All roads lead back to Balmoral for the team at Rural Support

This is a significant year for Rural Support as they celebrate their 20th anniversary of supporting farming families in Northern Ireland.

Throughout the four-day event Rural Support will be showcasing the services and programmes they offer and on Friday 13th May they will officially launch their ‘Reviving Rural’ project which has received funding from the Department of Health, via the Community Foundation for Northern Ireland. This launch will take place at their stand C7 on Friday at 11am.

The Reviving Rural project will support farmers and farming family members to improve their mental wellbeing and develop new skills and knowledge given this is a vital part of running a successful and sustainable farm enterprise.

The project comes at a crucial time for farmers and farming families across Northern Ireland. Rural Support will provide one to one counselling and trauma therapy support for 100 farming families across Northern Ireland. The project will also provide new downloadable information, videos and a series of related training webinars through the health and wellbeing section of the Northern Ireland Farm Support Hub. The project also focuses on helping women and young people in agriculture to develop emotional toolkits to deal with pressures and help develop positive mental health practices in the farming home. The organisation aims to help reduce the stigma associated with mental health by directly focusing on providing sensitive and specifically tailored information that speaks to the specific needs of the farming community.

CEO Veronica Morris said: “We are very excited to be bringing this unique mental health project to the agricultural sector over the next two years. Through Reviving Rural the organisation continues to take practical steps to support farmers and farming families in building resilience and there is no better place to launch this vital project than Northern Ireland’s largest agricultural show.”

This year’s Show will run from Wednesday 11th May to Saturday 14th May. Rural Support are encouraging anyone attending to call at their stand to find out more about the services and programmes on offer.

Tickets are now available to purchase online at www.balmoralshow.co.uk. Please note this year, tickets are day specific only and must be purchased prior to the Show. Conditions of entry can be found online at www.balmoralshow.co.uk.

If you would like to find out more about Rural Support and their services and programmes go to the NI Farm Support hub at www.ruralsupport.org.uk or telephone the Support Line on Freephone 0800 138 1678 available Monday-Friday, 9am-9pm.