Marcus Minds

Marcus Minds. Mind blowing

By Alannah Halloran. Foundation Manager

Mental health, wellbeing, wellness, health and resilience are all words and phrases used to describe someone’s mental, emotional and social capabilities.

As we are all too aware, agriculture is associated with a unique set of stressors that include reliance on unpredictable, and often uncontrollable environmental, financial and/or business pressures. These situational stressors have flow on effects throughout rural communities dependent on farming.

Sadly, the rate of people taking their own lives is almost double in rural areas compared with urban. (National Rural Health Alliance, 2017)

But is our mental health simply a mindset? Can we be better equipped to understand and manage our state of mind more capably and confidently? Through education, is it possible to better prepare, navigate our way around and through “tough times,” and come out stronger, happier, and mentally richer at the other end?

In 2015, in response to an increased awareness of the varied hardships many faced in agriculture, Marcus Oldham developed and integrated a health and resilience program into course curriculum, across all year groups. College Principal and graduate, Dr Simon Livingstone said, “The aim of the program is to advance students’ understanding of resilience, stress, and well-being. Since the program was implemented, students have learnt the importance of personal reflection and how to develop a ‘toolkit of strategies’ that can be used now and well into the future. Students are also made aware of their role within a community and the many resources available to them and others.”

Fast forward five years, through the fundraising work of the College Foundation and the desire to provide graduates with access to continued learning, the concept of a graduate wellbeing program was born.

It wasn’t until early 2019, when graduate Tim McGavin AdCertAA’94 and DipAA’99 Executive Chairman and Founder of Laguna Bay, one of the largest privately owned agricultural funds in the world, reached out to the Foundation to discuss how they might be able to support the College in some way, that the concept became a reality.

"In today’s world, society over-emphasises IQ (intelligence quotient) and under emphasises EQ (emotional quotient) and I think this is doing people in. Life is less about what you make it, and more about how you take it."

Fate is a funny thing and sometimes, the stars align just at the right moment. Not only was the College keen to ‘give back’ to the graduate network, but the richness in Tim’s own journey since leaving Marcus Oldham, made him the perfect partner in this program.

Tim understands the importance and value of managing one’s own mental health and getting the best out of yourself in order to soar; personally, emotionally, physically, professionally, spiritually and financially.

That is the exciting difference with the Marcus Minds program compared with others. It isn’t predictable. It is unlike anything else out in the market. It is typically Marcus Oldham unique. And what’s more, potentially lifechanging.

Why is Marcus Minds so important to Tim?

“In today’s world, society over-emphasises IQ (intelligence quotient) and under-emphasises EQ (emotional quotient) and I think this is doing people in. Life is less about what you make it, and more about how you take it,” Tim said. “Ability is not a constant, it is heavily influenced by our attitude. This is exciting because our attitude is 100% manageable. Attitude is affected by our degree of positivity, how we perceive external events and ourselves, our habits and experience etc. But experience can be a hard teacher. It often gives the test first and the lessons afterwards. If we are not careful, we can let setbacks get the better of us. My dad used to say, ‘If you think you can, you can, if you think you can’t, you can’t’, he is right, and this is exactly what Marcus Minds is about.”

Under the direction of the Director of Postgraduate Studies, Dr Heather Davis, and content analyst, Dr Carroll Graham, Marcus Minds will be offered as a four-part program: exploring self, others, workplace and how to achieve peak performance.

The Marcus Minds program will be launched in conjunction with the Marcus Oldham 60th Birthday celebrations at the College in May 2022.