Rural suicide risk and physical ill health: A qualitative study of the Victorian Suicide Register, 2009-2015

Abstract

Objective

To gain new insight into contextual factors shaping how physical ill health acts as a stressor in rural suicides—informing the development of appropriate targeted interventions.

Design

Retrospective cohort study.

Setting

Non-metropolitan Victoria, Australia.

Sample

802 rural (non-metropolitan) suicide deaths between the years 2009 and 2015.

Main outcome measure

Qualitative data from the Victorian Suicide Register relating to physical ill health of suicide decedents.

Results

Thematic analysis identified 4 themes: (a) ‘living with physical ill health in a rural area’ highlights both practical and cultural challenges associated with managing physical ill health within the context of life in a rural setting; (b) ‘causes and experience of chronic pain’ highlights rural risk factors for chronic pain, how pain was experienced and treatment managed; (c) ‘when living an independent, contributing life is no longer possible’ describes the debilitating physical and mental outcomes of chronic ill health and pain; and (d) ‘the cumulative impact of physical ill health and other factors on suicide risk’ highlights the complexity of risk factors—in combination with (or as a result of) physical ill health—that contribute to a suicide death.

Conclusion

Identified themes suggest pathways to improve understanding and support for those experiencing physical ill health and associated suicide risk. These supports include contextually and culturally appropriate rural services to provide effective and necessary treatment, pain relief and mental health support; acknowledgement and response to a culture of alcohol misuse as an (ultimately ineffective) coping strategy; proactive psychosocial support mechanisms; and alternative approaches to support including consideration of innovative peer support models.

Episode 7: “Mentally preparing for fire season”

In this episode, Dr Alexandra Howard from Phoenix Australia and Cathy Sosoli from Victorian Country Fire Authority discuss how farmers And CFA volunteers can take some of the stress out of the lead up to summer fire season by consciously preparing themselves mentally. They also encourage farmers and volunteer firefighters to talk through their experiences of fire seasons past and present and their emotional responses to it.

Now streaming on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and here.

This podcast is part of the Primary Producer Knowledge Network led by the National Centre for Farmer Health to promote mentally healthy workplaces. Campfire, part of the Primary Producer Knowledge Network, was funded by the Victorian State Government’s WorkSafe WorkWell Mental Health Improvement Fund.

Farmer Health eNews November 2021

Find out the latest from the National Centre for Farmer Health

• Choose your #AgVenture this National Agriculture Day!
• Apply now to complete the Graduate Certificate of Agricultural Health and Medicine in 2022!
• New Blog Post: Reaching farmers through their best (canine)mates, to talk about mental health
• Wellness Wednesday

View the November 2021 eNews

Read past issues of eNews

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Meet the Team! Amity Latham

When she is not powering through her work at NCFH, you can find Amity on her property in Telangatuk East with her husband Tom, two beautiful children – Clive and Camilla, and much loved pets – kelpie Lucy, and Maggie the cat.

Amity joined the NCFH earlier this year to support two Rapid Review Projects. After receiving a scholarship from Regional Development Victoria to undertake a PhD to address rural population decline and dispersal, her research led her to consider the theory of alienation in the context of farmers’ mental health.

Keep reading to learn more about Amity and the work she does for rural and remote communities through the NCFH…

Favourite Quote:

“If we were all the same, it would be boring.”

What is something that Australian farmers have to deal with that you would like to fix?  

1. Value-adding our primary products rather than relying on export markets.

2. Refinery and storage of fertiliser and fuel in Australia (reduce reliance on imports).

3. Those who make policy/ trade/ advisory decisions on behalf of farmers need to be accountable for their actions and known to the communities they make decisions on behalf of.

4. Farmers need to have more choice in where their levies are directed (safety, research, marketing, infrastructure). 

What is “fixable” from NCFH view?

1. Work with online / downloadable gaming for farm safety protocol for farming simulation games.

2. Work with maternal health systems to disseminate information/ training specific to “bringing a baby home to the farm”.

