Farmers have one of the most stressful occupations. Over time, that stress can take its toll on their mental health and even lead to thoughts of suicide. Here’s a resource tool with questions to assess a farmer’s emotional well-being and risk of suicide.

Link to a replay of the Suicide Awareness & Prevention in Ag, sneak peek webinar hosted on September 27, 2023.

Downloadable infographic exploring the factors contributing to farmer suicide.

Many farmers tend to leave their mental health symptoms untreated. In fact, a study showed that nearly 40% of farmers indicated that they would be unlikely to seek help for their mental health. So what happens? Just like their physical health symptoms, some farmers may ignore their symptoms while others try to ‘tough it out’ and hope that things will just get better on their own.

Read our full interview with Therapist Network Member, Shelby Loomis. Shelby is a Registered Psychologist based in Edmonton, Alberta.

Read our full interview with Therapist Network Member, Alison Varga. Alison holds a master’s degree in counselling psychology and has been working in various mental health settings for over 15 years within Canada and internationally. She is a registered Canadian Certified Counsellor, Counselling Therapist, and Provisional Psychologist.

If we are what we are because that's what we've been, can we ever become something different? In the context of farming, how does a person retire from something that has been such an integral part of their identity for so long?

When we think of farmers, most people picture men on a tractor plowing fields or raising cattle. While the majority of farmers in Canada are still white men, the number of women entering the industry is steadily growing.

Get to know our network member Dr. Kendell Banack. She holds a Ph.D. in Counselling Psychology from the University of Alberta. She is a Registered Psychologist in Alberta.

If you ask Sean when his mental health challenges began, he points to a debilitating anxiety attack that occurred in February 2017. As he explains, though, that attack was a long time coming.

“I’d been building up to it before that,” says Sean. “At that time, crops were poor, money was tight, and I’d taken on a second job.”

Celebrating our farming fathers, their golden nuggets of wisdom of lessons learned along the way.

You already know that farmers are the kind of folks who do it all by themselves. That includes handling their emotions (yes, they have those) and stress too. That is a totally okay approach, but when it comes to chronic stress that leads to depression and anxiety, trying to fix it is like trying to tape the header back onto your old swather.

We’ve all felt anxious at one point or another in our lives. It’s a very normal reaction to stress. It’s feeling worried, panicked, fearful, and uneasy about a future concern. We might even feel faint, sweaty like our heart is racing, or we get jelly legs. Because these feelings can be so unpleasant, our anxiety can lead to us avoiding certain situations. 

Meet Mitchell Tokarek - Registered Psychologist and member of the AgKnow Therapist Network! Dr. Rebecca Purc-Stephenson sat down with Mitchell or a candid conversation about his practice, connection to agriculture and advice for first-time therapy seekers.

Whether you’re thinking of talking to a therapist or you’ve already booked your appointment, thinking about your first session might be nerve-wracking for some.

Doreen Blumhagen shares her advice as an experienced farm mom for young farm moms.

If you’re a farmer, you know that farming is big business. According to some recent statistics, farms across the country contributed to the Canadian economy in a major way: $87 billion in just one year to be exact.  

But here's a question for you: What province contributed the most to this total? If you said Alberta, you’d be right! Our farmers reported $22.2 billion -- that’s over 25% of that Canadian total. 

Everyone feels sad or “blue” every once in a while. We might say something like, “I’m not myself lately,” when we feel a bit down or miserable. Usually, these feelings pass in a couple of days or less. 

But if you’re feeling an ongoing sense of sadness and hopelessness that doesn’t seem to go away after a couple of weeks, and it's starting to interfere with your daily routine, it could be a warning sign of a deeper problem.

Many years ago, my dad was asked to be the coach for a youth baseball team in our town. He had a ton of things already on his plate, but as is so often the case, if there weren’t any volunteer coaches, there would be no youth sports for the kids in town. 

So my dad, and other farmers in town agreed to be coaches. Sure, my dad knew how to play baseball, but to coach a bunch of 10-year olds? You could say that a little bit out of his comfort zone! I remember looking at my brothers at the time, and I bet we were all thinking, “This is going to be interesting…” 

DID YOU KNOW THAT REPETITIVE FARM TASKS CAN BE A STRESS RELIEVER?

When you’re feeling stressed, it may be a good time to pull out your Hotsy and spray down your equipment. We’ve heard from some farmers that cleaning your machinery with a pressure washer is a huge stress reliever on the farm. Additionally, there is evidence to support that mundane tasks in general, can be a great stress reliever.