Everyone in farming experiences stress or poor mental health at one time or another.
We’re all in this together.
Farmers and farm families face unique challenges. We want to support talking about mental health, encourage reaching out for help, and looking out for one another.
RESOURCES
Call: 2-1-1 The Ontario 211 (Province-wide Crisis Line) will connect callers to mental health supports in their communities.STRESS FACTS
- Stress is the body's response to a real or perceived threat. That response is meant to get people ready for some kind of action or get them out of danger.
- Some stress can be a good thing. It can motivate us to focus on a task or take action and solve a problem. In this situation, stress is manageable and even helpful.
- When stress is unhelpful, people may feel overwhelmed or feel like they can't possibly fix the problem. It can be very hard to concentrate, make decisions, and feel confident when a person experiences a lot of stress.
- Working in the agricultural industry can be both rewarding and stressful for farmers. Farmers have a unique bond to their work which can make it difficult to identify and manage stress and accommodate the necessary self-care for managing stress.
- The agriculture sector is unique in that there are many factors outside the farmer's control such as crop losses, animal disease, or declining market prices. Despite best efforts to mitigate these risks, they can cause significant financial stress for farmers and their families.