3. Support for farm groups (facilitators) in safety for their extension roles and create a structure to allow them to be paid for a safety advocacy and advisory roles.

What do you like about working with NCFH? 

The people and the vision for the organisation.

What are you currently working on at NCFH? 

Measuring farm safety culture and Safer Agricultural Plant.

What is your background? 

Farming, natural resource management, sustainable agriculture and sociology.

What are the values that drive you? 

I value making the most of situations for our farm productivity and commodity marketing, and providing opportunities for my children. I value flexibility and adaptability, being open minded, and not afraid to try new things.

What are your three favourite podcasts/books? 

Rosamund Pilcher‘s “September”

Sarah Whatmore’s “Farming Women”

Anne Marie Mol’s “The Body Multiple”

What do you enjoy doing when you are not working?  

Gardening, walking along the creeks at home with the kids, the cat and the dog (we are slow), and making time to see friends.

Reaching farmers through their best (canine)mates, to talk about mental health

You can listen to the Campfire podcast episode “Working dogs and farmer wellbeing” with 2020 Victorian Rural Woman of the Year, Kelly Barnes, on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and our website.

When Kelly Barnes was flicking through the stream of ‘dog selfies’ on her phone, she had an idea that would alter her life and the lives of so many others.

“I just thought dogs have been huge for me, I never really appreciated how much they helped me outside of doing farm work, with that support and that companionship,” Kelly told the AgVic Talk podcast.

In some ways, Kelly is running a covert operation. Her dog training school, Mates Dog School, is a professional 6-month training course, but she also sneaks in discussions with farmers about resilience, stress management, fear of failure and suicide.

“Even though we try to break down the stigma, people still don’t talk about it and I don’t think they really realise what’s going on for themselves or for someone else.”

Kelly lives in south-west Victoria and in 2020 she won the Victorian AgriFutures Rural Women of the Year Award which helped her create her working dog training program.

Throughout her own mental health struggles and diagnosis of fibromyalgia in 2015, a chronic condition which causes pain and fatigue, Kelly turned to her own dogs Dugald and Jess to get her through.

She also had also been studying mental health outcomes for people in rural communities through the National Centre for Farmer Health. That’s when combining her two passions started to make a lot of sense.

Kelly figured nearly every livestock farmer has a dog and could therefore receive the mental health benefits of spending more time with their working mate, as well as getting off farm to socialise.

“You do spend a lot of time on your own. And whether you work in a team or not, a lot of the work you do is on your own and the only thing you have with you, is your dogs.” Kelly said.

In fact, Kelly’s innovative dog training program is directly addressing several of the work-related stress factors identified by WorkSafe, such as isolation (or remote work) and low job control.

“It’s just becoming aware that there’s so many things that can affect what you’re doing that are out of your control, so it’s really giving you the tools to focus on the things you can control,” Kelly said.

“And it’s not necessarily for people with a mental illness either. It’s just giving people the tools to prevent them going down that path.”

Building connections with other farmers and the community is as much of a preventative tool as it is a supportive one.

Kelly also realised that getting farmers to open up and build trust within a group takes time – and having a practical element of dog training helps to open the line of communication.

“I couldn’t bowl in on day one, not knowing anyone, no one knows each other as well and then get everyone to start caring and sharing,” Kelly said.

“People would have run out the door 100 miles an hour,” she said.

And her unique approach to mental health, is already proving to be successful.

“The last session we did was about low stress stock-handling and you know, remaining calm.”

“I think sometimes people get so worked up when they’re working stock, and it’s all going wrong.”

 “But all the participants you could see them over the course of the program, they’ve learned to accept that when things go wrong, it’s ok… you just get back in and go again.”

