Rural and remote drought and disaster community grants
Tackling Regional Adversity through Integrated Care program grants 2019–2020
The Queensland Government Tackling Regional Adversity through Integrated Care (TRAIC) grants program is in its fourth year. It encourages community-based groups to develop and promote mental health support in regions affected by droughts, disasters and other crises.
The 2019–2020 TRAIC grants co-design procurement approach allowed rural stakeholders to be involved in developing program ideas. Local councils, non-government organisations, people with a lived experience of mental health, and community members had a say on projects to boost the mental health and wellbeing of their community.
The annual TRAIC grants program provides around $600,000 to community organisations that have local ideas to boost the mental health of those affected by drought and disasters. This year, another $400,000 was added through a $2 million drought package to help parts of the state most impacted by drought.
TRAIC Grants recipients
Sixteen organisations across Queensland will share in a record $1 million in grants to deliver community-based projects that will support Queenslanders affected by drought and disasters.
The successful organisations have some great ideas for projects and activities that build resilience, raise awareness of mental health issues, bring people together, break down stigma, and encourage people to seek help if needed.
These organisations are on the ground, seeing the effects of the drought on mental health, which is why they are best placed to establish initiatives that support people at a local level.
| Hospital and Health Service (HHS) region | Applicant | Project name | Project description | Funding |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cairns and Hinterland | Ravenshoe Community Centre Inc. | Ravenshoe & Mount Garnet Community Connections and resilience building | This project is focussed on building community connections and increasing resilience through a series of community events run to promote mental wellbeing. Events include: community BBQs, family and youth expos, indigenous women’s healing group, yarning around the camp fire, cooking classes, indigenous art groups, laughter yoga, meditation groups, and youth arts workshops. | $72,600 |
| Central Queensland | Central Queensland Rural Division of General Practice Assn Inc | Livingstone Shire: Enabling and Enhancing Community Wellbeing and Resilience | This project will deliver train-the-trainer suicide prevention workshops enhancing community resilience around suicide prevention and increasing mental health literacy. The aim is to build resilient communities that can recognise when mental health problems develop and be able to seek help when needed. | $65,799 |
| Wide Bay HHS | Bridges Health and Community Care Ltd | Tag a Mate, Take a Break | This project supports men and women who work on the land impacted by cyclones and bushfires, including cattle producers, farmers, primary producers, tradespeople and water irrigators. The men’s event includes a fishing trip followed by dinner with a guest speaker and NRL legend. The women’s event includes a day of self-care activities with a talk by a high profile sporting identity with a lived-experience of depression. Both speakers will discuss coping strategies. A mental health training package will be offered to local mental health advocates. | $65,255 |
| Central West HHS | Western Queensland Drought Committee Inc | Embracing the Dust- Expo | The project will deliver a series of workshops and activities during the expo on self-care and management in dealing with financial stress to enhance or develop new skills related to business and community resilience. | $99,000 |
| Central West HHS | Central West Suicide Prevention Network Inc | Preston Campbell Wellbeing Tours of the Central West | This project involves tours of the region, reaching communities and individuals on topics of wellbeing and mental health. The focus is on breaking down barriers about stigma and mental health using a well known sporting identity to relay his own experiences. These tours will include opportunities for communities to engage and attend mental health training, music making workshops and Wheel of Wellbeing sessions. | $99,380 |
| Townsville HHS | Richmond Shire Council | Richmond Together | This project aims to connect the Richmond community through several community events. Underlying mental wellbeing messages will be promoted at each event through guest speakers and comedy performances. These events will bring the community together in a positive way and offer relief from the impact of the drought and floods. | $65,338 |
| Townsville HHS | Selectability LTD | Northern Coastal Storytelling Initiative | This project aims to develop local storytelling capacity that captures and highlights stories of local people’s resilience in coping with natural disaster events. The content that is developed will assist others experiencing similar adversity to build resilience, to connect and to support each other. | $66,000 |
| Townsville HHS | Flinders Shire Council | Flinders Connect | This project is aimed at community connectedness and resilience through supporting major local events and volunteers to strengthen volunteerism, mental health, and sustainability of future events. | $66,600 |
| Darling Downs HHS | RHealth Limited | Well-being through Alternative Programs for Youth in Tara and the Darling Downs | This project will focus on non-clinical forms of targeting youth mental health and well-being through drama programs, weekend camps, and school-based well-being activities. This offers opportunities for young people to engage in programs to build confidence and self-esteem. | $33,000 |
| Darling Downs HHS | Oakey Community Care Committee Inc | Project 4401, Empowering the Oakey community through stories | This project is about sharing stories about resilience and coping with adversity to strengthen social cohesion and reduce the sense of isolation. These stories will be told through various channels such as workshops, book creation and publishing, photography and short story competitions, and podcast. | $33,000 |
| Darling Downs HHS | Western Downs Regional Council | Western Downs Library Project, Words for Wellbeing | This project will provide 9 libraries and library branches access to high-quality mental health and physical health self-help materials to address issues such as anger, relationship issues, depression, bullying, financial management, grief, and trauma and stress among others. | $65,600 |
| North West HHS | McKinlay Shire Council | Community Events Support | This project supports the continuation of local events, including Campdrafts, Gymkhanas and race meetings to ensure community connectedness is maintained for the wellbeing of the community. Mental health providers will be present at events to promote wellbeing strategies. The sustainability of local events have been impacted by monsoonal flooding in early 2019 and the long-term drought. | $72,600 |
| North West HHS | Mount Isa City Council | Isa Street Festival Community Connect Project | This project is focussed on building self-esteem and resilience in young people, and raising awareness of the mental health impacts of social media and cyber-bullying. A well-known football identity and his academy will deliver a series of workshops to young people in the Mt Isa area. | $66,000 |
| Mackay HHS | Clermont Community Housing and Other Services Inc | Piano Tree Project – Strong minds, strong community | This project will deliver a series of workshops and activities such as Mental Health First Aid and SAFE Talk, stress relief, and yoga and mindfulness activities to groups including school children, farmers, community service providers and local businesses. | $66,913 |
| South West HHS | Balonne Shire Council | Building Stronger Communities | The project will help to build community cohesion that has been impacted due to the stresses of the drought. Community workshops will be held in Thallon, Bollon, Dirranbandi and St George to look at ways to achieve a thriving community. Participants will then plan and run an event that brings the community together and provide some stress relief. | $66,000 |
| South West HHS | Bulloo Shire Council | Community Events & Mental Health Awareness | The project builds on existing networks and supports the continuation of 11 community events throughout the year where mental health and help-seeking behaviour will be promoted. The project offers stress relief to address community despondency from the prolonged drought. | $72,600 |
For more information about the TRAIC Program, please email traic@health.qld.gov.au