Empowering Our Communities

Empowering Our Communities Initiative

Supporting the wellbeing of people living in drought affected areas.

Enhanced community life

The Empowering Our Communities funding aims to assist community organisations to address local needs and create partnerships leading to better services being delivered where the need is greatest. The program aims to support families, strengthen social networks, improve wellbeing and increase participation of people in community life to enhance family and community functioning.

Funding granted

Country SA PHN (CSAPHN) has been granted funding under the Commonwealth Department of Health's Empowering our Communities initiative to facilitate community-led projects to support mental health, social and emotional wellbeing and suicide prevention initiatives for people living in drought affected areas.

Project activities

• Early intervention mental health services, counselling and therapy to individuals, couples and or groups with priority access to higher intensity psychological therapies. Resources and services that individuals can access via self-referral;
• Wellbeing initiatives, collaborative events, workshops, mental health education on a broad range of topics such as mental health first aid, managing stress, anxiety or depression, and suicide prevention; and
• Support local workforce capability development and training to support better engagement with and delivery of mental health services to impacted communities.

Primary mental health providers

CSAPHN currently commissions two regional primary mental health service providers within the most affected areas impacted by the dry conditions in rural and remote South Australia.

These service providers have been engaged to deliver additional mental health services through innovative service delivery models that enable more flexible approaches to accessing services.

Eligible drought affected communities

More than 4800 farming properties are affected by drought

Who is eligible for funding?

In South Australia, with no formal process or programs requiring declaration of drought areas, eligible regions have been based on assessment against PIRSA Adverse Events Recovery Framework Indicators.

Areas eligible for funding are those deemed most negatively affected by drought and dry conditions as per rainfall deficiency and PIRSA assessment of adverse events drought indicators. These regions are shown below.

Small Grants

Promoting community wellbeing

Request for grant proposals

Under the Empowering Our Communities Program, CSAPHN released a request for grant proposals. Applications were sought from eligible service providers located within the CSAPHN regions affected by drought.

Promoting community wellbeing

Applications were encouraged to be aimed at promoting community wellbeing through a range of activities that were group focused, promoted individual and/or community resilience and reduce stigma associated with accessing services and mental illness.