FARM24 - Walton's Baan trained as a 'Guardian' to connect residents with the help they need

BY SHAWN LOUGHLIN

Last year, Monique Baan of Walton, alongside a few other librarians from throughout Huron County, became Guardians through The Guardian Network, a province-wide suicide prevention initiative that focuses specifically on farmers and those in other agricultural fields.

 

She had read up on The Guardian Network, the Farmer Wellness Initiative and the In The Know program - known collectively as Agriculture Wellness Ontario - and considered getting involved. However, as an employee of the Huron County Library system who is on the front lines with many members of the public, those within the library system had put out the call for librarians to take part in the training, thinking it would be beneficial throughout the community.

 

Baan took her employer up on its offer last spring and she has since continued to expand her training, knowledge and outreach into the community as a trained Guardian who is ready to help.

 

Baan has grown up in the world of agriculture. Her parents immigrated to Canada from Holland when she was young and only years later, when she was an adult, was she able to comprehend the challenges they must have faced, taking up farming in a new land, with a new language.

 

It was a time of high interest rates and rapidly fluctuating markets, so the stresses would have been high at the time, she said, but she didn’t know it, because her parents were good at keeping those stresses to themselves.

 

She has learned about the stresses herself as her family has continued on with the farming legacy in Walton. Everyone is susceptible to stress, she acknowledges, whether it be of the family or work variety, but the weather-dependent world of farming, so vulnerable to factors outside of the farm, is so different and specific. That is why Agriculture Wellness Ontario is a network that really has been a long time coming.

 

According to the organization, 76 per cent of Ontario’s farmers experience moderate or high levels of perceived stress. Fifty-eight per cent of the province’s farmers meet the classifications for anxiety and 40 per cent of Canadian producers reported that they would feel uneasy about seeking professional help due to what people may think. These statistics alone show the need for improved, specialized discussions and supports related to mental health in the world of agriculture.

 

Baan is a trained Guardian as part of Agriculture Wellness Ontario’s The Guardian Network, which is billed as a volunteer, peer-driven community of mental health advocates that supports Ontario’s farming community. 

 

A Guardian is anyone over the age of 18 who is in contact with farmers through their work or place in the community. They take a one-day training course that equips them with strategies and tools to identify the signs of mental distress, react to farmers who are at risk and connect individuals with appropriate mental health and crisis resources. 

 

As mentioned, Baan is one of three Huron County librarians who took the course last year, but more have since hopped aboard. However, librarians are not the only ones who have become Guardians in Huron County. Huron East Deputy-Mayor Alvin McLellan, for example, has taken the training, as have many others throughout the county and the province.

 

In fact, Baan recently attended a symposium for The Guardian Network and more than 200 people were in attendance, all Guardians in their home communities. Training opportunities are regular and ongoing, she said, happening about every month or so.

 

Baan is now trained to recognize signs of distress or concern in the people she sees on a daily basis. As a result, she says she sees the community and its people in a slightly different way - and that’s a good thing.

 

The Guardian Network training helps build knowledge about mental health in the agriculture industry, identifying signs of mental distress and suicide risk factors, building confidence in having conversations about mental health and suicide and increasing awareness of resources and how to access support.

 

Being a Guardian, however, is all about connection. Baan would be the first to acknowledge that she’s not trained to provide proper mental health assistance to anyone, but, as a Guardian, it’s all about connecting those in need with the people who can help them.

 

That’s where the Farmer Wellness Initiative, another of the three prongs of Agriculture Wellness Ontario, comes in. It’s free mental health support by way of unlimited counselling sessions for farmers, farm workers and their families.

 

The help line is 1-866-267-6255 and it is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week and 365 days a year in both English and French. The program is supported by both the provincial and federal governments, as well as the Sustainable Canadian Agricultural Partnership and the Canadian Mental Health Association of Ontario. 

 

Baan says that, while the people waiting to help those in need through the Farmer Wellness Initiative are trained mental health professionals, for this specific branch of support, they are all versed in the world of agriculture, and that is key, Baan says. More than most other professions, farming has its own specific stresses, so, when someone is in need of help, it’s essential that the person on the other end of the line knows about agriculture and is able to speak intelligently about it and offer support that only someone who is well-versed in agriculture can.

 

On the Farmer Wellness Initiative website, the following topics are listed as helpful starting points for people who may be calling, but don’t know where to start: Developing coping strategies and mental health, family or relationships, financial pressure, succession or transition planning, stress on the farm, anxiety or depression, managing your workload, substance use, loneliness or isolation, how to support loved ones or processing traumatic events.

 

Furthermore, Guardians themselves all have access to private, individual counselling sessions, should they need them. They can also connect with the program’s Psychological Support Co-ordinator, other Guardians through monthly virtual “Guardian Connects” sessions and more.

 

The third and final prong of the Agriculture Wellness Ontario program is the In the Know sessions, which Baan hopes to take in the near future. Developed by a research team at the University of Guelph in 2019 and rolled out by the Canadian Mental Health Association of Ontario in 2021, In the Know is a mental health workshop for the agricultural community.

 

According to the In The Know documentation, those who take the seminars will learn awareness of mental health stigma in the agricultural community; common stressors and mental health concerns in agriculture; how to identify warning signs of stress, depression, anxiety, substance use and suicide; how to start a conversation around mental health, and the importance of self care.

 

According to In The Know, 98 per cent of those who took part in the program reported that their confidence in their ability to speak to someone about their mental health increased as a result of the session.

 

For more information, visit agriculturewellnessontario.ca, a comprehensive website for all three divisions of the mental health initiative that is full of resources and ways to connect if you are in need of help or would like to become a Guardian.