RABI Mental Health Training for Landworkers: Adivce and Guidance November 2024

We received Level 1 training in October from RABI and gleaned some guidance for adults we thought we would share.

v  If you are worried about a colleague TALK. Just start conversations, even if you never talk explicitly about how they are feeling, all gentle conversations can help people. Listen without judgement, give people time and space to talk and listen actively with gentle encouragement. Try not to tell them what to do. Try to and accept their world view. This is a gift to someone, even if this is all you do.

v  If it feels right, you can put into the conversation sentences which might start ‘I’ve noticed…’ or ‘do you want to tell me what going on?...’ or ‘do you want to talk?’ keep it gentle.

v  If the conversation gets a little deeper you might say ‘how long have you felt this way?’, ‘what makes you feel better?’, ‘what makes it worse? Or ‘what do you need today?’

v  Depending on what your colleague says you might need to ask ‘have you had any dark thoughts’,‘have you thought of hurting yourself? Or ‘are you planning suicide?’ You might also text them the numbers below.

If you think someone is at immediate risk of harming themselves you need to ring 999. It is advisable that you tell your colleague you are going to do this.

You can recommend they ring Samaritans 24/7 helpline on 116 123. They do not need to be suicidal, just in distress.

You can also try and make contact with the local Mental Health Crisis team on 111. This is the First Response service and is also available 24/7 where you need to choose the Mental Health option.

There are an array of mental health resources people can access these days. RABI recommended this one https://www.nclwaitingroom.nhs.uk/calm-harm NHS recommends this o ne for its staff https://unmind.com/

RABI can also offer the farming community personal assistance in finding funding, emergency grants, professional mental health support, training and upskilling, benefits guidance and other financial entitlements to support. 24/7 confidential helpline 0800 188 4444

At the time of writing we plan to develop a south Devon resource list which might help people before they get to crisis. If you have any suggestions of what we might put on this list please or feedback about our support suggestions listed here please tell us via mail@commonflora.co.uk