An inspirational Herefordshire couple who set up a charity to support the mental health of farmers in rural communities are to be featured in an award-winning National Lottery podcast.
Sam and Emily Stables, from Kingsthorne between Ross-on-Wye and Hereford, set up We are Farming Minds after struggling with mental health issues, including a suicide attempt.
In the latest episode of the National Lottery’s Amazing Start Here podcast, TV presenter and former Olympian Sam Quek visited the Stables at their farm on the Duchy of Cornwall Estate to find out more about their incredible work.
Their organisation aims to raise awareness of poor mental health in farming, which they claim is 46% higher than in other professions due to isolation, long hours and external pressures.
The situation in rural communities is exacerbated by the lack of support available and the general stigma surrounding mental health.
The charity now provides a supportive space for farmers to have open conversations about loneliness, anxiety and depression.
With almost £150,000 of National Lottery funding, Sam and Emily have been able to provide a dedicated 24-hour helpline, a service staffed by them and a team of specially trained volunteers.
They also employ a dedicated project manager, fund counselling and provide mental health awareness training to the wider farming community, including vets and feed suppliers.
They are taught how to spot the signs of mental illness when visiting farmers and how to offer support. They have already trained around 300 people this year and hope to reach more than 500 farmers through their various support networks.
In the podcast, Emily said: “At the moment the waiting list to see a counsellor when you go to your GP is about 32 weeks, and by that time lives can be lost. Initially the charity was just going to be a 24-hour helpline, but then we were going to be able to fund counselling within a week for anyone in the farming community.
“Then I got the National Lottery grant and we’ve been able to offer more and more services. It was an opportunity for people not to have to reach the crisis point that Sam had. To be able to talk to somebody and break that statistic of one farmer a week taking their own life in the UK.”
Sam Quek added: “As a former elite athlete, I’ve been lucky enough to benefit directly from National Lottery funding and have seen how it has helped us bring home medals galore from the Olympic and Paralympic Games.
“In this series I’ll be meeting some impressive people who have made their mark in all walks of life across the UK, and catching up with some familiar faces to find out how National Lottery support has empowered them to achieve their dreams.
Sam and Emily’s We are Farming Minds project is just one of the thousands of organisations across the UK that benefit from the £30 million that National Lottery players raise for good causes every week.
