Nobody goes to the doctor complaining of farm stress, says a psychologist who has worked in the field for more than a decade.
“People come with headaches, depression, anxiety and relationship issues,” said Nikki Gerrard of the Saskatoon Health District.
If health providers are not aware of or don’t ask the patient about agricultural troubles, then only the symptoms get treated.
“After 10 years, the worst thing was I was the only one doing it (farm stress work).”
Last month, Gerrard came back to her Saskatoon job after spending a year working for the Saskatchewan government. She had traveled the province holding meetings about farm stress, developing an information kit and training 85 people how to discuss the issue.
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That project is now in limbo. Gerrard said she could not stay with it since it was not a permanent position. Her former boss, Karen Gibbons of the health department, said the province has money still allotted this year to “build capacity” to do farm stress work, but the challenge is to find a person willing to come for a short term.
Gerrard said the year showed her that some communities — Kindersley, Yorkton, the southeast — are actively working to help farmers. But there is a lot of variation in the province, not only in whether people are aware of the issue, but also whether help is wanted or needed.
Gerrard thinks the battle to calm farm stress will not end until the income crisis abates. People who are stressed need to talk to someone who is neutral and listens well. But people trying to help should not impose themselves until others are ready to talk.
She defines stress as mourning a loss of power. She encourages people to come to a reckoning and be prepared to grieve. Trying to block the process will lead to physical illness or emotional breakdown.
Stress can help people develop their resiliency. Gerrard did a study last year on rural resiliency that led her to define as most resilient those people with a strong sense of self who know what they like and don’t like.
“People without resiliency say things like ‘I don’t know who I am. I don’t want my kids to make my life choices.’ “
Gerrard said external factors also affect resiliency.
“If you get nothing for your wheat, if politicians don’t respond, then your resiliency will take a beating.”
She believes farming is a resilient culture. Challenges faced by the industry build strength in its people, just as good health and well-being can build a resilient person.
A website to explore stress is at www.health.gov.sk.ca/ps_farmstress.html.
