Callers to Saskatchewan’s farm stress line are still worrying mainly
about finances, but there is a new issue emerging.
“People are looking for options,” said Ken Imhoff, who manages the
provincial farm stress unit. “This may be educational or on-farm, plus
they’re looking at transitions, like moving into livestock.
“People are moving on.”
The number of people calling the line dropped by 50 in 2001, to 1,441.
That compares to the highest number in the 10-year history of the line,
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when 1,795 people called in 1999. That is the year the rally groups and
farm protests drew a lot of attention.
Female callers made up more than half of the callers last year. That is
typical, but in 1999, the opposite was true.
There was also a drop in the number of calls related to debt, from 662
in 1999, to 509 in 2000, to 293 last year.
Imhoff said the decline in calls handled by the line’s volunteers isn’t
necessarily an indication of what’s really happening on farms. Many
were affected by last year’s drought and are waiting to see what will
happen this year.
“It’s more a case, to me, of people dealing with challenges,” Imhoff
said.
And even as people do that, there will be angst.
“When one makes a major change there’s a lot of apprehension connected
with it. You go through the whole loss-grief cycle.”
But he said the search for alternatives that farmers are expressing is
encouraging.
Imhoff co-chaired an international conference last week in Regina that
focused on responding to disasters in rural areas. Speakers from other
countries outlined the services that are similar to Saskatchewan’s farm
stress line.
In Australia, a comprehensive program called Lifeline responded to
5,878 callers last year in central Queensland alone.
John Reeve, who sits on the board of directors, told the conference
that the church-based service “poked along for years” before the
organizers became proficient at raising money and saw themselves as
more than a voice on the end of the phone.
Lifeline now provides a wide range of professional services, including
24-hour crisis telephone counselling, and raises money through a
network of retail stores. It was active in supporting farm families
during the major drought in Queensland in 1998.
Caroline Davies, director of the Rural Stress Information Network
Charity in the United Kingdom, spoke about the stress caused by the
foot-and-mouth disease outbreak.
She said the human crisis was overlooked in the effort to eradicate the
animal disease. The network handled thousands of calls, including
hundreds from farmers suffering severe distress.
One caller could not speak for 30 minutes before saying that his herd
was being shot outside his farmhouse.
