Moray mental health worker to help stop farming suicides
A Scottish farmer's legacy is meeting the cost of employing a full-time suicide prevention worker at agricultural charity RSABI.
Josie Barclay, who hails from a farming family in Moray, is RSABI's new recruit.
She is the organisation's first suicide prevention lead.
And her appointment coincides with a new national suicide prevention campaign.
RSABI said her 'pivotal' role was made possible by funding from the Alistair and Margaret Miller Charitable Trust.
Alistair died in 2021, aged 84, after long career in farming and food production.
He and his wife, Margaret, ran a farm in East Lothian.
Following a Nuffield Farming scholarship, in 1974, Alistair launched a successful frozen vegetable business in the Scottish Borders.
The charitable trust in his and his wife's name was set up in 2017.
Categories of support include science and technology, environmental protection and animal welfare.
Josie, of Buckie, has specialist experience in mental health social work.
Before joining RSABI, she spent two years specialising as a senior practitioner in the field.
She has a degree in social work and postgraduate mental health officer certificate, both from Robert Gordon University in Aberdeen.
Her new role is focused on maximising opportunities for collaboration between organisations involved in suicide prevention. She will also oversee a major new research project in the coming years.
Josie's role aligns with the Scottish Government's Creating Hope Together strategy.
She is leading RSABI's suicide prevention strategy at a time when many people in rural and agricultural communities are facing rising pressures.
These can range from financial strain to loneliness.
As well as working long hours, the isolation of modern farming and lack of social contact, along with the impact of increased costs and uncertainty about the future, are factors which can have a major impact on the mental wellbeing of people in agriculture.
RSABI is supporting the new suicide prevention initiative, which asks: 'What if a conversation about suicide could save a life?'
Led by Suicide Prevention Scotland, the campaign is aimed at normalising discussions on the sensitive topic and hopefully – through conversation – save lives.
A new website with information, resources and a services directory has gone live at suicideprevention.scot
There is so much potential to continue to reduce stigma about mental health.'
RSABI chief executive Carol McLaren said: 'We are looking forward to the opportunity to work more closely with organisations involved in mental health, as well as connecting with individuals involved in farming and crofting who are keen to share their own mental health journeys to help others.
'There is so much potential to continue to reduce stigma about mental health and Josie's appointment, along with a major piece of research we will be starting shortly, will allow us to raise more awareness of suicide prevention in the farming community.
'Coupled with mental health and suicide prevention training, the aim is to empower people to know that everyone in Scotland's farming community can play a part in keeping people safe and helping to prevent suicide.'
If you are having thoughts of suicide, reach out for help, speak to someone you trust or call one of these helplines:
If you are ever in immediate danger or have the means to cause yourself harm, you should dial 999 and request an ambulance.
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