AGKNOW OFFERING NEW SUCIDE PREVENTION & AWARENESS WORKSHOPS IN FALL 2023

Aug 10

SUiCIDE PREVENTION & AWARENESS IN AG

How do you talk to someone who is hurting and in distress? What if you had a sneaking suspicion your friend was down enough to be contemplating suicide? Would you know what to do, how to act, what to say?

Well, help is on the way in the form of AgKnow, the Alberta Farm Mental Health Network. They are offering several courses as of September – suicide prevention and awareness month. To learn more you can register for a September 27 Suicide Prevention and Training in Ag sneak peek webinar. This free webinar is to get the word out about the courses that are available starting in September, and teach everyday people how to support their friends, family and neighbours when it comes to suicide prevention.

“The courses are peer to peer, farmer to farmer,” said Linda Hunt of AgKnow. “These aren’t high level courses, it’s really good grassroots stuff about how to talk to someone in distress and to empower people to come alongside neighbours, employees and the community.”

Everything AgKnow works towards is evidence based. A 2021 study found 1 in 4 farmers had thoughts of suicide, which is two times higher than the general population.

“Research shows Canadian farmers are at an increased risk of suicide,” explained Linda. “It becomes an obvious issue to tackle.”

Just how AgKnow is tackling the issue is by teaming up with Tara Adams, Abridge Consulting, to create suicide awareness and prevention training tailored to the agriculture and farming industry. AgKnow's approach is not to reinvent the wheel, but instead build on good work already being done. Tara specializes in workplace mental health and workplace suicide prevention. She is training a team of 11 facilitators with agricultural backgrounds and is excited to assist AgKnow in offering the sneak peek webinar and two subsequent courses as part of suicide prevention.

"AgKnow is working on the Alberta approach to farm mental health,” said Linda. “Research shows that farmers often feel programs and services do not fit their needs, and accessing services in rural Alberta can be a challenge.”

The first course offered is a 90 minute workshop which will include four custom ag-based scenarios that bring learning to life. This course is meant to be an introduction of training around suicide conversation and awareness. It would be a great fit for a community event.

The second training goes a bit deeper and includes a one hour training session, a 90 minute online course called Start by LivingWorks followed by one more one hour training session. Participants will spend about 3.5 hours total spread out over 8 days. This training includes a certificate of completion from LivingWorks. For those who want to go further with their learning, this course is for you. It would also suit agriculture businesses that wish to train their employees about workplace suicide prevention.

With both of these training courses to come in September, Tara and the team at AgKnow hope to share their wealth of knowledge with Alberta farmers, ranchers and agricultural workers about the importance of suicide awareness and prevention in the ag industry.

To sign up for the sneak peek on September 27th, please follow this link. For more information on the suicide prevention courses and to sign up, head to their events webpage.