The complexity, coupled with constant high levels of risk and relentless uncertainty within agriculture, take a tremendous toll on those who work tirelessly to grow our food on a sustainable basis.
Recognising this Philip Wynn, who was Master of the Worshipful Company of Farmers in 2017, initiated a meeting of all the rural support groups he could contact, to try to understand in more detail the issues and challenges being faced and how it might be possible to support them better and share best practice.
“The issue of ‘health and wellbeing’ within agriculture was not generally well understood.”
It very quickly became clear, that the issue of ‘health and wellbeing’ within agriculture was not generally well understood by the wider industry and that there were significant resourcing and funding issues. It was also clear that the mental suffering and stress amongst the younger age group was significant and that there was a real opportunity to help and educate those who were about to embark on a career in agriculture.
From that successful meeting the initiative has now gained support from over 50 organisations. In 2018 the Company funded a report on Heath and Wellbeing in Agriculture to enhance our understanding of the depth and scale of the issues facing farming communities.
We have been lucky to have has two excellent Chairmen of the Forum, initially Reverend Gordon Gatward and more recently Jim Hume, who is head of the National Rural Mental Health Forum in Scotland. While COVID necessitated virtual meetings with a wide range of speakers these have included The Samaritans, Astrastat, the Farm Safety Foundation and Rose Regeneration who successfully won a DEFRA bid to look at the impact of Rural Support Groups through their social value engine.
From those initial ideas the Forum has now become the leading, trusted facilitation group for Health and Wellbeing in the country providing virtual and face to face meetings on a regular basis. Jim Hume was awarded the Master Award at the 2022 Banquet for his sterling efforts in taking the initiative forward.
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Great feedback from Amy Jobe about her time on the #ACABM - Huge thanks to alumna Meryl Ward for guiding Amy to the course .
