2017-01-30: Farmer suicide: Participants needed for The Ripple Effect survey – The Weekly Times
By: HANNAH DRISCOLL, The Weekly Times
A SURVEY aimed at reducing farmer suicide needs more men to take part.
The Ripple Effect online survey aims to investigate ways to reduce the stigma of suicide — particularly among 30- to 64-year-old males — in farming communities.
The survey, in which participants detail their own experiences, set a target of 473 male participants. But of the 370 respondents so far, only about 30 per cent were male.
National Centre for Farmer Health research fellow Alison Kennedy, who is conducting the survey was “a way for us to gather information about rural suicide and the experience of how people feel best supported and where perhaps that support isn’t forthcoming and how they would prefer that to be offered”.
Dr Kennedy wants to glean as much information as possible from the target age group.
“That’s not to say we don’t want anyone else to participate, but we certainly do need a good chunk of blokes,” she said.
Dr Kennedy agreed “without a doubt” the number of survey participants to date was indicative of the stigma of suicide — that “people are very much behind suicide prevention but when it comes to opening up about their own experiences they’re much less likely to do that”.
“That is the point of the project, to try to reduce the stigma associated with suicide,” she said.
Dr Kennedy said support for the initiative needed to translate into more active participation.
2017-01-30: Live Rural to help with farmers’ study – The Ararat Advertiser
Applications have opened for the next round of Live Rural study scholarships following the 2016 Mellow in the Yellow fundraiser at Tatyoon.
The program will award two farmers up to $2000 to contribute to the productivity of the farming business they work in or own.
Mellow in the Yellow was hosted at Tatyoon and raised the cash for scholarships to be awarded in the Ararat district farming community.
It also raised $5000 for the National Centre for Farmer Health based in Hamilton.
The scholarship covers expenses such as course and accommodation costs.
The applicant must be an Australian citizen or permanent resident in the Ripon or Lowan area and work on a farm or is a farm owner.
They must be studying an agriculture-related course, have been working in the industry for at least two years and able to complete the course within 12 months.
Mellow in the Yellow spokesperson Leila Sweeney-McDougall said more information can be found at liveruralaustralia.com, and applications close on April 27.
The Ripple Effect Final Report
This report details the design and evaluation of The Ripple Effect—a technologically-innovative, digital intervention to reduce the stigma associated with suicide for males aged 30-64 years in rural and remote Australian communities. The findings presented are the product of 23 months of engagement with rural and remote farming community members affected by suicide—those bereaved by suicide, those who have contemplated or attempted suicide, those who have cared for someone who has attempted, and those who have been touched by suicide in other ways. The Ripple Effect recognises that males in rural Australia, in comparison to males in the urban population, experience higher rates of suicide. This is despite similar levels of diagnosed mental health conditions in rural and urban areas. Contextual elements such as geographic isolation, traditional gender and cultural expectations, and close-knit communities restrict open discussion about suicide and reinforce the effects of stigma (A. J. Kennedy, 2015). This inclination to avoid emotional vulnerability can be detrimental when combined with feelings of weakness, shame, guilt, selfishness and the sense of rejection often associated with an experience of suicide. The self-stigma and perceived-stigma that manifests can lead to obscured behaviour and aversion to help-seeking, which may have life-altering effects and, ultimately lead to increased ongoing suicide risk.
2017-01-18: Seeds sown for new crop of agri-health professionals – Stock & Land
Australia’s only postgraduate agricultural health and medicine unit for professionals servicing farming communities is attracting participants from across Australia and overseas.
Designed to tackle the high morbidity and mortality rates in the agricultural industry, the internationally recognised course better equips health providers, rural professionals and our farming communities with the knowledge and skills they need to help turn things around.
The National Centre for Farmer Health’s (NCFH), Dr Susan Brumby said a healthy workforce was vital for a productive agricultural industry.
Through the work of the NCFH, we have learnt that farming families and their communities face poorer health outcomes than their urban counterparts.
Agricultural workers have higher rates of injuries including fatalities and suffer chronic diseases at high rates.”
“A growing number of agricultural and health professionals are required to address the health disparities and make a real difference to the lives of our agricultural and rural populations,” Dr Brumby said.
This was the case for 2015 scholarship recipient Louisa Ferrier, an agricultural project manager, Birchip Cropping Group, in northern Victoria.
“Studying with people from a range of backgrounds has strengthened my understanding of what makes a farmer tick,” she said.
“A healthy farmer will make better decisions. This course offers relevant information that I now apply to enhance my field of work.”
Dr Felix Ho, a medical intern and former paramedic in Darwin, agreed.
“You’re not just focussing on the medical conditions, but the range of factors that impact on these conditions in an agricultural context – the family, community and economic aspects,” he said.
International occupational physician, and the founder of the Netherlands Centre for Occupational Diseases, Professor Gert van der Laan, observed the 2016 course in action in Hamilton in Victoria.
“This is a well-organized multidisciplinary blended learning course in agricultural health and medicine,” he said.
“I would like to see courses like HMF701 Agricultural Health and Medicine worldwide to further develop occupational health.”
Limited places are available for an exciting five-day intensive Agricultural Health and Medicine unit (HMF701), offered through Deakin University and the National Centre for Farmer Health (NCFH) in Hamilton from February 27 to March 3.
2017-01-01: Rural prosperity: Delivering the milk of humane kindness – The Australian
by SUE NEALES Reporter – Rural/Regional Affairs
It often takes a crisis to catalyse major change. For Gippsland’s Sallie Jones and Steve Ronalds, it took three.
