Mental health campaigner Suzi Evans, Mantung, has a goal to help rural and remote South Australians know more about how their brain works.
It's an aim that has led to her becoming one of three finalists in the 2024 SA AgriFutures Rural Women's Award.
The Mallee-based woman started down this path in 2018, after the suicide of her son Murray - or Muzz.
In the years after, as she dealt with her grief, she studied positive psychology and wellbeing, as well as becoming a mental health first aider.
What she learned about positive psychology struck a chord.
It led to her founding a resilience program - Workbench for the Mind, which stood for wellbeing, optimism, resilience, kindness, balance, emotional intelligence, neuroscience, care and hope.
"My son was a carpenter so the workbench resonated with me," she said.
Ms Evans said the program was designed to help equip people with some understanding about how their mind works and identify potential triggers, in order to manage behaviour.
Emotions aren't good or bad, it's how you behave to that emotion that is good or bad.
- SUZI EVANS
"Emotions aren't good or bad, it's how you behave to that emotion that is good or bad," she said.
She said this was particularly important for those living in rural or remote SA, where support was often trickier to access.
"In some towns, you might have to wait six to 12 weeks for an appointment with GP, then may have another wait for a mental health plan or professional," she said.
"This can give some more basic tools and understanding to help while waiting for the appointment."
Ms Evans has been developing the Workbench for the Mind program for the past four years, offering it face-to-face, and recently made it available online through her website.
But her goal is to find ways to make it even more financially and logistically accessible to those in need.
She said often people in rural and remote areas may not have good, reliable internet access, while financial pressures may mean people feel unable to prioritise being "mentally fit".
Among her goals is to make the program available through schools and libraries, as well as on USB drives, which can be mailed out to people in need.
The South Australian winner will be announced on March 26 and receive a $15,000 grant.
They will then go on to the national competition, with the chance to win an additional $20,000 for the national winner of $15,000 for the runner-up.
Ms Evans said she was inspired to apply for the rural women's award by a mentor and former entrant, and wants to use the funds to help in her goal of accessibility.
Elizabeth Anderson
Editor of Stock Journal.
Editor of Stock Journal.
