Farmers and farm families will have access to free, rurally minded counselling services at the beginning of March, thanks to an initiative started by veterans of Manitoba’s ag community.
“Through talking about it, people get better,” co-founder Gerry Friesen told the Co-operator.
The Manitoba Farmer Wellness Program was co-founded by Friesen, a mediation specialist, former farmer and mental health advocate. He teamed up with Kim Moffat, who previously has worked with Manitoba Farm, Rural and Northern Support Services (MFRNSS), and has specialized in agricultural mental health for about 20 years.
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They were joined by Marcel Hacault, former hog farmer and past executive director of the Canadian Agricultural Safety Association, and Roberta Galbraith, a full-time farmer and past manager of member relations with the Manitoba Canola Growers, along with Briana Hagan, a mental health researcher and developer of mental health programming for the agriculture industry.
The program, which is in its final stages of development and fundraising, aims to connect farmers and their families with counsellors and to pay for up to six one-on-one counselling sessions, the organization said in a news release on January 18.
Friesen is a strong proponent of talking over our struggles, he told the Co-operator.
He’s spoken and written about his own experience of being diagnosed with anxiety and depression while farming in the early 2000s. Initially, he said, he got antidepressants and figured that was all he needed.
Through working with the MFRNSS helpline in 2007, he gained a better understanding of mental health and illness and saw that verbalizing issues helped to “get it out of our brains” and connect dots.
Counselling means having someone safe to talk to, someone to whom you can verbalize the “stinking thinking” that’s in your head, Friesen said. It’s someone who can provide tools and tricks to deal with issues, and who can check in with you as you progress.
Co-ordinated to access to ag-oriented counselling isn’t available in Manitoba, said Friesen. Manitoba has had the MFRNSS support line for many years, which provides crisis support. However, now the support line can refer callers to longer-term support.
“We’re filling a gap,” Friesen said.
The program will make sessions available in person, by phone and by video call, and during the day, in the evening, and on weekends, the news release said.
At time of writing, the Manitoba Farmer Wellness Program was working to secure counsellors with farming experience or knowledge ahead of its March start.
It’s also fundraising to cover costs of counselling sessions.
Friesen said they’re looking to “anyone that works with farmers in particular” as financial partners, including businesses, organizations and lenders.
They’ve also received individual donations. In their budget, the program has figured roughly $720 is needed to help one farmer.
They’ve had one person donate $720 with a note that said, “here’s money to help one farmer,” Friesen said.
