Left to right: Greg Awai, Osier Consulting; Wendy Bennett, AgSafe Executive Director; David Nguyen, Chair, AgSafe Board; Maria Weaver, Associate Director of Suicide Prevention and Life Promotion, CMHA BC
Sept. 19, 2023 – An estimated 225 million farmers worldwide struggle with their mental health.
AgSafe, a non-profit health and safety association for ag. producers in B.C., has launched the AgLife Network as part of their expansion of Mental Wellness in Agriculture resources.
The AgLife Network aims to improve mental health and well-being resources and supports for producers as well as build awareness around suicide prevention for British Columbia’s agricultural community.
In June 2023, B.C. announced funding from the Investment Agriculture Foundation of BC to support the expansion of AgSafe’s mental health services in the province’s agricultural industry in partnership with the Canadian Mental Health Association, BC Division (CMHA BC).
The program, influenced by the Association Québécoise de Prévention du Suicide (AQPS) Sentinel, has been adapted to meet the specific needs of British Columbians, including training service providers to identify risks and intervention strategies, building a peer network of B.C. farmers and farm families with learned intervention skills, and providing supportive clinical counselling.
The AgLife Network will be piloted in B.C.’s south coast, which has the most diversity and the highest concentration of agricultural production in the province.
AgSafe and CMHA BC are at the inception stages with the goal of launching more details about the AgLife Network by spring 2024.
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