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By Alice McFarlane

Mental Health in Agriculture

Workshop offers mental health education

Jan 8, 2020 | 4:33 PM

Many farmers lack resources related to mental health.

When Pineland Coop human resources manager Tammy Nilson saw the opportunity to apply to sponsor a mental health in agriculture workshop, she didn’t hesitate.

Nilson along with Katlynn Schaitel applied for one of the 20 opportunities to receive funding for mental health training in western Canadian communities.

“We were lucky enough to be awarded the mental health in ag workshop. We’re really excited about bringing that opportunity to the northeast,” Nilson told farmnewsNOW. “Pineland Coop and Diamond North Credit Union, when I put this in front of both organizations, they were more than willing to jump on board with this important initiative.”

Nilson said she wanted to be involved because the statistics speak for themselves.

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“One in four Canadians will experience a mental health problem at some point in their life. When you sit down at your kitchen table, it’s probably one of you. One in eight jobs in Canada are related to ag,” she said. “There is a stigma around mental health. I figured if we could bring an opportunity to grow in that area what better thing could we be doing.”

Nilson said the four-hour workshop will help people understand more about mental health and how they can help.

“There’s a couple of modules before lunch. In the first two hours, we’re going to learn a lot about mental health and about providing support to people,” she said. “In the afternoon, we’ll talk further about supporting people, understanding what’s going on and what our boundaries are. Then a little bit about self care and what that looks like for us as individuals. Then we’ll wrap up the day.”

Often we see someone is hurting and we don’t know what to say. Nilson hopes the workshop will address some of those concerns.

“I think a lot of us want to help. Mental health is coming more to the forefront and we’re talking about it, which I think is really the first step, the more knowledge we can gain, the better equipped we’ll be,” she said.

The Mental Health in Agriculture Workshop is Jan. 14 at the White Fox Community hall. Registration begins at 9:30 a.m. with the sessions starting at 10 a.m.

Registration is through Eventbrite with links also available though the Pineland Coop and Diamond North Credit Union websites.

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alice.mcfarlane@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @AliceMcF