When it comes to running the family farm, investing in mental health initiatives is not only good for your family and staff, but it’s good for business too. The NCFH is supporting farmers just like you to manage and respond to work-related risks that impact on workplace mental health – these are factors in your work that can affect an employee’s mental health and include high job demands, low job control, low role clarity and more. Managing these factors, means decreasing the risk of work-related stress, which can prevent physical injury, mental injury or even both at the same time. Find out more about being mentally safe on the farm at www.farmerhealth.org.au/campfire.

Episode 6: “Practical tips to prevent stress on farm”

In this episode, Dr Kate Gunn, a Clinical Psychologist and Researcher at Uni SA explores how farmers can learn new skills to equip them to take charge and reduce the negative impact that stressful situations have on their lives, so they have more time and energy to focus on the things that make them happy and effective.

Now streaming on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and here.

This podcast is part of the Primary Producer Knowledge Network led by the National Centre for Farmer Health to promote mentally healthy workplaces. Campfire, part of the Primary Producer Knowledge Network, was funded by the Victorian State Government’s WorkSafe WorkWell Mental Health Improvement Fund.

Mental Health Victoria: Rural experts weigh in on sector funding

Victoria’s rural mental health experts have weighed in on how the sector is faring and whether the government’s promised funding boost is enough.

Written by Bethany Griffiths for The Weekly Times, October 21, 2021. Original article here.

Rural Victorian mental health advocates are calling for more attention and investment in the sector.

Following the Royal Commission into mental health earlier this year, the Victorian Government committed more than $3 billion to the system — including at least $30 million for regional programs — in this year’s budget.

Mental Health Minister James Merlino said the government was establishing eight new Mental Health and Wellbeing Interim Regional Bodies, which would bring “together local people with local knowledge and expertise to advise the Government on how best to address the mental health challenges unique to their communities”.

But Mental Health Victoria deputy chief executive Larissa Taylor said the investment “doesn’t go far enough”.

“We need immediate investment in addressing regional mental health needs in initiatives that can be deployed and set up quickly,” she said.

“Two in five people in rural and regional Victoria who live with mental illness are not accessing service, which is quite concerning.”

The workforce shortage in the country had also exacerbated barriers in providing the right care.

“Workforce planning for those areas needs to start now, we are at a crisis point,” Ms Taylor said

Shadow Minister mental health Emma Kealy said it was disappointing to see the government had knocked back plans for workforce changes.

“Despite damning recommendations and findings from the Royal Commission and dozens of other reports, Labor don’t have a plan to boost Victoria’s mental health workforce,” she said.

“In recent weeks, Labor MPs blocked sensible, simple reforms proposed by the Liberals and Nationals that would have unlocked thousands of mental health practitioners to meet the growing demand,” she said.

Dr Alison Kennedy from the National Centre for Farmer Health backed the calls for extra workers, but suggested there are things at the community-level that could be done now.

“For example, peer-based support models, support that can be accessed virtually that meet the needs of farming communities, and outreach services that engage with ‘hard to reach’ groups either directly or through existing opportunities where they already come together like at field days and CFA/Landcare groups,” she said.

A regional program that recently received a share of funding as part of the Resilient Farming Communities was the Connect Well project in Gippsland, which aims to provide community-led help and support to people struggling with their mental health.

“We have seen first-hand the benefits when communities come together for events and how that connectedness improves wellbeing and people are opening up more about their mental health journeys and becoming more aware of how to reach out for help and support,” mental health and wellbeing campaign manager Susan Scarr said.

Ms Scarr said the program was to fill a real gap in the market for help after a “series of disasters” and to reduce the stigma around mental health.

Dr Kennedy said the greatest test would come from ensuring programs met the tailored need of each rural community.

“There appears to be funding that should be available through the new models being developed post Royal Commission, but this will rely on the funding being appropriately directed to meet the needs of rural areas not just the big regional centres and being directed to services that meet rural needs, like through consultation with rural communities and service providers,” she said.

