An upcoming seminar on grief and mental wellness in rural families will be hosted by the Gateway Centre of Excellence in Rural Health.
The session, titled Grief We Carry and Roles We Inherit: Mental Wellness in Rural Families, will be held on April 14 from noon-1 p.m. on Zoom.
Participants will learn about grief and how it shows up in rural life, where significant loss can often not only affect individuals, but farms, businesses, and communities.
There will also be a discussion on generational loss, including the loss of people, land, health, and identity, and how these experiences are carried forward within rural families.
The keynote speaker will be Lauren Van Ewyk, a co-founder of the National Farmer Mental Health Alliance, registered social worker, and PhD student at the University of Guelph.
Joining her will be Diane Bergsma, co-founder of the Three Oaks Respite Cabin, and Ben Tobias-Murray, Farmland Access and Agricultural Planning Coordinator at Ontario Farmland Trust (OFT).
Anyone in the community is welcome to attend. To attend this event and future presentations, you can register on the Gateway CERH website here: https://www.gatewayruralhealth.ca/lectureseries.
