Farmers, rural folk need mental health support now, urges ‘Farm Life Psychologist’ Steph Schmidt

A leading rural mental health advocate has shared how she is ‘so tired of trying … tired of watching funding get caught in red tape while the pressure builds on the ground’.

One of the state’s most prolific advocates for farmers’ mental health has vented her frustration at the slow roll out of on-the-ground support for rural folk struggling due to the drought.

South Australia’s “Farm Life Psychologist” Steph Schmidt, who is a farmer, psychologist, wife and mum, shared her exasperation in a social media post on Wednesday that state government funding announced several months ago wasn’t yet reaching the grassroots where it was needed most.

Mrs Schmidt, who farms with her husband at Worlds End, near Burra, in the Mid North said she was “tired of fighting to be heard”.

“I’m so tired of trying … tired of watching funding get caught in red tape while the pressure builds on the ground – the need is now,” the founder of ACT for Ag said.

“I’m tired of the mounting everyday pressures of constantly facing the drought, while trying not to scream too hard in bureaucratic meetings when it feels like those in charge of the funds just don’t get it.”

Despite the wet conditions in Adelaide, Ms Schmidt urged people to realise the “drought is so far from over” with “bare paddocks, sand drifting across fencelines and roads and farmers clinging to hope” in many areas.

Steph Schmidt is a psychologist and podcaster ... Picture: forABELphotography

... and a farmer and mum. Picture: forABELphotography

“If I had $2.5 million to invest in an ‘immediate comprehensive mental health strategy” … (I’d) recognise just how immediate this needed to be; not (in) three, six, or 12 months, after the funding was first announced – immediate, now,” she wrote on LinkedIn.

“Aim for something on the ground and tweak as required; focus on strengthening what’s already working – the supports already known, trusted, and used by farmers, farming families, and rural communities.”

She acknowledged while some of this was happening – and she was working with PIRSA and SA Health on several initiatives – “so much of it is too slow”.

”With my psychologist hat on, I’m grateful to be part of some of these initiatives slowly coming to life (but) with my farmer hat on, I’m exhausted and frustrated that it’s so slow,” she said.

For her priority areas include:

COMMUNITY-wide capacity building including by spreading messages of “validation, hope, and evidence-based strategies to get through chronic stress” ... “pumping out more messaging on the days when the weather hurts even more”.

STRENGTHENING regional access to counsellors who “understand the realities of farming”.

RECOGNISING that mental health funding is in many ways “a bandaid for a bullet hole”, that financial pressures also need to be addressed.

In April the SA Government announced a “$55 million package of comprehensive assistance to support drought affected farmers and communities across South Australia” which included the $2.5m mental health funding referred to in the social media post.

Originally published as Farmers, rural folk need mental health support now, urges ‘Farm Life Psychologist’ Steph Schmidt