Preparing for bushfire season: ‘keeping safe’ also includes your mental health

This topic was discussed as part of our online bonfire on October 20 at 7:30pm, “Mentally Preparing for Fire Season” with Cathy Sosoli (Country Fire Authority) and Alexandra Howard (Phoenix Australia).

Getting “bushfire ready” is something Eliza takes very seriously. She only started dairy farming with her parents two years ago in Waroona, in south-west WA, but preparing for bushfire season is firmly earmarked in the calendar.

Eliza remembers the bushfires of January, 2016. She was just a teenager then, but saw how the farming industry was rocked by the fires that damaged more than 30 000 hectares of agricultural land, across Waroona, Harvey and Yarloop.

Her parent’s farm wasn’t damaged in the blaze. But her family did have to dump milk, because they were blocked off from their property for three days. At the time, this caused significant stress and concern over the health and safety of their cows.

“We were so worried about mastitis and whether the cows had enough water and food,” Eliza said.

“And we didn’t know how long it was going to take for the fire authority to let us back in, either,” she said.

Many other farmers also had difficulty in getting back to feed livestock, access vehicles or urgently find ways to contain their animals after fencing had been destroyed.

“Fortunately, no one was hurt, and the cows were fine, but I really don’t think Mum and Dad predicted how stressful the aftermath would be for the business,” Eliza said.

Now, every October Eliza and her family sit down to work out a bushfire plan.

“We have an evacuation plan for us, but also for the animals. It’s all written out, everyone knows what the plan is and who will do what,” Eliza said.

Eliza has been able to build bushfire preparedness into the overall safety culture at her dairy. And while she can’t control whether there’s a bushfire or not, she uses a risk-management approach to work-related stress, as set out by Worksafe.

Bushfire season can add to mental health risk factors, especially if the fire service is far away from a farming property. People who have experienced bushfires can also experience feelings of fear and anxiety when reminded of a traumatic experience.

Eliza says the whole family and their three staff members are involved in the process of getting bushfire ready.

“It’s not something you want to be deciding on the fly, when there’s a fire in the region,” she said.

“You also need to think about the cows early, because there can come a point when it’s not safe anymore to move the animals.”

“So as a team, we have decided that we would rather act early and move the cows to safety, when there is a risk of a fire, rather than waiting.”

Eliza used the WA government’s bushfire resources (other states have similar websites) to devise their bushfire plan. It has a checklist specifically for livestock, horses and pets to help people determine at what point they’ll leave, the evacuation routes available and locations for agistment. It also looks at how to protect your animals if they can’t be moved (such as moving them into a paddock with no vegetation) and how ensure there’s enough food and water after the fire has passed. View the checklist here.

“It’s an added pressure to have to get organised every year, but I find we’re all a lot less stressed at work overall, just knowing we have a bushfire plan in place for the season,” Eliza said.

“It’s really about the cows for us, we don’t ever want to be in a situation again where we can’t look after them.”

When it comes to running the family farm, investing in mental health initiatives is not only good for your family and staff, but it’s good for business too. The NCFH is supporting farmers just like you to manage and respond to work-related risks that impact on workplace mental health – these are factors in your work that can affect an employee’s mental health and include high job demands, low job control, low role clarity and more. Managing these factors, means decreasing the risk of work-related stress, which can prevent physical injury, mental injury or even both at the same time. Find out more about being mentally safe on the farm at www.farmerhealth.org.au/campfire.

The dog school with a mental health difference

Written by Emma Foster for Westpac Wire.

Kelly Barnes had always thought of Dugald, her 14-year-old farm working Kelpie, as a mate.

But she never guessed the old dog would end up sparking an idea to tackle the mental health struggles prevalent in farming communities across Australia.  

“He’s just been everywhere with me, my constant companion and workmate,” says Barnes, who worked on farms as a livestock contractor across Australia after migrating from England in 2007.

Since he was a pup, Dugald went farm to farm with Barnes, on mustering, drenching, lamb marking and shearing jobs – his skills a valuable asset enabling the pair to get more work.

