Overview:
The following article contains mention of suicide and suicidal ideation. If you or someone you know is struggling with suicide, please call or text the Suicide Crisis Helpline at 9-8-8.
For Lauren Van Ewyk, stretches of hot sunny days with cloud-free skies are not necessarily cause for celebration.
As a farmer and a counsellor who regularly works with farmers, she knows that while sunbathers flock to catch the sun’s rays, farmers are desperately hoping for rain for their crops.
“We can go from making a lot of money to losing a lot of money in a very short period of time, just based on weather,” says Van Ewyk, co-founder of the National Farmer Mental Health Alliance. The alliance helps farmers and their families find therapists who are trained in agriculture-informed therapy.
Anxiety about climate change combined with the expectation to produce high-quality products produces chronic stress for farmers, says Van Ewyk. Farmers are often reluctant to ask for help — and if the counsellor they speak to does not understand the mental health challenges of farming, the problem can get worse.
A recently released National Suicide Prevention Action Plan lists farmers and agriculture workers as a population more likely to experience poor mental health, thoughts of suicide and death by suicide. Van Ewyk hopes the federal government will continue investing in increasing farmers’ access to counsellors who understand their needs and circumstances.
“Farmers have been under chronic stress for a long, long period of time,” says Van Ewyk, who is a sheep farmer.
Van Ewyk is not the only person hoping this plan will lead to more action on suicide prevention. Advocates say Ottawa needs to build on the information gathered through its action plan and create a national suicide prevention strategy.
“We see [the action plan] as a positive step forward,” said Sean Krausert, executive director of the Canadian Association for Suicide Prevention, an organization that has advocated for a suicide prevention strategy for decades. “We certainly hope that it will lead to a national strategy.”
The National Suicide Prevention Action Plan describes itself as a “three-year evergreen plan that sets out the foundations for shared action.” It has four areas of focus, or “pillars”: data and monitoring, research and evaluation, supports and services and governance. The plan outlines what Ottawa is currently doing in each area and what it plans to do between now and 2027.
“When it comes to mental health and suicide prevention, we cannot work in isolation,” Ya’ara Saks, minister of mental health and addictions and associate minister of health said in a press release announcing the action plan. “We can make a greater impact and provide better support working together, as a collective, across all jurisdictions. The Action Plan will bring together key partners to advance suicide prevention and life promotion efforts so that fewer lives are lost to suicide in Canada.”
In November, the government launched a national suicide prevention helpline, 9-8-8. The action plan says a third-party evaluation of the hotline’s effectiveness will be completed next year.
An outlier among the G7
According to Statistics Canada, 4,152 people died by suicide in 2020. Suicide was the second-leading cause of death among 15- to 34-year-olds after accidents. Youth are reporting significant increases in mental health-related disabilities, Canadian Affairs recently reported.
Between 2017 and 2019, there were about 4,500 suicide deaths each year in Canada, or about 12 a day, Statistics Canada says.
Men are more likely to die by suicide, the Public Health Agency of Canada says. Women are more likely to be hospitalized for self-harm, suicidal plans or attempts.
Because coroners’ and medical examiners’ investigations can be lengthy, it can take years for accurate information about suicide deaths to show up in official reports, the suicide prevention action plan says, explaining why it includes data from 2020.
The action plan does not include new funding for suicide prevention efforts. A national suicide prevention strategy, says Krausert, would have funding.
“We absolutely need a national strategy as we are an outlier among G7 countries in not having one,” Dr. Mark Sinyor, an associate scientist at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre in Toronto, said in an email to Canadian Affairs. Sinyor helped found Sunnybrook’s Program of Research and Education to Stop Suicide.
National strategies have coordinated actions, across all government departments, and take a public health approach to preventing suicide, Sinyor said in his statement. They include approaches to prevent suicide in the general population, as well as in at-risk groups.
Krausert says the national suicide prevention action plan could lead to better information about who is at greater risk for suicide, which could help to inform the strategy.
One goal listed in the action plan is to create a list of information — such as mental health history, interactions with health-care providers and life stressors — to be included in every suicide death investigation.
“If this action plan helps lay the foundation for consistent collection of data in the same manner in different jurisdictions, that will be a big set forward,” said Krausert. “Then with good data, we can evaluate the effectiveness of different actions.”
Longstanding concerns
There have been long-standing concerns about the effectiveness of suicide prevention programs in Canada. In 2012, Ottawa passed a law requiring the federal government to develop a framework for preventing suicide. That framework was released in 2016.
But a June 2023 report from a Senate committee sharply criticized the framework, saying it had done nothing to reduce the number of suicide deaths in Canada. The framework, the Senate committee wrote, “does not prioritize evidence-based interventions for suicide prevention, which not only creates potential for wasted federal spending, but, as has been shown, does not prevent suicide.”
Among its recommendations, the Senate called for improved and consistent data collection about suicide deaths and prioritizing suicide prevention programs that are proven to work.
Suicide prevention includes addressing concerns about housing, social supports and making sure mental health-care is adequately funded, says Krausert. “[Suicide prevention is] a very complex issue, and it crosses over into many different realms. You need to take a holistic approach.”
Van Ewyk says that while the mental health needs of farmers are often misunderstood, she has hope.
Many of the clients she counsels are farmers. She sees increased interest in agriculture-informed therapy training across the country.
Promoting good mental health and preventing suicide among farmers is good for everyone, she says.
“Our national food sovereignty and food security programs are absolutely dependent on farmers being able to do what they do,” she says.
