Active Farmers founder on a mission to reduce rural suicide rates
Ginny Stevens is on a mission to reduce suicide rates in the bush. And that’s exactly why she left a stable agribusiness career to establish Active Farmers.
TWO years ago Ginny Stevens made the “crazy” decision to leave her stable agribusiness career to run small community fitness classes.
The former jillaroo-turned-agribusiness banker reinvented herself as a personal trainer, adamant she could better use her time to help reduce suicide rates in the bush.
“I was thinking about what I can do to do my bit for the community,” said Ginny, who lives on a farm at Mangoplah near Wagga Wagga.
“I just left my nice secure job to do this crazy thing and then I found out I was pregnant with twins.
“But I haven’t looked back.”
That crazy thing is now known as Active Farmers, a fitness network with classes in 38 regional areas across the country, and another 100 on the waitlist.
Ginny runs her own classes and hires trainers to run Active Farmers in other farming communities.
And those twins, Henry and Isabella, are about to welcome another sibling to the family.
But Ginny’s passion for farmer health has not allowed her to skip a beat.
Ginny is determined to help more farmers think of community activities and exercise as an investment in their business, rather than “taking time off”.
And her message has been well received.
“The social side of it has become almost bigger than the exercise side of it,” she said. “People (who are not fitness minded) are becoming personal trainers so they can start Active Farmers for their community.
“Technology means farmers can have less labour … doing more with less people is great for the bottom line but we’re herd animals, we’re not meant to be alone all the time.”
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