That was, until Barnes developed a chronic pain condition, diagnosed in 2015 as fibromyalgia. Dugald, too, slowed down after being hit by a car, leaving him “a bit hobbly and with a bandy leg”. 

“It was quite funny. He and I just used to sit on the couch and have afternoon naps and hobble around together,” recalls Barnes, Victoria’s state winner in this year’s Agrifuture’s Rural Women’s Awards. 

That’s when she conceived the idea for Mates Working Dog Training School, drawing on her realisation of just how much of a “rock” her dog had been – both as a physical workmate and a mental companion as she struggled with the transition into less labour intensive off-farm work. 

Kicking off as a pilot in January in Dunkeld, around 280km west of Melbourne, participants of Barnes’ working dog training school attend six, day-long sessions over six months with a professional dog handling trainer, Ian O’Connell.
 

But, Barnes explains, the program aims to produce much more than just upskilled canines. 

“Basically, the dog training is the hook to get people in,” she says. 

“Then amongst the day full of training, I sneak in discussions about different resilience topics, like working with different personality types, or dealing with stressful situations, or the way nutrition affects how you feel – and sort of relate it all back to the dogs. 

“It’s a nice way of introducing some of those topics, especially for people that are not really interested or find it uncomfortable.” 

She says the program’s true value is in getting people off farm and into a like-minded group to create new social connections. 

“It’s creating those little pockets of people that they can call on if they need to. And for some of them, just getting off farm and into a group, while learning to use their dogs better, is enough to benefit them without them even realising,” she says. 
 

Dr Alison Kennedy, a behavioural scientist and acting director for the National Centre for Farmer Health, says the program is “incredibly insightful” and has great potential to benefit many people in farming communities. 

“Kelly’s created this very practically focused program that ties in with farming culture … so it takes a lot of the stigma away that’s often associated with mental health programs and presents it in a really approachable way,” Dr Kennedy says. 

Having spent more than a decade focused on farmer mental health and suicide prevention in Victoria’s rural farming community, Dr Kennedy says despite the inroads made, situational factors such as social and geographic isolation, drought, fires and floods and a lack of mental health professionals (and anonymity) in small towns – put farming communities at higher risk of poor mental health. In some areas, suicide rates are up to twice that of the general population. 

“We are getting better at understanding and talking about the risks to mental health in our farming communities, but there are some very strongly entrenched cultures…which means it does take a lot of effort over a sustained period of time to really make significant changes,” Dr Kennedy says. 
 

One of the first 15 participants, Rachael Morris, says the program was “amazing” for both her and her two-year-old “eager” Kelpie, Max.

Morris had always worked on farms in her home of King Island in the Bass Strait but had no experience with working dogs until she moved to regional Victoria around three years ago as a farm labour contractor working mainly with sheep. 

“I’m still a bit new to it, so I’ve got a lot to learn, but I’ve learnt a lot,” says Morris, who has three other dogs working with her and Max every day – Ammo, Digger and Barry.

Morris says she “can’t wait” to have a reunion with the other participants, who she’s stayed in regular contact with since starting the program. 

“It was a really good bunch of people, really diverse, with different dogs at different training levels and abilities, and we all really looked forward to the training days,” Morris says. 
 

An independent evaluation of the program by the National Centre for Farmer Health found while some participants were surprised that mental resilience topics were tied in with the dog training, they recognised how beneficial it was for their wellbeing and had already started to apply what they learnt in other areas of their life. 

Another participant Dr Jo Ward, a livestock vet based in Coojar, agreed the program opened doors to wellbeing conversations that some participants may not otherwise have had, while bonding over their dogs. 

“Because we were meeting over the six months, we were able to build a rapport with each other,” says Ward, who took her 5-month-old Border Collie pup Maggie and 7-year-old Kelpie, Ralph. 

“It’s been nice from a social aspect to stay in touch, but it also keeps us motivated to keep training our dogs.”
 

