More mental health supports available for Ontario farmers and their families

Ontario farmers now have access to more mental health supports that provide counselling, suicide prevention and mental health literacy programs.

The Ontario Federation of Agriculture (OFA) teamed up with the Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA) to launch Agriculture Wellness Ontario, which offers three different services for farmers and their families.

Those services include:

Peggy Brekveld, a farmer in the Thunder Bay area and president of the OFA, said it's important for farmers to feel supported and confident that they can reach out for help.

She said issues around inflation, supply chain, drought and animal illnesses has put more pressure on local farmers. 

"Farming lends itself to a very different response to life. We often try to solve problems by ourselves and work hard, sometimes we think the solution is just keep working," she said. "Farmers have a lot on their plate on top of the ordinary things like family."

The pandemic also had a significant impact on many farmers, who already work in a profession that can often be isolating, Brekveld said.

A recent survey out of U of G found that farmer's mental health worsened during the pandemic more than it did for most Canadians.

"It drove us to even more isolation as things like county fairs and the curling or hockey rink I might have gone to were closed," she said.

Brekveld hopes the partnership with CMHA will bring more awareness and ultimately reduce the stigma around mental health.

Andria Jones-Bitton, director of Well-Being Programming at the Ontario Veterinary College at U of G and one of the lead researchers for In the Know, said the partnership between CMHA and OFA acknowledges a need in the agriculture community.

"It's a great sign that we're starting to put resources to the people who really need it in agriculture," she told CBC News. 

In the Know has now been delivered in several provinces across the country. In Ontario, Jones-Bitton said there have been about 350 people who have gone through the program and another 300 in Manitoba. 

The program is a four hour workshop that teaches people in the agriculture community how to recognize signs of someone struggling with their mental health and how to connect them to resources and help.