The free courses are running in October and November at the Northern Inland Community College campuses of Gunnedah, Narrabri, Barraba, Bingara, Moree, Inverell and Warialda.

“Community College Northern Inland wanted to use their expertise and contacts to assist both drought affected farming families and also small business owners in drought-affected areas,” Gunnedah program coordinator Lena Curran said.

“Many of our own staff, students  and board members are directly affected by drought and we wanted to be a part of a community solution.”

The courses include pottery, photography, brewing beer, gardening, cheese making, painting, jewellery and welding.

Ms Curran said the course the colleges chose were designed to “help relieve some of the stress involved with this ongoing drought”.

“We wanted to provide an opportunity for struggling farmers to come and enjoy some therapeutic leisure time doing something they enjoy and help to relieve a little bit of anxiety. ‘Getting through the Dry’ is specifically designed to provide some information regarding drought-related stress.

“We realise that the ongoing drought has a spin-off effect on the small business owners who may be experiencing a real downside in their turnover and the free leisure courses has been extended to drought-affected small business owners”.

Campuses are also offering the accreditated courses of Forklift, White Card, Confined Spaces, Working with Heights and First Aid free to drought-affected farming families, and assistance with online applications for drought assistance.

“The colleges are offering to help with applications as we are very aware that there are so many farming families out there who may not only be self-assessing but also may not have applied for any drought assistance at all. This adds to their ongoing burden and we wanted to take some of the hard yards out of this for them,” Ms Curran said.

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“Farmers can book-in for a one to one session with one of our trainers who will  assist them to navigate the complexities of the different websites that are out there. Our trainer will assist them to make an online application for emergency drought relief [and] we are opening up our college computers and internet to learn how to download the relevant forms, print and scan etc. We are assisting them to access the different types of help that is out there.

“Gunnedah Community College is working closely with specialised farming consultants at Centrelink  to make sure that the message gets out there to as many farmers as possible. If you know a farmer is struggling with the application process, please let them know Community College is here to help.”

For eligibility criteria or to find out more, phone 67425630 or visit www.communitycollegeni.nsw.edu.au​