Likewise, Tom Higgins, who attended with his two-year-old Kelpie Dot, says breaking up the training day to “have a cup of tea and a talk” meant he would now “definitely have a chat” with the people he attended the training with when he runs into them in town.

While Higgins, who works on his family’s sheep property, had worked with dogs his whole life, he’d never been formally trained and was attracted to the opportunity of learning from such a well-renowned dog handler as Ian O’Connell. 

“The training was probably more for me, I guess,” he chuckles. “I could then show Dot what to do and where to go and we’ve definitely both improved.”  

Based on the success of the pilot, Barnes has a waitlist for future school intakes and is working towards rolling-out a refined program from next year. Over time, she hopes it will be replicated in other rural communities around the country. 

“Every famer has a dog, often they have a team of dogs, and if they can learn to use them as a resource to help with their mental health, I think it can be valuable.” 


As one of seven state winners of this year’s Agrifuture’s Rural Women’s Awards, Kelly Barnes received a $10,000 bursary from Westpac to support her project as part of the bank’s Platinum Sponsorship. The national winner will be announced virtually on October 20. 

If you or anyone you know needs help, call Lifeline on 13 11 14 or Beyond Blue on 1300 224 636. 

Farmer Health eNews October 2021

Find out the latest from the National Centre for Farmer Health

• Think Safe. Work Safe. Be Safe. Check out our resources to promote a safe workplace during National Safe Work Month 2021.
• Be AgriSafe this Work Safe Month. Find out more about our AgriSafe program and how it can help you and your family.
• The Agricultural Health and Medicine (HMF701) Scholarships are now open!
• Wellness Wednesday

View the October 2021 eNews

Read past issues of eNews

Do you want to receive our eNews?

Meet the Team! Morna Semmens

Meet Morna Semmens – our wonderful Agrisafe Clinician and Registered Nurse. When she is not looking after our local farmers through her work at the AgriSafe clinics, or educating students on farm safety through our Gear Up program, she is working with husband on their sheep and cattle grazing farm in Gazette, Western Victoria.

We found some time in Morna’s busy schedule to learn a little bit more about her…

Favourite Quote:

I’m an optimist, but an optimist who carries a raincoat.

Harold Wilson

What is something that Australian farmers have to deal with that you would like to fix?  

The pressure they feel to address their animal, crop, and soil health before they prioritize their own health.

What do you like about working with NCFH? 

Everyone’s skills and input are valued- the mix of skills brings creativity and new ways of approaching challenges to agricultural health and medicine.

What are you currently working on at NCFH? 

AgriSafe Clinics for farmers and agricultural workers, and Gear UP sessions for students to ensure the next generation of agricultural workers manage their risks and survive/thrive in agriculture.

What is your background? 

Speech Pathology-Vocational Rehabilitation-Sheep/Beef Farming.

What are the values that drive you? 

1. Play your part and work hard to contribute to family – community and the world.

2. Look at the world from other’s perspectives first.

3. Listen with intent.

What are your three favourite podcasts/books? 

1. A kestrel for a knave, by Barry HINES. It is a story about a young boy in a tough environment surviving emotionally by befriending a kestrel. If you prefer the movie version look up KES.

2. Seeing Voices by Oliver Sacks. It is a neurologist’s view into deaf culture and their visual language systems.

3. The Sixteen Trees of the Somme by Lars Mytting. It is a great family epic based in Norway – a country I visited a few years ago and loved.

Basically I love stories where people overcome adversity or where the story is about how earlier generations of a family influence the next generation….

What do you enjoy doing when you are not working?  

Swimming, bike riding and growing food…. In that order.

To book in to see Morna for a Health and Lifestyle Assessment through the AgriSafe clinics, or to find out more about the Gear Up for Ag Health and Safety program for schools and educational institutions, please follow the links below.

