Finance is the biggest source of stress for farmers and others living in rural communities, leading to their mental health not coming down to individual resilience, but their “financial resilience”.
This is according to Kris Ambler of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP), who also told Agriland that a unique approach is needed to meet the unique mental health needs of farmers and rural communities.
Ambler said farmers face different challenges to those of other professions, as it is more like a lifestyle than an occupation.
“I can finish my work at 5:00p.m and that’s that. But, with farmers, it’s their life, it’s not a job,” he said.
“So you’re around it constantly. It puts strains on relationships. There are lots of issues around farm succession as well.
“Some younger people in particular are looking at farming and thinking: ‘You know what? Sod that.’ It’s incredibly long hours, it’s dangerous, it’s backbreaking work.”
Financial issues
Ambler said the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic is being overlooked as both a financial issue and a mental health issue for farmers today.
“Just because we’re out of lockdown, it doesn’t mean that the impacts of the pandemic aren’t still being felt, because they are in terms of long-term sickness and the impact on businesses as well,” he said.
“Lots of agricultural businesses really suffered, some more than others, but particularly those that were supplying the restaurants and retail supply chain.”
Ambler said Brexit adds to the financial issues of farmers, but that discussions on it are regularly shied away from.
“You’ve got the additive impacts of Brexit as well, and nobody wants to talk about the ‘B-word’, but that’s having a huge impact,” he said.
Mental health funding
Ambler said the BACP’s ask is a simple one – that the UK government and policymakers realise that rural areas require different kinds of support than urban ones.
He said that the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) has committed to finding ways to reverse the “concerning rates” of suicide amongst farmers and those in rural communities, but that this is yet to be seen.
“Defra talks about being committed to finding ways to reverse the concerning rates of suicide and help save lives,” he said.
“It talks about transforming NHS mental health services with a major funding boost. But this is just smoke screen. This isn’t a major funding boost.
“The view from the front line is that NHS mental health services that are available are patchy and inconsistent.”
It can take months in some cases, Ambler said, to be seen by an NHS talking therapist provider because they’re “hugely overwhelmed” and are “not always appropriate to people in rural communities”.
“That’s the point that we make, is that these very unique circumstances that people are facing in rural communities require an equally unique and nuanced approach to mental health,” he said.
“There’s no one size fits all approach to this. There’s no sticking plaster. And it needs dedicated work from our point of view.
“Our message to policymakers and government is that this requires focused funding that recognizes that complex and very nuanced picture of need in rural communities.”
