People in the farming in Teesside urged to speak about mental health
New figures shows UK farmers' mental wellbeing has hit a four-year low
A Teesside woman's hoping to inspire farmers to reach out for mental health support.
It comes as new figures show that UK farmers mental wellbeing has hit a four-year low, following 47 suicides in 2024 alone – a 7% increase from 2022.
Historically the most resilient group, wellbeing among UK farmers over 61 years-old has seen the sharpest decline. With all of this in mind, the Farm Safety Foundation been running its ninth annual Mind Your Head Week with a bold mission: tackling suicide risk in UK agriculture and addressing what many now recognise as the industry’s ‘biggest hidden problem.’
Lizzie called a suicide helpline Christmas 2024 as her struggles were becoming overwhelming. She is in a better place now and hosts a podcast outlining the realities of farming. She is very open about her struggles with anxiety and OCD and has undergone therapy.
Lizzie said: "I grew up on Middlesbrough and joined farming about 8 years ago. I’ve since used my career to bridge the gap between farming and the public, creating a charting food and farming podcast. Every year I get on farm experiences such as milking cows and I interview many farmers.
"I lived on a farm alone with my corgi for six months after a difficult time in my life and it’s been a year since I called a crisis line. I was struggling with severe depression and anxiety. However, my dog helped me through it and I’m finding in a lot of my conversations just how much farmers find it isolating and also rely on their dogs.
"No matter the topic of conversation on the podcast, mental health always seems to be an underlying theme and I hope to inspire others to reach out for support.
"There are so many pressures on the farming community be that financial, policy changes, weather, so many different things that are often unpredictable and out of farmers' hands most of the time, so trying to navigate that can be quite difficult.
"Sometimes farmers go through a whole day without speaking to anybody. I think there's a real kind of positive side of social media where you can just reach out to people very instantaneously because I do find that a lot of farmers just crack on with it. They get on with their day because they live and breathe what they do. It's their way of life.
"Farmers are often working on their own, long hours, in all weathers and they live and breathe their work so even if they're working with their family for instance, they're still then going home to that same kind of group of people.
"Unfortunately the figures don't surprise me because there have been a lot of changes particularly in the past couple of years for things like policy etc. There's been a lot of financial difficulties and the weather, again, has been very, very unpredictable."
You can follow Lizzie on her Instagram account:
Stephanie Berkeley, Manager of the Farm Safety Foundation, said: “Over the past nine years, we have made significant strides in raising awareness and improving education around mental health. However, when it comes to suicide prevention, progress has been far more limited.
“While agriculture in the UK benefits from rural support groups and charities who deliver vital, high-quality support, a critical gap remains: there is still very little suicide prevention training tailored specifically for those working in agriculture.
“Farming brings a unique set of pressures - long hours, isolation, financial uncertainty, generational expectations and physical risk. Conversations about suicide in rural communities require approaches that are real, relatable and rooted in lived experience. Without training designed for the realities of agricultural life, we risk leaving those most vulnerable without the tools they need to recognise warning signs and intervene effectively.”
Stephanie continued: “Farming is tough. Long hours, hard graft and a mindset that says ‘just get on with it.’ That grit is admirable - but it is also why some farmers leave it too late to ask for help. As we enter 2026, we want to address the issue of suicide awareness and prevention. Too many farming families are quietly carrying the weight of crisis and loss. The message this year is simple: learn the steps, start conversations earlier and look out for each other. When communities know what to say and what to do, lives can be saved.”
For more information on the Mind Your Head campaign visit the website or follow them on social media - @yellowwelliesUK on Facebook, Instagram and X using the hashtag #MindYourHead.