Page 24 - Oundle Life December 2024

RURAL SUICIDE
New mental health charity
A new foundation has been launched to support and improve the mental health of those living and working in rural and agricultural communities.
The Rural Communities Mental Health Foundation is primarily dedicated to supporting people in Northamptonshire, Buckinghamshire, and Bedfordshire. Its unveiling coincided with World Suicide Prevention Day back in September, with one of the foundation’s key aims to reduce the number of people losing their lives to suicide.
The co-founders are from farming backgrounds and their families have been directly affected by suicide, so understand the impact and devastation of losing a loved one in these circumstances.
Wider research on mental health in rural areas also reveals:
• The suicide rate for male farm
workers is three times the male
national average1
• Three people in the UK farming
and agricultural industry die by
suicide every week2
• The top three barriers stopping men reaching
out are the stigma around mental health (18%), not knowing who to turn to (15%) and lack of awareness of support available (15%)3
They also understand the nuances of agriculture and what makes it unique and rewarding yet also extremely challenging, and that it’s not just those working in agriculture who suffer from poor mental health in rural communities.
Having lost their brothers to suicide ten
and five years ago respectively, The Rural Communities Mental Health Foundation co- founders Kate Scott and Lewis Hunter came together and identified the need for a dedicated mental health awareness and suicide prevention charity locally.
Kate said: “It’s our aim to help anyone struggling with their mental health realise they’re not alone and help and support is out there.
“We will deliver funded training, focussing on
free Mental Health First Aid training
sessions initially, and will work to educate the next generations and normalise the conversation around mental health and suicide.”
Lewis added: “It’s our hope that the work the charity does will stop people reaching the same crisis point as Max and Robert, instead showing them that there’s hope”.
To support their fundraising, they are holding a Christmas Tractor Run on 8 December, starting and ending at the Hunter family farm in Tilbrook. Scan the QR code to find out more details and book your tickets!
1 Office for National Statistics (2015)
2 Office for National Statistics (2021)
3 Opinium Research, national omnibus survey of 2000 people over 18 across the UK with statistically robust number in rural and urban areas, carried out 17th – 21st January 2022).
To discover more on the foundation and funded Mental Health First Aid training, visit www.rcmhfoundation.org
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