Uprooting The Stigma in The Soil – Agriculture’s Mental Health Crisis
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One farmer a week commits suicide in the UK, the largest number in any single occupation in the country. With a statistic attached to the agricultural industry like that, why is the clear mental health crisis not being talked about? How does the industry start the conversation and, in the end, overcome the problems it is facing?
The solution to a problem in agriculture is often a large hammer, tattie-fuelled elbow grease or a kitchen table discussion involving copious amounts of hot drinks and biscuits. When it comes to mental health, we can leave the hammer and muscle work to the side: a good discussion is the way to take stock of the problem facing the flock in the industry. Luckily, the frontlines are full of passionate, hardworking people looking to invoke change, and a few have given up some valuable time to help navigate the path from stigma to solutions.
To overcome a problem, the extent of it must first be acknowledged and understood. Chris McVey, a Welfare Manager at the Royal Scottish Agricultural Benevolent Institution (RSABI) is a believer in this approach, he said: “Mental health touches everybody at some point in our lives, the agricultural community is no different to that. I would say what makes it different is the stigma that is still attached to it in the rural area.
“Looking over the farm wall at your neighbours to see what they are up to is the obvious example of mindset in the smaller community we have, which leads to people being scared to let people know about their problems. I think with the younger people there is more openness to talk about it, which is great, the older generation are more restrained when it comes to speaking about their mental health – we have a long way to go there to really break down the stigma.”
The RSABI is a charity celebrating its 125th anniversary this year; set up during a time of deep agricultural depression, it has evolved to support farmers’ needs as they have changed with time. Chris joined RSABI at the start of 2021 and manages his team of four case officers, as well as other welfare support staff, who have faced the tough task of helping farmers in need through COVID-19, Brexit, increased inspection stresses, and many other hardships over the past few years.
Chris explained: “Mental health is a really important area of support for us, especially recently with everything that is going on in the world – we have a help line available from 7am to 11am every day of the year. It is a valuable part of what we do and is available for anyone who might be going through a tough time to speak to us and offload a bit. We deal with a multitude of issues but there is no doubt that mental health does play a significant role in a lot of people’s issues.”
Looking at harrowing statistics from recent polls, such as 36% of the entire farming community had described themselves as “probably” or “possibly” depressed, and 88% of young farmers now rate poor mental health as the biggest hidden problem faced by farmers today, Chris sees these as not just a bad thing, he said: “I think it is better to flip stats like these on their heads, it shows that people are more willing to talk about these problems, in my eyes that is a positive. If they are willing to talk about it, it normalises it, which can only be good – we all know that talking about your own experiences can be the key to helping other people get the help they need.
“It is encouraging because, we know that there is an issue but there is also an opportunity there to get people to talk about it more often. These are worrying stats but show that more people in the industry are willing to talk about it, which is a good sign.”
There is a stigma surrounding mental health in agriculture. This is evident through a lot of ‘typical cases’ that Chris sees, as he explained: “We take a lot of calls from concerned loved ones, as well as individuals and it is nothing scary. It is just a chat about how things are going. Then we look at practical things which can be like a grant to get private counselling so they can get access to a counsellor within a week. It is really good that we can offer that, but we need people to engage with us, it is fine to get the message out there that we can support them, but we need people to come to us.”
Chris McVey, Welfare Manager at the Royal Scottish Agricultural Benevolent Institution
These stories and the evident stigma are something Lorna Paterson at the National Farmers Union, Scotland (NFUS) has been trying to battle through her work over the past few years and is now seeing some success. Part of Lorna’s success has been helping to produce ‘Unearthing,’ a short film aiming to shed light on the issue of mental health in agriculture and rural areas she said: “We produced the Unearthing video to try and spread awareness, we titled it as such as we feel it’s a problem that is only just being uncovered.”
The film saw Kintore pig farmer Kevin Gilbert take to the screen to discuss his own battles with his mental health, he said: “When I came home, my father had quite a large business, with five staff and a pig unit, cattle, crops, and I had to take over everything. I was quite overwhelmed by it, so I went to see the GP, and he prescribed anti-depressants... and I thought, ‘oh no these are a waste of time’, but they did seem to help.
“Since then, I think I have been predisposed to feeling depressed as the day lengths shorten, for example: each year you are combining and flat out, then it ends, and the day lengths shorten. Then you have three months of paperwork, which you have not done, which is all lying here, and you think ‘oh, now I’m stuck, isolated here in the office’.”
