Mental wellness network for agriculture community launched
The Farmer and Rancher Mental Health (FARMh) Initiative has launched a mental wellness network along with a virtual toolbox full of mental health resources for the agriculture community.
The program was initially launched in 2021 with a research team who collected data from over 100 producers about effective mental supports.
The information gathered during phase one of the program was used to launch the SaskAgMatters Network.
Phase two of the project was launched and focuses on a virtual toolbox that the agriculture community can use.
Dr. Michelle Pavloff is the research chair of rural health at Saskatchewan Polytechnic and she said the toolbox would contain a range of resources.
“Whether that is suicide intervention strategies, help for addictions, and free counselling services,” Pavloff said. “What we are doing is looking at filling the drawers of that toolbox and evaluating them to find out if they are meeting the needs of the producers.”
The toolbox will be incorporated into the SaskAgMatters Network. The network already offers free mental health services for producers.
“They can go to www.SaskAgMatters.ca and have access to six free one hour counselling sessions for themselves and their families,” Pavloff said.
Will Banford and his family are cattle ranchers in Eastend, Sask. They donated a heifer to SaskAgMatters at the start of the pandemic to help kickstart the program.
“In the farming community, there is a huge stigma,” Banford said. “You have to be tough and not talk about things.”
With the donation, SaskAgMatters Network was able to provide producers free counselling sessions.
“It is a good feeling that our family wanted to help try and break the stigma,” Banford said. “[Producers] are some of the best people out there but they have a lot of stuff that is built up but they don’t talk about it.”
Phase two is expected to end in 2025 with phase 3 focusing on evaluating the network and toolbox and making adjustments and altering resources as needed.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Quebec nurse had to clean up after husband's death in Montreal hospital
On a night she should have been mourning, a nurse from Quebec's Laurentians region says she was forced to clean up her husband after he died at a hospital in Montreal.
Northern Ont. lawyer who abandoned clients in child protection cases disbarred
A North Bay, Ont., lawyer who abandoned 15 clients – many of them child protection cases – has lost his licence to practise law.
Bank of Canada officials split on when to start cutting interest rates
Members of the Bank of Canada's governing council were split on how long the central bank should wait before it starts cutting interest rates when they met earlier this month.
Maple Leafs fall to Bruins in Game 3, trail series 2-1
Brad Marchand scored twice, including the winner in the third period, and added an assist as the Boston Bruins downed the Toronto Maple Leafs 4-2 to take a 2-1 lead in their first-round playoff series Wednesday
Cuban government apologizes to Montreal-area family after delivering wrong body
Cuba's foreign affairs minister has apologized to a Montreal-area family after they were sent the wrong body following the death of a loved one.
'It was instant karma': Viral video captures failed theft attempt in Nanaimo, B.C.
Mounties in Nanaimo, B.C., say two late-night revellers are lucky their allegedly drunken antics weren't reported to police after security cameras captured the men trying to steal a heavy sign from a downtown business.
What is changing about Canada's capital gains tax and how does it impact me?
The federal government's proposed change to capital gains taxation is expected to increase taxes on investments and mainly affect wealthy Canadians and businesses. Here's what you need to know about the move.
New Indigenous loan guarantee program a 'really big deal,' Freeland says at Toronto conference
Canada's Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland was among the 1,700 delegates attending the two-day First Nations Major Projects Coalition (FNMPC) conference that concluded Tuesday in Toronto.
'Life was not fair to him': Daughter of N.B. man exonerated of murder remembers him as a kind soul
The daughter of a New Brunswick man recently exonerated from murder, is remembering her father as somebody who, despite a wrongful conviction, never became bitter or angry.