All Articles

Recently, I had an experience that reminded me that not everyone is happy for you when you reach important personal or professional milestones. This particular milestone was proof that I had worked hard, studied hard and pushed myself to my limits. The person in question, through their dismissive, cutting comment, showed me something important: living with meaning will sometimes provoke people who aren’t living with theirs. It also reinforced some of the findings in my recent

Michelle Ruddell is Chairperson of the Rural Support Trust National Council and a dairy farmer, bringing both governance experience and a strong understanding of the realities facing rural families. Her work is focused on strengthening rural communities and ensuring support is there when people need it most. Rural Support sees people at some of the hardest points in rural life. What have those experiences taught you about rural communities? No one is immune to the challenges

Swannanoa woman and volunteer firefighter Sarah Starkey was diagnosed with stage 3 triple-negative breast cancer three months after a mammogram found no evidence of cancer. When Sarah Starkey received the all-clear following a mammogram last September, she believed breast cancer had effectively been ruled out. It hadn't. Three months later, Starkey, 48, a Swannanoa mother and volunteer firefighter, was diagnosed with stage 3 triple-negative breast cancer. By then, she had a l

A breast cancer diagnosis is something most women would rather not think about. But Community Breast Nurse Educator Debra Leutenegger says breast awareness is not about being frightened. It is about knowing your own body well enough to recognise when something changes. “Knowing your normal” is a phrase women hear often, but Leutenegger says it means becoming genuinely familiar with how your breasts normally look and feel. “What’s normal for me won’t necessarily be normal for

From left, BetterMan founders Ryan Astle, Todd Astle and Ged Robinson, who are taking a more informal approach to men’s wellbeing through sport, humour, connection and conversation. Former Black Cap Todd Astle is using lessons from professional sport to help Kiwi men talk about wellbeing, but without making it feel like a mental health seminar. Astle is one of the founders of BetterMan, a Christchurch-based wellbeing charity set up with his brother Ryan Astle and former profe

Western Southland dairy farmer Kaylene Bennett’s Kellogg research explores the hidden mental load carried by rural women and the impact it can have on their wellbeing, careers and communities. Western Southland dairy farmer Kaylene Bennett has turned her own experience of reaching capacity into Kellogg research examining the mental load carried by rural women and the impact it is having on their wellbeing, careers and communities. For Kaylene Bennett, the realisation that she

Our farmers work every day to maintain healthy soils, protect waterways, and care for animals — often under intense regulatory, financial, and climatic pressure. Yet online, the public often sees only a narrow slice of this reality. Selective images of muddy paddocks, wet weather events, or isolated moments taken out of context circulate widely, shaping perceptions in ways that feel deeply unfair to the people who live this work. I’ve seen our own animals basking in mud, with

A new Mid Canterbury summit aims to cut through conflicting health advice and help women better understand what is happening in their bodies. Lauren Stokes hopes the Women’s Hormone Summit will help rural women better understand their health and feel less alone. Women struggling with heavy periods, sleepless nights, hot flushes or unexplained fatigue are too often left confused and unsure where to turn, says Mid Canterbury naturopath Lauren Stokes. It is a pattern Stokes sees

Being rural in New Zealand is not a “niche” area — up to 19% of us are rural. Working with rural communities means working in a world where “just go and get help” doesn’t always match reality. It doesn’t reflect the layered, complex barriers rural people face when they’re under pressure. Help‑seeking is rarely straightforward — not because rural people don’t care about their wellbeing, but because the conditions of rural life make reaching out far more complicated than it app

The back of The Rural Collective jersey carries the message: “Behind every farm is a mind that matters.” A group of Year 13 students from Christchurch Girls’ High School have launched a rural clothing business with a purpose, using their own farming backgrounds to support conversations around wellbeing in rural communities. The Rural Collective was founded by Lucy Honeywell, Grace McKnight, Maddy Judd, Millie McAlistair and Georgia Henderson, who all board at Acland House and

Howdy founder Mia Ryan launched the rural-focused dating app after struggling to meet like-minded people while living and working in regional Australia. Supplied If you’ve spent any time on modern dating apps, chances are you’ve seen it all before. Dead pig photos. Fish photos. Gym selfies. Bios demanding “someone who doesn’t take life too seriously”. Conversations that start with “hey” and end in ghosting. Now imagine trying to navigate all of that from the middle of rural N

Amy Po-Ching says financial confidence starts with understanding your position, knowing what you own, what you owe and where you want to go financially. Supplied. When Levridge founder and financial adviser Amy Po-Ching stood in front of a room full of women at the Women in Seed Forum in Christchurch last month, the discussion quickly turned from KiwiSaver and investing to women can feel uncomfortable talking about : financial independence. But it’s a conversation worth havin

Glen Thurston speaking at the NZDA conference as part of ongoing conversations around mental health, firearm safety and help-seeking within the hunting community. Supplied. For MentalHunts co-founder Glen Thurston, the conversations around mental health and firearms legislation deeply personal. The father, builder and passionate hunter has spent much of his life navigating depression, burnout and alcohol abuse. Those experiences eventually led him to launch MentalHunts alongs

For years, rural New Zealand has been told to “speak up” and “reach out” when things get tough. But for many people living and working in the country, asking for help is rarely that simple. Isolation, workload pressure, financial stress, relationship strain and the deeply ingrained culture of simply “getting on with it” can all become barriers long before someone ever reaches crisis point. That is where Fiona McCracken believes things need to change. After years working acros

When Anna King entered the NZI Rural Women Business Awards, she did not quite realise the scale of what she was stepping into. A client had suggested she apply, and King, founder of Pilates and movement business AnnaFit, decided to give it a go. “I didn’t even know about the Rural Women Business Awards. It was one of my clients who told me about it,” King says. “When I applied, I actually didn’t realise how big it was. I just thought, that looks really cool, and off I went.”

Emmy Maxwell says Rural Women New Zealand should have consulted members before lodging its submission on the Legislation (Definitions of Woman and Man) Amendment Bill. Supplied. Rural Women New Zealand says its opposition to the Legislation (Definitions of Woman and Man) Amendment Bill was a board-led advocacy decision, but one rural woman says members should have been consulted before the organisation spoke publicly on their behalf. Rural Women New Zealand (RWNZ) is facing q

Women working and living on farms across Aotearoa New Zealand are being urged to take part in a national survey researchers hope will help fill a long-standing gap in rural wellbeing data. The Health and Wellbeing of Women in Farming survey is being run by researchers from Massey and Lincoln Universities and is open to women who work and/or live on-farm. Massey University’s Nicky Stanley-Clarke says while rural mental health has become a much more visible issue in recent year

Methven men are being encouraged to “take their health seriously”, at a free Men’s Health Night, hosted by the Methven Lions Club and Medical Centre. “Most blokes know full well that they should get checked up and never do anything about it, until they get a nasty shock,” said Methven Lions member Mac McElwain. “This event is about putting the opportunity in front of local men, giving them a chance to understand that if they are worried about something, they’re not alone.” Th

Rural Women New Zealand chief executive Sandra Kirby said uncertainty around fuel supply and pricing was creating anxiety for many rural families already dealing with significant transport demands. As New Zealand heads towards the 2026 New Zealand general election, Rural Women New Zealand says rural families are continuing to face growing pressure around cost of living, fuel, isolation and access to basic services. Chief executive Sandra Kirby said many of the issues affecti