Episode sponsor: Dimity Smith, Founder of GRO Rural

If you’ve moved to a small town or even moved back to your hometown, after a long time away… how do you make friends?

There are suggestions that Australia is in the middle of a loneliness epidemic; in fact one in three people experience it. Country towns are pretty good at welcoming people in, but making close, meaningful relationships takes time and it takes effort.

In this episode we get advice from two experts and women who have experienced being the new girl in town, first-hand. (So have the hosts, Kirsten Diprose and Jen McCutcheon!)

• Malinda Guest - psychologist at Boundless Psychology, who after a long time living elsewhere, returned to her hometown, Narrabri, NSW.
• Katja Williiams - farmer and creator of The Ultimate Farm Wife podcast and You Tube channel, who moved to Dubbo, NSW.

We talk about strategies to meet local people, how to find those who share common values and interests and how long it takes to form deep connections. And we’re all adults here… so if a seemingly likely friendship doesn’t work out, that’s ok too!

Send us a text

Does how we talk about men influence the massive problem of violence against women?

There are conversations we need to have in broader society about family violence. But where are the men?

How do we get our men to actively participate in a stand to stop violence against women? This is a tricky conversation. Clearly, it would be great if men just stop being violent. But telling men to simply ‘stop it,’ isn’t working.

And this is certainly NOT about blaming women. This is more about how do we make family violence prevention a whole of community thing? So not just something for “women's groups” to tackle. We need a multifaceted approach. And we need the men to come along with us.

In part 2 of this series, we speak to Louise O’Neill, a rural counsellor and founder of Farm Life Fitness, based in Denmark, WA. Louise is challenging the unhelpful and unhealthy expectations that can heavily influence the mental health and lives of both rural men and women.

This is a Rural Podcasting Co. production. Would you like to create your own podcast? We can help! Find out how.

Send us a text

Send us a text

With gender roles for men not being as defined as perhaps they once were, what does this mean for our rural men who grew up with certain ideas of 'what a man should look like?'

Does how we talk about our blokes matter too? Whether that's whinging about our husbands who seem to always miss kids bath time... or on a broader societal level about what men should or shouldn't be?

This is a tough issue for a women's-centred podcast to dive into. But if we're ever going to tackle two major killers in rural Australia; suicide and family violence, we need to have some tough conversations.

This is a 2 part deep dive into two complex problems. In this episode we speak to Leila McDougall, producer of the movie "Just a Farmer," about gender roles, the pressures of generational farming, and our own roles as wives, mothers and daughters. She's also a farmer and mother in Tatyoon, in the western districts of Victoria.

Suicide rates amongst farmers in Australia is 94% higher than non-farmers. On average one farmer dies by suicide every 10 days. And it's mostly men.

In Part 2 of this series, we dive into family violence and how we can better involve men in these difficult conversations to help prevent violence against women.

Send us a text