Throw your worries away to aid mental health
Write down your worries on a piece of paper, scrunch it up, and throw it… into a hollow tree stump.
Horsham Agricultural Society’s ‘Dump Stump’ project members will take several empty stumps and the idea of physically throwing away your worries to various businesses across Horsham.
Partnered with a free Rural Outreach Program, society secretary Andrea Cross said she hoped the ‘dump stumps’ would help raise awareness of and improve the mental wellbeing of regional community members when times were tough.
Mrs Cross said people, particularly those in the agricultural sector, experiencing stress, worry or concern could dump their troubles at participating businesses.
“We are working on building the awareness of mental health,” she said.
“When people, particularly farmers, are having a bad day, they can write down their troubles and dump them into one of several stumps.”
Mrs Cross said the stumps would eventually be collected and burnt at the Art Is… festival’s ‘Winter Warmer’.
“The final destination for the stumps will be a bonfire at Maydale Reserve, where they will be burnt along with their contents in a symbolistic burning of people’s troubles,” she said.
‘Dump Stump’ follows the ‘Look Over The Farm Gate’ project, which was developed for Victorians struggling through drought in 2015, and extended to support people affected by the following year’s dairy crisis.
‘Look Over The Farm Gate’, which featured at the society’s Horsham Irish Festival, aimed to encourage rural people to look out for one another, supporting resilient communities and stronger mental health. Mrs Cross said the ‘Dump Stump’ project was of a similar rationale.
People can find more information online at Horsham Agricultural Society’s website www.horshamshow. com.au or by calling Ngareta Melgren on 0419 412 290 to learn more about the Rural Outreach Program.