CHARITY WAGES WAR ON TOLL OF RURAL STRESS
CHARITY WAGES WAR ON TOLL OF RURAL STRESS
Calls are flooding in to the Rural Stress Information
Network, a charity set up in response to growing stress
levels in the countryside. Its new director Caroline Davies
tells Tim Relf about the challenges ahead
CAROLINE Davies is talking about a family. It could be any family – one you know perhaps. Yours, even. It is, she says, typical.
Theres grandad. Having always believed the farm would always stay in the family, he now has to recognise that it wont sustain future generations. Hes in a state of shock and may even be facing the trauma of a sale.
Then theres dad, grandads son. He might be in his 30s and is determined to stay in agriculture. Hes working incredibly long hours, perhaps contracting in his spare time to raise some extra cash.
Dads wife is working in the local town to help make ends meet. Their kids – just youngsters – are being looked after by grandma during the day.
"The family unit is working flat out," says Caroline. "If anything happens – if theres an illness, a marriage break-up or a death – it wont work anymore. The whole thing breaks down."
Its a family under great stress. And the collapse in agricultural incomes is at the heart of the problem. "Financial stress is the common factor in virtually every case we hear of at the RSIN," says Caroline.
The new director of the RSIN is explaining this on the small Welsh farm she came to in 1990 after ditching the hurly-burly of life as a tax consultant in London. Its an isolated spot high on a hill in Montgomeryshire. Living here, she says, gives an insight into some of the pressures that those contacting the RSIN are faced with.
Here, Caroline and her husband, Nick, keep sheep and are bringing up their two children, Huw (5) and Elizabeth (2). Having kids, she says, helped her realise just how precious life is. "It gives you a long-term perspective. You know what matters most. Its very important that we behave well towards animals, but as a society we have been neglecting people."
This is only too evident from the number of calls to the RSIN, which doubled in the first two months of this year compared with the same period in 1999.
She sees the organisations job as to develop a net through which people in trouble dont fall. "We aim to give listening support and signpost them to further help."
* Local support
This further help might be one of the many local support groups in rural areas or a steer on where to get advice on any of the issues associated with living and working in the countryside. The RSIN aims to help, not just those in distress, but anyone seeking information.
One of the biggest challenges, however, is encouraging those in distress – or one of their relatives or friends – to make that all-important first step of contacting the RSIN. "There isnt a stigma in doing so. Were a service that farmers should take advantage of."
The key, she reckons, will be women. "Men often adopt the same attitude when it comes to dealing with stress as they do with official correspondence – they tuck it away behind the clock on the mantelpiece. About 90% of crisis calls are coming from women worried about their menfolk.
"Suicide is just the tip of the iceberg. For every one person that takes their life, theres another 500 that are in a severe state of distress. Lives have long-since fallen apart before the suicide stage is reached.
* Much dependency
"Lives can fall apart in a short space of time. Farmers are unique because so much depends on them – theyre holding so much together. Cows need milking twice a day, stock needs feeding, crops need spraying and inputs need ordering. When a farmer stops functioning there are soon dozens of practical problems. Its not like in the towns where, quite often, nothing happens until the electricity gets cut off."
A lot of the current problems would be alleviated, she recognises, if sterling dropped in value and incomes increased. But it would take time to filter through – and, for now, theres no sign of that happening.
Meanwhile farmers are being forced out of the industry on a daily basis. "The emotions they carry around with them when that happens are akin to bereavement. They carry around a huge sense of loss with them."
The task faced by the RSIN is a massive one. An urgent one. "We havent got the luxury of time. We have to deliver."
Rural Stress Information Network:
RSIN is a partnership between rural industry, the voluntary sector and government. It provides information and advice on initiatives helping to alleviate rural stress. It also helps develop practical solutions aimed at distressed or suicidal people in country areas.
Who to call:
Rural Stress Information Network: 0247 641 2916
Royal Agricultural Benevolent Institution: 01865 727888
Samaritans: 0345 909090 (or see telephone book for local number).
Caroline Davies sees the RSIN as a net to support people in trouble.