Suicide services more important than ever before
I recently found myself sitting in a darkened room in coastal Taranaki chatting with a handful of farmers about mental health. We were dissecting a thoughtprovoking video we had watched featuring a sheep farmer who has beaten depression.
I was at a ‘Good Yarn’ workshop, run by the Taranaki Rural Support Trust. They are designed to help farmers spot the signs of stress and mental health problems. Most importantly it gives them the tools to initiate a conversation with someone they are concerned about. Suicide is often treated as a taboo topic. Most people feel uneasy discussing it. But asking someone about suicide does not increase their risk of attempting self-harm, it often reduces the chances of it happening by 50 per cent.
Did you know every fortnight in New Zealand, three people living in rural areas die by suicide? That is almost 80 people a year. Stop and think about that figure for a minute. That is more than five rugby teams, or the entire roll of some schools. Gone. Figures released this month show New Zealand’s suicide toll has hit a new high. In Taranaki, 11 people took their own lives.
The workshops are timely. Two seasons of plummeting milk prices have placed a number of Taranaki dairy farmers under severe financial stress. Herd-owning sharemilkers have watched their cows’ value nosedive, eroding their equity. The TRST has been busy fielding calls from people who have let unresolved issues build up, only to have them hit now with a huge thud.
While the payout might be starting a slow climb from its historic lows, most farmers are not out of the red yet. What happens if global dairy markets do not pick up? I shudder to think. That is why this is not the time for the Government to be standing idly by as a vital provider of suicide prevention services, Lifeline Aotearoa, faces its own demise. The crisis counselling service, which answers up to 15,000 calls a month, only has enough cash to run for another year. Then, the phones will go silent.
Who will people needing assistance for issues such as bullying, depression, suicidal thoughts and family violence turn to then? The Lifeline website features a huge clock, counting down the days until its funds dry up. It has been forced to plead for public donations after appeals for Government help were rejected. Why should such an essential service have to beg for loose change?
Lifeline estimates for ‘‘every person who commits suicide, 40-100 people attempt it’’. It told Fairfax that with the crisis in mental health and the suicide rate reaching epidemic proportions, the Lifeline service has never been more critical. Even the Health Minister, Jonathan Coleman, himself acknowledged in a media release in July this year that there has been an ‘‘increase in demand for mental health and addiction services in New Zealand’’. He claims the Government is pumping more funding into the sector. Critics are demanding a full-scale inquiry, claiming it has already hit breaking point.
When I landed my first job as a radio reporter in 2001 it was rare for suicides to be reported. There are still strict laws surrounding what journalists can publish, due to fears of copycat suicides. But allowing grieving families to talk about dead loved ones in the media helps to erode the stigma around mental health. Lifting the veil on the issue is the only way we can stop it claiming more productive lives. It is up to everyone, especially farmers living in isolated areas, to look out for each other. If your neighbour is usually a regular at discussion group or the kids’ soccer games, but has stopped attending, grab a couple of cold ones and drop in for a chat. It is OK to reach out on social media as well. It was heartening to see drenched Waikato dairy farmers grappling with sodden paddocks, mud and poor pasture utilisation posting photos on Twitter of baking or a block of chocolate they had received in the mail from a follower.
New Zealand Young Farmers recently lost one of its members to suicide. It has applauded the DairyNZ-led ‘Good Yarn’ workshops and hopes to have trained facilitators delivering the same workshops soon. The organisation’s boss, Terry Copeland, is spot-on when he says not talking about suicide ‘‘only serves to strengthen an already stigmatised topic’’. Ignoring the issue has not worked. It is now time to tackle it head-on.