It’s possible to reduce the stress of harvest… even during the Covid-19 labour shortages

This topic will be discussed as part of our online bonfire on October 06 at 7:30pm, “Seasonal and Contract Labour: It Works Both Ways” with Aimee McCutcheon, Statewide Seasonal Workforce Coordinator, Ag Vic.

A bumper avocado harvest is underway for growers in the Riverland and Sunraysia districts. But while the climatic conditions have been just right, a lack of pickers on the ground is causing other kinds of stress.

“There’s been a lot of excitement in the lead up to harvest,” Richard*, an avocado grower near Mildura, said.

“The quality level of the fruit is high and there’s just a lot around,” he said.

There’s expected to be a glut of avocados this season, which will mean the price growers receive is likely to drop. But that’s not the biggest concern for Richard.

COVID-19 has meant the usual backpacker workforce that the horticulture and other agricultural industries rely on, just isn’t available.

“We struggled last year when we didn’t have the usual flow of backpackers looking for work,” Richard said.

Last season, Richard and his family often worked from sunup to sundown picking fruit along his small team of harvest employees.

“It was chaotic. We were so busy picking ourselves that didn’t have time to really organise our workforce,” Richard said.

This has been a common story for growers since the pandemic, with some farmers unable to harvest their crops in time. In February this year, The National Farmers’ Federation’s lost crop register topped more than $45 million, due to the seasonal worker shortage.

But the cost has been more than just financial, for both growers and their employees. There are several work-related mental health risk factors identified by WorkSafe, including high job demands, poor support, organisational change and remote work.

“Our harvest lasts for months and from a mental health perspective, you just can’t operate on such high stress levels for that period of time. We were also constantly worried about losing our crop,” Richard said.

This time around, Richard is more prepared. He arranged for workers from the Pacific Islands to come in through the Commonwealth’s Seasonal Worker Program. While this was an extra expense, due to the costs of travel and quarantine, he says it’s worth it.

“There are extra demands on us as employers, in terms of all the rules and regulations and organising accommodation. We also need to be mindful of cultural differences, training and making sure there is good communication. This prevents excess stress on our workers and relieves both their, and our, anxiety regarding expectations at work.”

But Richard said pre-planning allowed him enough time to overcome these challenges. He even enlisted the help of one his harvest workers from last season, Shelley*, a British backpacker who decided to stay in Australia throughout the pandemic.

“I’ve been able to help in the training process and give staff directions if they’re unsure what to do”, Shelley said.

20-year-old Shelley said last season there was a lot of confusion on the ground, with the sheer workload there was often no one to go to for support.

“I was expecting to be travelling the country right now, but on the plus side I’ve been able to further my career in the Sunraysia disctrict, taking on added responsibility, which I’m really enjoying.”

For Richard, having an organisational plan has made harvest a lot easier.

“We still wish we had more staff, but we’re using their skills in the best way we can and I’m confident we’ll be able to get the fruit off the trees in time.”

Whether you have been able to bring on a seasonal workforce prior to this harvest or not, below are some ways to mental health risk factors during harvest:

For farm owners/managers:

• Have an organisational work plan (who is doing what, when) with an efficient onboarding process for new staff.

• Encourage a feeling of connection to the local community for seasonal workers, especially if they are migrants.

• Manage the workload of staff to allow enough time for relaxation and recreation.

• Ensure good communication (do staff know who to call and what to do? Is there a process for employees to raise questions or complaints?)

• Recognise staff for their hard work and achievements.

When it comes to running the family farm, investing in mental health initiatives is not only good for your family and staff, but it’s good for business too. The NCFH is supporting farmers just like you to manage and respond to work-related risks that impact on workplace mental health – these are factors in your work that can affect an employee’s mental health and include high job demands, low job control, low role clarity and more. Managing these factors, means decreasing the risk of work-related stress, which can prevent physical injury, mental injury or even both at the same time. Find out more about being mentally safe on the farm at www.farmerhealth.org.au/campfire.