Since 2014 RAW staff have called Oatlands home.
From listening to our participants sharing their stories to hearing the joys of young children running around the meeting room where mums and bubs were catching up, our Oatlands office has played a pivotal role in the growth and expansion of Rural Alive & Well across the state.
Over the past 4 years, RAW has grown from 15 to 26 staff, and the demand for our face-to-face services is greater than ever.
Across 2022 our team drove over 607,158kms, supporting the community and our participants.
From farms to football fields, shearing sheds to stockyards, wharves to hatcheries, coupes to mills, our team continue to meet the demand for face-to-face support across rural areas of the Southern and Northern Midlands, Central Highlands, Huon Valley, East, North and Northwest Coast.
The increase in face-to-face support has resulted in our staff rarely having time to utilise the Oatlands office.
This means that our time residing in the historical Oatlands School will come to an end as of September 2023.
As the team reflected on our time in the office, their highlights included:
“Kristy so eagerly trying to use the skate ramp in the car park (without much luck)”
“The launch of the Blue Farmer”
“The funny jokes we had to tell Board members as they had their headshots taken for the first time”
“Hanging the mural up in the office for the first time and almost dropping it”
“The time Ally accidentally locked herself in the toilet and had to ring for help”
It’s safe to say Oatlands has provided some great memories.
As an organisation would like to thank the Southern Midlands Council for their ongoing support of our organisation over the past 17 years and we look forward to building on our engagement with Council as our outreach initiatives continue to grow across the region.
At RAW we know that to build healthy and resilient rural communities and reduce the prevalence of suicide, we must do things differently to how they’ve been done in the past.
One core barrier to reaching out for support is not feeling like people understand the complexities of the situational stressor experienced.
Our staff continue to grow in diversified knowledge, with staff having backgrounds in Dairy, Livestock, Cropping, Wool Production, Fruit Growing, Forestry, Transport, Seafood, isolated living and more.
If you or someone you know could use support during this period, we encourage you to reach out and request support. It’s simple to do, either call 1800 729 827 or by fill in the online form at rawtas.com.au/callbackrequest.
Rural Alive & Well’s main office will now be solely the Northern Tasmania office.
If you need to send any correspondence via mail, we encourage you to update the address to:
Rural Alive & Well (RAW)
86a Main Road
Perth, Tasmania, 7300
If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out using the form below or via 1800 729 827
