Farmers should recognise mounting stress and ask for help early rather than waiting for a crisis, Kate Miles, charity manager at the DPJ Foundation, a farming mental health charity, said on World Mental Health Day, 10 October.
She said attitudes to mental health in farming were improving and that people unwilling to acknowledge mental illness were becoming a "shrinking minority", although "there's still a long way to go". Farmers have traditionally felt they must carry on whatever their wellbeing, she said, and that is beginning to change.
This year's drought, wildfires and livestock disease outbreaks have added to the strain and taken away many farmers' chances to rest, Ms Miles said. She was particularly worried about the longer-term effects of drought and bluetongue, including uncertainty over sheep scanning and lambing percentages.
With winter coming, she urged farmers to take stock of where they stand, identify the risks and find out what support exists. Farming charities offer practical help, including the Addington Fund's forage aid programme and drought-related grants for farmers short of winter feed, and events such as Farming Connect's in Wales offer advice as well as company. "It's so much easier to spiral downwards if you feel that you're on your own," she said.
The foundation uses the idea of a "stress bucket" that fills as difficulties pile up. Knowing what empties it, whether exercise, breaks, writing worries down or talking to someone, and building those things into a routine can stop pressure becoming overwhelming. "Burnout is a real threat in the agricultural industry," she warned.
Ms Miles also asked farmers to notice when others are struggling and to start difficult conversations, especially with people who hide their feelings. For the day the foundation is promoting its Take 10 message: ten minutes spent checking on someone, learning about mental health or managing one's own stress. In the UK, the Farming Community Network, RABI, YANA, RSABI and the DPJ Foundation all run helplines for farmers.
Photo: Geoff Charles / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Source: Farmers Weekly
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