Guest Speaker at Gateway's Launch of S.H.E.D. Talks Program says a Number of Factors Contribute to Stress for Farmers

By Bob Montgomery

The Gateway Centre of Excellence in Rural Health hosted the S.H.E.D. Talks, or Sustaining Healthy Farms through Empowerment and Dedication Talks, launch at the Four Winds Event Barn in Brussels to demonstrate the format of a S.H.E.D. talk to local farmers.

The main objective of the S.H.E.D. Talks project is to focus on reducing the social isolation and the daily stressors that farmers experience. Tom Melady was one of the guest speakers at last week's event and he spoke about his experience in dealing with mental health issues. He says one of the biggest challenges for farmers is the unknown, thinks like the weather or market prices to things like the health of their livestock that are out of their control. He says another factor that can influence mental health is that farmers live where they work, so they never really get away from it, so he says that definitely contributes to the pressure.

Melady also agrees isolation is a huge problem, not only because they spend so much time completely alone and away from other people. But he says it also gives them lots of time to worry about their problems. He explains a farmer can get in his tractor in the morning with a little problem and by four o'clock in the afternoon he's hashed it through so much it's become a huge problem. So he says too much time on your own can be very stressful.

Melady says he's encouraged by the fact that today's younger people seem to be more willing to accept stresses and mental illness as a real and serious problem and as something that needs to be dealt with, whereas older people are more likely to have been conditioned to just ignore it and it'll get better. But he says quite often it doesn't get better. He says admitting there is a problem is often the first step in resolving the problem. Melady says in his case admitting he had a problem and then talking to someone about it and getting it out in the open made it much easier to deal with it.

More information about the S.H.E.D. Talks project can be found on the Gateway Centre of Excellence in Rural Health website.

Tom Melady - Speaker, S.H.E.D. Talks