Last Friday’s information evening in Mullingar had 45 attendees. Counsellor Joe Thompson gave a presentation followed by a personal story.

“A number of widows were there who connected and swapped stories,” said one of the Embrace FARM founders, Norma Rohan. “There were families who had lost children there too. I find it hard to judge how each meeting goes but when you sit back to have the tea afterwards everyone discusses their story with the others and that’s important.”

The Cork and Westmeath meetings were mostly attended by those who were bereaved while the Galway meeting had a lot of farm accident survivors.

“People don’t know what to expect when they come in first,” said Rohan. “The professional counsellor we have on board, Joe Thompson, has realised that a more relaxed approach works for farming families. The more natural approach works and is growing.”

Next meeting

Embrace FARM has not yet decided where the next meeting will be but the board is to meet soon and review each information meeting and plan for a follow-up meeting in the three areas.

“We want to have a follow-up meeting once a month in each area, depending on what people in those areas want themselves,” said Rohan. “We do have a plan for the rest of the country but we are not going to rush into it. We want to do it slowly and get it right.”