ENSURING mental health and wellbeing in rural communities stays a top priority is the aim of a grassroots prevention tool launched earlier this year.
Taking Stock, a free online multimedia site, has been designed by and for Australian farmers to help them tackle the everyday struggles of living on the land.
The outcome of a three-year nationally funded University of South Australia research project – Tailoring Suicide Prevention Strategies to Men in Farming – Taking Stock helps farmers break down barriers for seeking help and provides information about community-based support services.
The study was undertaken across the Yorke and Eye Peninsulas in South Australia, plus Tatyoon, Victoria and Wagga Wagga, New South Wales.
The website hosts resources tried by other rural groups that communities can download and use or adapt.
Farmers will also be able to recognise that the distress, mental ill health and/or suicide ideation they may have experienced is also experienced by other farmers, helping them understand they are not alone.
In Australia, farmer suicide rates are nearly 59 per cent higher than non-farmers, and was up to 94 per cent higher in 2018.
Project lead and director of the National Enterprise for Rural Community Wellbeing, UniSA’s Professor Lia Bryant, said the needs of rural communities were at the heart of the Taking Stock initiative.
“Rural people have tremendous knowledge about the challenges and opportunities that they face in rural areas, so working with farmers and support groups was absolutely essential to create strategies that have meaning and are more likely to be used,” she said.
“In this project, we interviewed more than 50 farmers and three local suicide prevention groups – SOS Yorkes, Mellow in the Yellow, and Riverina Bluebell – to better understand the complexities of farmer distress and the local supports those farmers felt they needed.
“We found that on top of key stress factors that affect farmers in general – things like weather extremes, physical isolation, intergenerational issues, and financial pressures, to name a few – there were additional shared risk factors that farmers in the same region (or farming the same commodity) experienced.
“If we want suicide prevention strategies and early prevention to hit home then it was critical that we worked together to co-design a resource that directly addressed the key needs raised by farmers.
“Wellbeing is more than an individual experience. It is created by strong community connections and having local support. Rural communities understand reciprocity: the giving and receiving of support in good times and in difficult times.
“Taking Stock shares the stories and lived experiences of farmers and explains their journeys from different perspectives. And, because it’s created by farmers and rural communities, for farmers and rural communities, the content is relevant and specific to their needs.”
Multiple resources including films, interviews and podcasts of farmer experiences, how to set up a local suicide prevention group, and how to connect and engage with communities for early approaches to suicide prevention are all available on the Taking Stock website.