First, fifth-generation Jindivick dairy farmer Mr Ronalds had a serious motorbike accident late in 2015 that left him unable to milk his 450 Jersey cows for eight months. Then, in April, Ms Jones’s father, a long-time dairy farmer at Lakes Entrance, took his life. A few weeks later, the dairy industry was rocked when Victoria’s two biggest milk processors, Murray Goulburn and Fonterra, slashed the price they paid farmers for their milk, leaving many deeply in debt and struggling to survive.
It was then that a devastated Ms Jones and Mr Ronalds — whose families had known each other for years — decided to make their move. They have followed the path taken by many farmers keen to secure higher returns for premium products — think luxury Blackmores Wagyu beef or free-range Madelaine’s Eggs — by selling direct under their own farm labels.
In September, the business partners launched Gippsland Jersey, a new fresh milk brand using the creamy milk from their cows, which they contract-process and bottle and then deliver themselves to shops and farmers’ markets. “My dad was always a believer that you couldn’t make money in dairying unless you were in control of it; he had been value-adding to our milk and selling it as Riviera ice-cream for years,” Ms Jones said.
“(Gippsland Jersey) was a bit of an honour project to him; it’s all about ensuring a fair price is paid to farmers for their milk as well as giving customers looking to help the industry a farmer-owned local brand to buy.”
Demand for the creamy Jersey milk is building steadily, with 13,000 litres of Gippsland Jersey branded milk sold weekly in 80 local cafes, stores and IGA shops across Gippsland and Melbourne. A major retail deal is on the cards.
“It feels liberating to have that bit of control over how you sell your milk but (it was) also petrifying to see your milk going off to be bottled when we didn’t have a clue whether (Gippsland Jersey) would sell. But we don’t want it to be just about a single farm: I want other Jersey farmers to be involved in supplying milk and to enjoy the benefits too — and they are queuing up to come on board.”
Ms Jones, who uses social media alone to promote the brand, is proud that details about the Ripple Effect program to beat rural suicide — run by the National Centre for Farmer Health — are featured on the back of their milk labels. Two cents from the sale of each $4.50-$5 two-litre bottle is also put into a “random acts of kindness” pool for farmers, which the couple has used to send a stressed dairyman on a weekend beach holiday with his family, and provide extra Christmas presents.
2017-01-16: Seminars for Murraylands and Mallee farmers – The Murray Valley Standard
Livestock feeding and supplementing is the topic of a sheep and beef seminar to be held in Tailem Bend in February.
Hosted by Advantage Feeders, Lienert Australia and AgriPartner Consulting, the forum will have speakers from each of the businesses to talk about topics such as containment lot and feedlot design, ewe management, rumen productivity, supplement feeding, improving summer feed and increasing animal performance.
The session will be held at the Tailem Bend Golf Club from 8.30am to 12.30pm with morning tea and a barbecue lunch provided.
There is a donation of $10 per person which will be donated to the National Centre for Farmer Health.
To attend registrations must be finalised by January 27 by calling Jess on 1300 881 575.
Read more: 2017-01-16: Seminars for Murraylands and Mallee farmers – The Murray Valley Standard
Farmer Health eNews January 2017
Find out all the latest from the National Centre for Farmer Health
2017 HMF701 Agricultural Health & Medicine ENROLMENTS OPEN!
Farmers… You would never put dirty diesel into a high performance machine… So why put unhealthy food into a high performance farmer?
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2016-12-16: Opening up the conversation about rural suicide – Partyline
By Alison Kennedy
Every person in a rural farming community knows someone who has taken their life. Many more have attempted suicide or had thoughts of taking their own life. The ripple effect of a suicide experience can tear apart the fabric of family and community, impacting friends, family, colleagues and carers.
But you can help change that!
The National Centre for Farmer Health is calling for every adult in Australia’s rural communities to sign up for the Ripple Effect www.therippleeffect.com.au — a research project reducing stigma by opening up the conversation about rural suicide.
Jack and Betty Kenna know first hand that there is nothing more painful than watching a child suffer from mental illness. Their 23-year-old daughter Brigid is currently in hospital.
“It’s such a silent thing — you can’t see mental illness,” Mr Kenna said.
The 58-year-old former dairy farmer knows better than most what it is like to be in that dark place. He was there in October 1989.
“I was 30 years old, I didn’t have a girlfriend and it hit me like a tonne of bricks,” he said.
Mr Kenna spent 10 days at a facility in Warrnambool after a breakdown, but came back with the help of family, especially his father who ensured his friends visited him.
A few years later he met and married Betty and she was there for a second episode, prompted by the death of his father in 1999.
He spent 14 days in another Warrnambool mental hospital.
“The kids were devastated of course — I’d take them into visit and that was hard. We’d drive away [and they’d say] ‘want dad, want dad’,” Ms Kenna said.
“Anyway, dad came back … it ended up good, because his attitude was good. He wanted to get well.”
The Kennas are hoping Brigid will be home soon.
“It would be a great Christmas present,” Mr Kenna said.
Physical illness often ‘more acceptable’
Mr Kenna is among a brave group of farmers across Australia who are sharing their stories as part of The Ripple Effect, a research and awareness program looking at suicide in rural communities.
2016-12-11: ABC TV news looks at Farmer Suicide in Australia
Published on Dec 11, 2016
Meet four Victorians who are doing what they can to beat farmer suicide. It’s estimated that farmers commit suicide at twice the rate of other Australians and the National Centre for Farmer Health wants to know why. It’s urging farmers to take part in The Ripple Effect, an online survey that aims to find out about experiences of suicide and destigmatise it.
2016-12-1: The Ripple Effect of farmer suicide – The Wire
The Ripple Effect is a website launched earlier this year that asks people affected by suicide in rural communities to share their stories.
The website aims to break down the stigma that exists in rural community and use the insights to create more appropriate responses.
The social isolation of life on the farm is a key factor in the high rates of suicide in rural and farming communities.
If this story raises any concerns for you contact Lifeline on 13 11 14.
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