AgSafe is realize the genial wellness and well - being of farmers , rancher , and growers in British Columbia a top wellness and guard priority .
AgSafe is the workplace health and safety association for B.C. ’s factory farm industriousness . Recent funding support from United Way Fraser Valley and B.C. Ministry of Agriculture is enable AgSafe to fetch genial wellness counselling chance for individuals and groups at no cost to the state ’s farming producers and their families affected by COVID-19 , wildfires and floods .
Agricultural work is associated with alone stressors that are potentially hazardous to mental wellness . The employment , and the animation , is strenuous and often solitary . Farmers and ranchers regularly feel the arithmetic mean to figure out hard , be inviolable and lively . As a result many seldom ask for supporter when they feel anxious or depressed .
Stigma“There is such a stigma around mental health , that producers , like many hoi polloi , be given not to give up and talk to someone about what they are feel . After the past two age , many are feeling pretty burned out , ” says Wendy Bennett , Executive Director of AgSafe .
“ That ’s why AgSafe is work to create safe spaces and resourcefulness that are specific to agriculture . The mental health practitioners we work with live and work in the agricultural community . Many are James Leonard Farmer and know what farmers go through . ”
The mental wellness resources for B.C. ’s granger , their families and workers available through AgSafe let in the Avail app , a personal well - being assistant that extend resilience check - ups and connects immediately with mental health pro and resourcefulness .
AgSafe , recently collaborated with the Canadian Mental Health Association of BC to cater acknowledgment information for employment by crisis melodic phrase operators when communicating with individual working in , or associated with agriculture .
The organization is also launch a series of Mental Health Lunch & Learns – 30 second webinars hosted by mental health practitioner engage by AgSafe . Initial topics include Healthy Habits , Fatigue , Chronic Stress and Trauma .
fact and findingsIn 2018 , Dr. Andria Jones - Bitton , Ontario Veterinary College , University of Guelph surveyed 1,100 farmers in Canada and establish nationally :
35 % of farmers fill the classification for depression
45 % reported eminent stress
58 % meet the classification for anxiety
68 % were more susceptible than the general population to chronic stress
For more information : AgSafe BC1-877-533-1789www.AgSafeBC.ca
