Agricultural workers face many difficult circumstances from time to time – but Unite is here to support you with help and advice to get you through those challenges. And one of those that can contribute greatly to poor mental health is the dreadful feeling of loneliness.
Concerns about isolation and loneliness in farming are not new. Studies have been taking place for years, but social and practical isolation may now be endemic, thanks to the economic environment.
Where once the countryside was a series of towns and villages with a multi-faceted farming population, now the amalgamation of farms, price increases for materials (and decreases for sales), mechanisation (but never enough to fix long hours and low margins) and red tape have led to many quitting farming, leaving the community with fewer resources, including social ones.
As the stresses of isolation emerged, researchers interviewed witnesses from the farming community and those who support them. The picture is familiar – farmworkers often working long hours and hardly seeing their families, not just at harvest and market deadlines, but for years on end. Families are on a continual treadmill of tasks, leaving little time or energy to “get out” and meet with other families.
Work which was once shared between farm labourers and family members, now falls on the shoulders of fewer people, particularly on small farms, where the tasks are endless.
Far from simply being alone much of the day, farmworkers may also feel like isolated minorities within the local community. This affects workers across age ranges, sometimes in remote areas, with little time (and transport) to get to gatherings, and with digital contact hampered by poor phone and internet reception.
Some say those in farming are over-reliant on themselves, and do not seek out help and advice, but this outlook was common everywhere even a generation ago, and is hard to change – for a start, there need to be clear, confidential routes to such support.
Pressures are wide ranging, from feeling that their demanding work is not appreciated by the public at large, to the immediate fear of financial failure, the nightmare of any business, but more so when the farm may have been in the family for generations.
The government’s “Tackling Loneliness” strategy review of 2018 (since updated) reported higher loneliness for (among others) 16-24 year olds, women, people living alone, people living with a mental health condition, and those renting their accommodation. Working very long hours, often remotely, is rarely mentioned in surveys. Who has time to be surveyed?
The most important resource for farmworkers and others in agriculture is a social organisation, an association, or union (or all three) where help and advice can be sought, signposted and often provided.
Unite national health and safety adviser Rob Miguel said, “Our United Minds campaign offers reps guidance and tools to assess the risks from workplace stress and template checklists to see where their organisations are, regarding quality support for their workers. There is also immediate signposting to organisations that can offer assistance very quickly.
“In addition to talking with Samaritans regarding benefits for Unite members, I’m also talking to our friends in the Mind charity.”
33 uniteLANDWORKER Winter 2024
REACH OUT
Unite has a website dedicated to workplace wellbeing, supporting mental health at work and dealing with workplace stress, compiled by Rob Miguel.
See
www.unitetheunion.org/unitedminds
There’s also a pdf download guide for reps and negotiators at
www.unitetheunion.org/media/4149/ unite-mental-health-guide-for-reps-and- negotiators-2021.pdf
United Minds opens with links to Mind, and Samaritans, including ‘Local Minds’, which can offer support without having to go through a GP referral.
See
www.mind.org.uk/about-us/local-minds/
Samaritans is an organisation which anyone can contact, at any time. Call 116 123 anytime, it’s a 24/7 phone number. Samaritans provides a non-judgemental, listening ear for anyone under severe stress and who feels that they have nobody else to turn to.
They have a resources page specifically for men in agriculture at
www.samaritans.org/support- us/campaign/real-people-real-stories-rural- communities/
The site also links to other specific mental health resources, such as Yellow Wellies (The Farm Safety Foundation 01865 724931 or 0808 281 9490 ), who also publish The Little Book of Minding Your Head
www.yellowwellies.org/the-little-book-of-minding- your-head-download-your-copy-here /which can be read online, or requested as a book, and includes contacts for local rural support groups.
Samaritans’ Sam Gale says, “A Samaritans survey found two in five (41 per cent) men in England, Scotland and Wales aged 20-59 do not seek support when they need to, because they prefer to solve their own problems.
“The survey also showed that men often don’t want to feel like a burden and don’t feel their problems will be understood. Almost three in 10 (29 per cent) of the men surveyed said loneliness and isolation had made them feel low in the past, particularly relevant to rural settings.
“At Samaritans we understand the value of talking and the power of human connection. Just two people talking can really help that person to stop, breathe and start to see a way through their problems. Samaritans gives people the space to be themselves. We won’t judge or tell you what to do, we’re here to listen.”
Another organisation that can be contacted is RABI (the Royal Agricultural Benevolent Society), a UK charity with channels to Chat, in-person counselling and financial support, among other things. See https://rabi.
org.uk/how-we-can-help/ or call 01865 724931.
If you feel isolated, reaching out through one of these communities, including Unite, could be a vital first step in helping yourself, and maybe others in the same situation.
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