Niagara Falls, Ontario (Rural Roots Canada) – When Sharon May talks about farm life, she’s speaking from experience, both personal and professional. A Nuffield Scholar from the UK, May is married to a fourth-generation farmer. She’s also a counselling psychotherapist. That dual perspective gives her rare insight into the pressures that farming families face and the mental health support they need.
“I have a foot in each camp,” she says.
May’s research focuses on mental health supports that exist for farming families, whether those supports meet their needs, and what new initiatives are emerging to help fill the gaps.
What has she discovered in her travels?
“I think probably the overwhelming thing is that although the nuances might be different depending on country or industry sector, the problems are the same everywhere,” she explains. “The challenges, particularly around things that are outside of our control, like weather events, market prices and government regulation, are the things that cause the majority of stress.”
May’s research also looks at how and when farmers choose to seek help.
“I think the really interesting thing is that the point where people tend to seek additional support is when the struggle becomes personal,” she says. “When it becomes a relationship issue, whether that’s with a spouse or with a family member or succession planning or not knowing what direction the farm is going to take and not being able to agree as a family. I think it’s when those stresses end up having that personal element that people then reach out for emotional support because then it’s more than just business.”
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Her travels have also brought her to Canada to connect with the National Farmers Mental Health Alliance and its founder, Dr. Lorène Devos. “Before I started my travels, I was just researching what provisions there were out there in different countries, and I came across Lorène’s work,” May says. “The work that she does, particularly around training therapists and agriculturally informed therapy, is, I think, really valuable because when we do see farmers reaching out for mental health support, if they’re not met at where they need to be met, that puts them off seeking help again. And we only get one chance.”
May hopes to take what she’s learned back home to help build a stronger network of support for farmers in the UK. “I think it’s really important that the therapist they’re reaching out to have that knowledge, have that lived experience,” she says. “And so I’m really excited about the work that Lorène is doing. And I’m hoping somehow that we can collaborate to do something similar in the UK. So there’ll be a bit of an international link there.”
At the Advancing Women in Agriculture conference, May says it’s been inspiring to see women’s voices front and centre in conversations about leadership, business, and wellbeing. “One of my passions is not just supporting farmers, but making sure that everyone in the family is supported, whether that’s farm workers, whether that’s other family members, whether that’s spouses,” she says. “I think often women in agriculture are overlooked by the research and the provision. And so this seemed like an ideal opportunity to get to know more women in agriculture and what their challenges are.”
She says the experience has been energizing. “It’s really inspiring to see so many strong, inspirational women in one room together.”
