Looking after your needs when faced with challenges on farm

Your current focus may be on keeping your business on track and dealing with the issues it faces, but you shouldn’t lose sight of your personal needs or those of your family.

Here are some suggestions for where to access help for mental health and personal resilience:

Share your problems

We live in an uncertain world, and so it’s increasingly important to share problems and concerns with family, friends and people who can help. A problem shared is a problem halved. Your family members and employees need to understand what you’re thinking, and you need to understand their points of view, too. External consultants can help you take a fresh look at your situation and explore your options. There is more guidance on talking about changing your business and succession planning, here:

Talking things through

As we don’t know what the future holds, now is the time to put things in place to cater for every eventuality. Access information and templates to help you prepare a contingency plan, here:

Contingency planning for your business

Podcasts

Podcast: How a positive mindset can help work-life balance

Richard Carruthers, one of our Strategic Farmers in Cumbria, talks about how having a positive mindset has helped with his farm business and his work-life balance.

Podcast: Resilience in dairy farm businesses – bounce without breaking

Find out how farmers in New Zealand and others internationally have adapted to be more resilient and strategic. In other words, how can we put the buzz words into practice?

Webinars

This AHDB & Farm Community Network: Mental Health Awareness webinar talks through how to recognise mental health issues in yourself and others, and practical ways of starting conversations and supporting others with their mental health.

The following recordings also discuss the impact of mental health issues in agriculture and horticulture, and provide some advice on how to cope with – and bounce forward from – a period of poor mental health:

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