Yellow Wellies are keeping mental health at forefront
While the week long ‘Mind Your Head’ campaign focusing on mental health issues in the farming world might be drawing to a close, the topic should remain at the forefront of industry’s collective consciousness.
Stephanie Berkeley, manager of the Farm Safety Foundation – also known as the Yellow Wellies – which contributed to the campaign said that mental health remained a huge concern and that the industry needed to keep talking about it.
“In the last 12 months, calls to farming charities have increased, so we need to be concerned about the numbers of people in our industry feeling high levels of distress,” she said.
"And we need to keep pushing to ensure people know that help is available and encourage them to ask for it.
“This is your industry, your future and your responsibility to it’s time to speak up, speak out and mind your head,” she told the industry.
The most recent set of annual farm fatality statistics showed that 20 workers died in farm accidents. The figures also revealed that over
the same period there had been a total of 133 suicides among those working in farming and agriculturalrelated trades.
“It is so important to encourage a culture within agriculture that explicitly recognises how the job can and does impact on the wellbeing of everyone living and working in it and how poor mental health can have a direct and deadly impact on the job.
“Given the year we have just experienced, making sure we are all looking after our physical and mental wellbeing has never been more relevant.”
Berkeley revealed that the foundation had collaborated in a study conducted by psychologists at the University of Aberdeen which had spoken to 182 individuals involved in Scottish farming.
The project found that social separation from family and friends due to the geographic isolation of farms, and the long hours of lone working were among the major factors affecting the sector.
Farmers also described strain caused by financial worries, including concerns about how they would pay their bills and provide for their families.
A predominant concern which added to financial stress was low, fluctuating and uncertain prices for products.
And while 14.5% of interviewees did not know of any mental health support services, 41% said they would confidently turn to the rural charity, RSABI, for help.
RSABI was set up in the Victorian era to provide financial assistance to those who had fallen on hard times, welfare manager, but Mags Granger, said mental health issues and emotional support had become key areas of work for the organisation.
“People can sometimes find it hard to have the courage to call up and admit that they need help, but they always appreciate a call back”, said Granger.
“Asking for help can be daunting for some people but starting the conversation can be the first step on that journey to get the help they need.”
Fusion Group, which operates across the hospitality, meetings and events sectors, has been backed by the UK’S first app-based bank to secure a 100 per cent freehold of Logierait Lodges near Pitlochry.
Having leased the self catering lodges for the last ten years, Fusion has secured full ownership of the twoacre asset, with banking outfit Atom stepping in to refinance a private investment deal which the group had secured last autumn.
Over the past decade,
Fusion has heavily invested in accommodation, personnel and on-site facilities at Logierait Lodges, with the business now enjoying an 84 per cent occupancy rate.
With the Atom deal now sealed, the group, which operates assets encompassing some 600 bedrooms and lodges across the country, is now looking to work with more hospitality businesses through its specialist commercial property agency, Drysdale & Co, launched last month.