Mental Health in Agriculture | Getting Help

Providing Support

Agriculture carries one of the highest rates of suicide. Poor mental health in agriculture is recognised as a big problem across society and the DPJ Foundation aims to break down the stigma that surrounds poor mental health and provide support services for those in rural communities when they need it, where they need it. We want to help people get help and to prevent suicide.

Farming is an excellent career and can provide huge benefits to those who work in the sector. However it is a career that comes with huge pressure, isolation and demand on a daily basis and it is often difficult to reach out for help.

At the DPJ Foundation, we can provide pro-active support to farmers and people living in isolated rural areas.

Talk To Us

Call our 24 hour confidential helpline to talk to one of our volunteers who can be there to listen or can set you up with a counsellor. Or if talking on the phone just isn’t your thing then drop us a text message and we can chat with you via text or call you back.

Sometimes it’s easier to talk to a stranger than to relatives or friends. You should be reassured that calls are confidential and you are unlikely to know the person at the end of the phone, but they will understand farming problems. During talking therapy, a trained counsellor or therapist listens to you and helps you find your own answers to problems, without judging you. The therapist will give you time to talk, cry, shout or just think.

It’s an opportunity to look at your problems in a different way with someone who’ll respect you and your opinions.

Share The Load

Our 24/7 confidential counselling referral service specifically for those who work in agriculture, ‘Share The Load’, guarantees that those who call, will be contacted within 48 hours by a counsellor and seen within a week. We offer outreach counselling (on the farm) online, telephone or face to face in a location off-farm.

We have both English and Welsh speaking counsellors available to you.

After launching in Pembrokeshire in January 2018, supporting over 40 farmers, the counselling service supporting mental health in agriculture was launched in Ceredigion, Carmarthenshire and Powys, progressing to all of Wales in August 2019, following a £40,000 injection from Welsh Government.

In the 5 years since the service has been established, we have enabled over 800 people across the whole of Wales to access counselling free of charge.

Why Choose Counselling

We have over 30 Samaritans trained volunteers across Wales who answer calls and texts to the Share the Load line and we can provide the number of sessions with our professional counsellors needed for individuals to get the full benefit from our service. Many people question why talking to someone would help, but here are some of the reasons counselling can help you:

Giving you tools you can use right away
Improve self-confidence
Resolve communication issues
Change limiting beliefs
Grow self-esteem
Relief from depression, anxiety, addiction, loneliness, grief
Feel hopeful about the future & manage life transitions
Deal with emotional factors that create the need to drink, get angry, or use substances
Gain insight into patterns & deeper understanding of yourself
Learn effective communication skills
Make needed changes in your life

Our counsellors will see you in a local town, in your own home or on the farm, a telephone appointment or via a video call. We have English and Welsh-speaking counsellors across Wales.

All our counsellors are registered with a professional body and are bound by a strict code of ethics. This includes strict confidentiality. You can be assured that from your first call or text to us, what you discuss will be treated in confidence and nobody in your community will know from us that you are accessing our support.

your current situation is not your final destination

Getting Help

Providing Support

Talk To Us

Share The Load

Why Choose Counselling

What to expect when calling our Share The Load helpline:

Help to Raise Awareness

Today is the opportunity to build the tomorrow you want