Mary, from Are You Bogged Mate? was looking for a website that boosts awareness and starts a conversation with the broader community about the rising issue of depression and suicide rates among men in rural areas.

Are You Bogged Mate? Is confronting the challenges that country men face on a daily basis, talking about mental health, and lighting the path to support.

It all started with an article – ‘Are you bogged mate?’ written by Mary O’Brien – which spread far and wide gaining international attention. This topic struck a chord, and highlighted that while there are services available for suicide prevention, there is a disconnect in the way depression is being communicated to country men. Mary was approached by the QLD government and Queensland Farmers Federation to run a rural men's mental health awareness program. Mary wants to fix this disconnect and jumped on board.

A creative, informative website that is ranked high in Google is ranked highly by Mary, so she gave us a call. Our combination of in-house designers and programmers meant we were the ‘one-stop-shop’ for everything Mary wanted to incorporate on her website.

She understands the diverse challenges faced by the rural sector. Mary’s personal experience with rural men helped shape the tone of the website. The website is aimed to help connect country men with support services and breakdown the stigma associated with seeking help.

Not only is the website designed to engage directly with rural men, break down the stigma around mental health, bridging the gap and directly them to the right support and to speak up for those who often wont. It was also to promote and take bookings for events as well as being able to take sponsorship donations and enquiries.

Being a heavy issue, Mary also wanted to have some light hearted sections to the website. We incorporated her theme and metaphor of bogged tractors in her initial article and provided a platform for people to upload their own pictures of tractors being bogged. Website users can scroll through submitted images for a laugh. The images also represent that you’re not the only one to get into a muddy situation.

The new website is modern, user friendly and featured an easy to use donating system so people could show their support and help Mary dry up the mud and make getting out of the bog much easier for our farmers.

Visit the website!