Community Farmacy Initiative

The Helping Hand Initiative

The Pharmacy Guild of Australia, Queensland branch is coordinating a series of funded Mental Health First Aid 2-day training courses, held in regions which support farming communities in rural and remote Queensland. This initiative recognises the increased prevalence of suicide and mental health disorders in rural and remote communities and the significant risk factors which apply particularly to members of the farming community.

Training and supportive materials will be provided to pharmacies participating in this initiative, to encourage a wider understanding of mental health illness in regional and remote farming communities. The program will also highlight referral pathways to locally-led mental health services through collaboration with the Queensland Alliance for Mental Health (QAMH).  

This initiative aims to promote community connections and social inclusion whilst reducing stigma related to mental illness through the MHFA training sessions; integrating both pharmacy staff (including pharmacy assistants, dispensary technicians, pharmacy interns and pharmacists) and members of the farming community to attend the training sessions together. This will highlight the capacity for local community pharmacies to be a key port of call for rural and remote farming communities assistance and support regarding mental health illness.

A series of four MHFA training courses will be conducted in the following farming communities;

Toowoomba

Dalby

Goondiwindi

Bundaberg