Embrace FARM will host an accident support group meeting in the Mullingar Park Hotel, at 8pm on Friday, March 10 for bereaved families and those injured by farm accidents.
The meeting is aimed at affected families in the Westmeath, Meath, Offaly, Longford, Cavan and south Roscommon areas.
Padraig Higgins from Shannonbridge, Co. Offaly lost his son James in a farm accident in 2008 and will be the facilitator of the meeting.
This meeting is for bereaved families, survivors and witnesses of farm accidents and Embrace FARM hopes to meet families that they have not met yet.
The plan is to bring families together, to forge relationships with one another so that they in turn can provide support at local level.
The facilitator will let families know what services are available through other charity/support organisations, from the agri industry and farm organisations.
Embrace FARM hopes to establish from talking to families what advice and help they need most and also what the organisation can do in an advocacy role at industry and government level.
These support meetings are informal and there will be personal accounts from people bereaved by a farm accident, survivor accounts and a professional bereavement counsellor will be available to discuss the impact of loss and trauma on bereaved families.
All participants will have the opportunity during these meetings to chat to others on a one-to-one basis, to connect with other bereaved families and to make new friends who can share their experiences during a very difficult period in their lives.