Kevin also gave some advice for other farmers along with his story, he said: “The advice that I would give to a fellow farmer is that it is good to talk. Seek out advice, do not bottle it up, whether it is family, friends, or a support line.
“If you are not enjoying your farming, then why not do something else? People have been reluctant to do that, there is some shame seen in not managing to carry on the farm business but that should not be the case – if you are not enjoying it, put yourself first and do something else.”
Kevin’s bravery and willingness to shine a light on his own struggles is a monumental step forward for the fight to break the stigma, Lorna explains: “If we could turn the feeling of being ashamed into a feeling of bravery for admitting that you’re struggling, it would be a massive step forward.”
Speaking out, coupled with education around mental health and how to help yourself and others will be a key factor in breaking down the stigma in agriculture. Lorna has spearheaded a Mental Health conference in recent years that she hopes to grow, she said: “A landmark event for us was the first Mental Health Conference we held in November of 2019, we had over 100 agricultural workers in attendance which was brilliant, we plan to host another one this year.
“Prior to the conference we would have to piggy-back on to the end of other events, with a Mental Health focus in the last half an hour – it really wasn’t enough.”
Education can also come in the form of training, Lynda O’Malley, the owner of L.O.M Training, has spent the last few years delivering Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) training. This training was undertaken by many Scottish Association of Young Farmers Clubs (SAYFC) members. On working closely with young people in the industry, Lynda said: “What really struck me was how passionate Young Farmers were about helping people and how passionate they were about removing the stigma around mental health. It was clear from working with them and the stories I heard that the reason they felt like that was because there is a huge problem with mental health in agriculture.”
Lynda also expressed how she sees battling mental health across all levels of society by not just erasing the communal stigma but the stigma we create for ourselves, too, she explained: “Self-stigma is more prevalent that societal stigma. We are brought up to believe that there is a stigma in society around mental health, and then we turn that internally on ourselves so that we believe that mental health issues will not happen to us. One of the things we need to work on along with training, awareness and talking about it, is promoting self-compassion – we need to be as kind and as caring to ourselves as we are to others.”
Lorna Patterson at the National Farmers Union, Scotland (NFUS)
Another individual on the frontlines of fighting stigma and preaching positivity within the industry is Hannah Kirkpatrick, who lives in rural Northern Ireland and runs her clothing brand Matter Clothing. Hannah, who is a current Vice-President of the Young Farmers Clubs of Ulster and works for Rural Support (N.I’s version of the RSABI) launched the business during the pandemic. Speaking about her decision to start the business, Hannah said: “It became clear to me, and my group of friends as well as everybody that was involved in Young Farmers, that mental health in agriculture was a rising problem. A problem that a lot of people were ignoring for a certain time, then when the pandemic hit, and we were all isolated, and on our own, it really did come to the forefront. That is then where Matter Clothing came from, which is the business I set up in 2021.
“It is all about raising awareness for mental health in agriculture and creating that talking point, so it is not such a taboo subject anymore. I discovered over here in Northern Ireland that nobody wanted to talk about it, until they had to talk about it. So, I thought - let us get in front of it and get people talking about it before it is too late.”
Hannah concluded: “It’s definitely an uphill battle, but I think it is definitely a worthwhile battle.”
As the kettle dries up and the biscuits run out on the kitchen table forum here, the battle continues to wage on for mental health to be improved in the agricultural industry. What is even clearer, though, is that there are many passionate and dedicated people out there who are actively looking to change things for the better.
Through Chris and his team at the RSABI, farmers can contact a supportive charity who will endeavour to support them in any way that they can. Through Lorna and the NFUS, through initiatives and campaigns, along with small screen productions, we will battle the stigma until it is broken with the help of courageous farmers like Kevin. Through Lynda and her training, to help educate and inspire the next generation in agriculture to be and do better, not only with others but within themselves too. Through Hannah and other Young Farmers like her, who are on the frontline, ready to use their passion to drive the change from the inside of the industry and put a smile on people’s faces in the process (or a warm, colourful hat on their head at least!).
One thing is certain: the agricultural industry and its people do have a problem with their mental health. However, the solutions and the people driving them forward are in the field with them – ready to grab the problems by the root and drag them out from under the soil to be dealt with, like weeds in a crop. The future is bright, and the positivity yields will only go up from here.