Inspirational idea: A pilot programme for farmer health and wellbeing

Farmers today are confronted with a variety of challenges, pressures and stresses, which have an adverse impact on farmer health, wellbeing and overall farm safety. Physical and mental ill health and injury can also have knock-on effects on farm productivity, farm business and farm income. An Operational Group in Ireland called FarmConnect set up a pilot programme to address these issues, focussing on capacity-building, early intervention and equipping farmers with the skills and competencies to manage their own health. When designing the programme, the organisation defined wellbeing in line with ‘Healthy Ireland’, the national health promotion framework, which defines wellbeing as “reflecting the quality of life and various factors which can influence it over the course of a person’s life.”

"Making a few small, incremental changes to your lifestyle and taking just a few minutes out for yourself every day can reap rewards within a few short months. Our aim is to build the capacity of farmers to take steps to improve their own wellbeing, so they can cope better with the challenges of farming life,” explains Clare Thoma, project coordinator. In order to support farmers in making this positive incremental behavioural change, the Operational Group developed and piloted a complete programme - a practical information hub for Irish farmer wellbeing.

The programme was developed based on the developmental facilitation methodologies of Men’s Development Network, an Irish NGO working in gender transformative approaches to engaging men and boys, as well as principles of community development and adult education. The Operational Group recruited and trained facilitators. FarmConnect is a six-week farmer health and wellbeing programme. It consists of a series of capacity-building sessions based on group discussions and participatory methods. Each of the sessions lasts two hours and involves 16 farmers and agricultural advisors. The participants engage in peer-to-peer learning through sharing experiences. The six sessions cover the following areas: wellbeing, mental health, managing stress, nutrition, sleep as a superpower, awareness vis-à-vis thought patterns, resilience and community.

The Operational Group advertised the programme in two different counties in Ireland and the programme has been run several times throughout the project. Twelve facilitators have been trained in the delivery of the programme and a total of 126 farmers completed the FarmConnect programme across the two pilot areas.

As part of the programme, the Operational Group has created a public online toolkit with help and support specially chosen for farmers and backed by science and research. The toolkit includes resources organised within four different categories: stress and anxiety; physical health; mental health; and healthy eating. You can find, for example, a booklet for farmers, farm families and rural dwellers about coping with stress, a manual about physical health for wellbeing, contact details for seeking help from counselling or psychotherapy and videos on cooking easy, simple, nutritious meals.

The feedback from farmers attending the programme has been very positive. Ronan, one of the farmers who attended the programme, has made changes in his diet thanks to the programme. “It made me think about my lifestyle and I said to myself I’m going to put this into practice. I used to drink a lot of coffee but I have reduced that by 50%. I went off the sweets, I don’t take any salt now and I go for a walk in the evening. I find it absolutely wonderful; I can see a huge change in myself. I feel great!”

A comprehensive independent evaluation was commissioned as part of the FarmConnect pilot programme to work towards the roll-out of a scalable, national, capacity-building health and wellbeing programme for farmers throughout Ireland. In the evaluation, farmers highlighted key points that they took away from participating in the programme, including: mental health and wellbeing, mindfulness and the importance of connecting with others.

Colm Kelly Ryan, Director of Services with Men’s Development Network concludes: “To have a farm which is well, the farmer themselves must be well… Given that farmers experience a disproportionate burden of health problems compared to other occupational groups in Irish society and now that it’s becoming more mainstream to conceptualise farmer health and wellbeing as a key element of farm safety, it is important for health promotion and outreach programmes such as FarmConnect are adequately resourced and expanded.”

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