Good morning, everyone. Thank you for the opportunity to present before you today.
Mental health is near and dear to my heart. I'm Lesley Kelly. I'm a farmer in Saskatchewan. I've been part of the Bell Let's Talk campaign, and both my husband and I have been very vocal, both online and within our networks, in sharing our mental health journeys. Not only am I an advocate for tackling the stigma around mental health in agriculture, I'm also a co-founder of the Do More Agriculture Foundation.
Who is Do More? At Do More, we are championing the mental health and mental well-being of all of our Canadian producers. We are trying to change the culture in agriculture so that all producers are encouraged, supported and empowered to take care of their mental well-being. Agriculture is an amazing industry. It's one that is built on deep rural roots, hard work, resilience, strength and community, but in order to uphold that image, those traits can also be our industry's weakness, as they become barriers for speaking up and seeking help.
Producers are among the most vulnerable when it comes to mental health issues. Stress, anxiety, depression, emotional exhaustion and burnout are all high among producers. At Do More, we see four barriers.
The first one is our culture. The ag industry is amazing but it is built on strength and perseverance, which also could be our weakness. The culture in ag is that a farmer should suck it up, tough it out and usually never show any emotion, and that if you ask for help, you are considered weak.
The second one is awareness. Many of us don't even know what mental health or mental illness really mean. This is a huge unknown, especially for an industry that has never been encouraged to talk about it.
The third one is isolation. As farmers, we spend a lot of time in rural and remote locations, usually on our own, often in a piece of equipment, which is not conducive to seeking professional help or having a conversation with someone.
The fourth one is the lack of resources. Our access to resources is limited because those resources are usually found in urban centres, and there may be a need to travel a fair distance to utilize them. At Do More, we are looking at how to make these resources accessible to our producers.
We also note two gaps. The first is finding farmer-specific resources. Resources for farmers are very limited. We've only identified a few. One we've identified is the farm stress line in Saskatchewan. The second one is navigating resources beyond your family doctor. If you are trying to find resources once you've visited your family doctor, it is very difficult to find them.
At Do More, we're focusing on three pillars in order to achieve our goal of championing the mental well-being of our producers.
The first one is awareness: awareness, education and breaking the stigma. These are the first steps in making a real and lasting impact for our industry. We strive for an industry where producers understand what it means for them to truly be healthy.
The second one is community. Community is more than just a physical place. Community is also a sense of belonging and being a part of something more. We aim to create community, where people can connect and also find resources that are relevant and accessible to them.
The third is research. Research is the backbone to creating further resources and ensuring they serve our industry. We want to ensure that more research can be completed in this field by supporting, sharing and funding both present and future research and working with our close partners, such as the University of Guelph and Dr. Andria Jones-Bitton.
How far have we come in the past 10 months? We launched in January of this year, and so far we are in the process of implementing a board that represents many sectors within the agriculture, mental health and geographical areas. We are in the midst of obtaining charitable status. Two weeks ago, we launched our community fund. It's a pilot project. We had enough funds for 10 to 12 communities to receive mental health first aid, and right now we are at over 80 applications. This demonstrates both the need and the want for our rural communities to get these skills.
We will be having an awareness campaign come November. It focuses on changing the language around mental health. We've been establishing partnerships with mental health service providers and community resources and creating industry partnerships, such as those with the CFA, Bayer and Farm Credit Canada. We've also been presenting at agriculture events and trade shows about mental health in agriculture and Do More.
Our ag industry is an amazing one and our producers are our greatest assets, but right now our greatest assets need help. They're hurting.
On behalf of Do More, my farm and my family, we need an industry-wide approach, and more help, awareness, support and resources to our Canadian producers.
Thank you very much.