You might be forgiven for thinking that mental health issues are the preserve of the rich and famous, with too much time on their hands and influential media friends to tell their story.

 

Nothing could be further from the truth. It hits hardest those who have to worry about their very existence, money, job security, family and a host of issues which come together to mess with the mind.

 

It's also a hidden malaise unlike a physical injury that is obvious to outsiders.

 

Equally, there is a feeling that those who work in the countryside or open spaces are well used to coping with the elements, are in the fresh air and generally tough enough to cope with most things thrown at them - are more unlikely to succumb to matters of the mind 

 

Which is why I was particularly pleased to recently have the opportunity to devote an episode of my Inside Agri-Turf podcast chatting to Tom Johnston who runs his own turf machinery repair business in Fife.

 

Tom first contacted the LE-TEC website as he wanted to tell the story about his journey into the landbased engineering sector. It had been anything but straightforward and blighted by bouts of depression in his late teens.

 

Although his ambition was always to work with tractors and farm machinery, today at the age of 28 he has found real satisfaction in the turf machinery repair business (picture above) – and has ambitions to look for a franchise in due course.

 

But the real story is that Tom was prepared to talk openly and honestly about his mental issues without rancour or ever feeling sorry for himself.  He says that mental fragility could be with him for some time, but as he told me “Do tell those who are struggling mentally to speak out. Tell them that its OK, not be OK. We all have those off-days but some people cope with them better than others.”

 

We are a small-ish niche sector of the industry we serve, but consider our customers. In farming, research carried out by the Farm Safety Foundation, set up by the NFU, revealed that four out of five young farmers (under 40) believe that mental health is the biggest hidden problem today. A further shocking statistic from the DPJ Foundation in Wales is that one agricultural worker in the UK takes his life every week – that’s over 50 suicides per year.

 

There are issues of the mind affecting those working in the turfcare industry. The recent deaths of a groundsman at Dundalk, the League of Ireland champions and of a groundsman working at Peterborough United were both in part attributed to mental health issues.  A long serving groundsman at North Yorkshire public school, Ampleforth College took his life last year over fears of losing his job after 25  years service.

 

There is rarely one single cause. Mental issues can be caused by a complex mix of factors.

 

Both BIGGA and GMA have recently focussed attention on the mental state of their members and those working in the profession. A recent survey by BIGGA highlighted the fact that 80% of course managers were worried about a member of their team’s mental health.

 

Of course a major contributing factor to the recent rise in awareness of mental health has been due to the impact of Covid-19, but the problems pre-date the epidemic and have thankfully been brought to the surface quicker than might have been the case.

 

Tom Johnston admits that ten years ago, when he was going through his worst depression, he did not seek external help. Today, he has done so perhaps because a stigma has been removed – but still not enough is being done.

 

There are organisations, such as Perennial, who assist those working in horticulture – and that includes those from the landbased engineering sector.  

 

This is a subject that I shall be returning to in future episodes of the Inside Agri-Turf podcast, but meanwhile if anyone has a story to tell, please do e-mail me with details.