. My dad became asuicide statistic in 2016, and Ifelt that no-one wastalkingabout mentalhealth then.And Ithinkthatthe needle has shifted since then.

“Gippsland Jersey arecommitted to creating social change in mental health.”

Ms Jones said one of Gippsland Jersey’s business pillars was better rural wellness as “8.6 Australians die every day by suicide”. “That’s morethan double the road toll,” she said, citing 2022 data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

“Seventy-five per cent of those who take their own life aremale. Beyond the tragic loss of the person, the impact of asuicide death is felt by up to 135 people, that