Alberta (Rural Roots Canada) – AgKnow, the Alberta Farm Mental Health network, is looking to the agriculture industry to provide feedback on their latest update on their activities and an assessment of the mental health environment for farmers and the ag industry in the province.

Director Linda Hunt says this is their second white paper.

“The first one we did, summarized a lot of the activities that we did to do this discovery and pilot some projects.”

This white paper assesses the needs in the community as well as the ability of the mental health and health care providers to connect with farmers.

“Looking for what the barriers are for people getting help, and how we can build capacity within the Alberta health and mental health system to support farmers and their families and veterinarians.”

READ MORE: AgKnow: Addressing the Mental Health Challenges Faced by Alberta Farmers

Hunt says the assessment has revealed that the health care and mental health supports in the community must be customized in order to engage with farmers.

“The biggest thing being that farmers work on a seasonal cycle, and they also have barriers to local access. We tend to work in more remote locations, and then there’s also the integration of family and business together.”

She says farmers have their unique definition of resilience.

“When a farmer talks about resilience, they are also talking about how long it’s going to take for the farm business to recover from some adversity, not only their own recovery and the recovery in their family, but also as a business.”

To check out the full document and provide feedback, go to AgKnow.ca.