from YAPRap January 2004
by Adam Marshall
Issues of mental health and wellbeing affecting young people are pretty well documented. However it is astounding the lack of documentation, inquiries and general interest in how these issues affect young people on properties in rural, remote and more times than not isolated areas of our country. This is the premise for my project; to find out if it is a big issue and to find out what young people are thinking and going through on rural properties.
Consultation
There were three ways I consulted young people in my project:
- Surveys
- Follow up discussions
- Discussing generally
Surveys
Around 2,300 surveys were sent out with 1,794 returned (78% return rate). I isolated the surveys to specific postcodes with the assistance of two Federal and State members of Parliament. In almost all of the circumstances the surveys were completed by the young person/people in the families, as was the original intention. In some cases parents had helped their children fill out the survey and actually made some comments/observations of their own. The fact that some parents helped out and took an interest was great to see from my perspective.
A reply paid envelope was supplied with each survey for sending the completed survey back to me. Around 680 surveys were faxed back to me instead of being sent in the post and about 40 were handed to me down the street by young people in Gunnedah.
The survey gave me a great deal of feedback on what young people around Gunnedah and further west were thinking and whether they thought mental health was an issue to them. From the response I received it was obvious to me that mental wellbeing and health is a huge issue.
Some of the comments from these surveys can be found further in this report.
Follow up discussions
From the surveys I received back, 123 families indicated they would be happy to meet with me and discuss their responses to the survey and other issues. I then selected five families from five different locations (Coonamble, Moree, Gunnedah, Dubbo, Gilgandra) to drive out and talk to on different weekends.
The 5 families I chose were not just from 5 different areas but different ages, sexes, backgrounds, circumstances and race. I drove out and visited these families on spare weekends and covered a distance of 2,131 km for my visits. The discussions were informal and involved a discussion of about an hour or so just with the young people in the family. In one circumstance the parents sat in and contributed to the discussions due to the ages of their children. These discussions allowed for a deeper insight into how issues of mental health affect young people experiencing rural hardships.
Some of the young people's comments can be found further in this report.
Discussing generally
My project also involved a great deal of informal discussions with my friends, people I met at the show, at the Rugby, at the movies and at Ag-Quip. While they were not as fruitful as the surveys and the follow-up discussions it was a positive process and if nothing else it raised the awareness of mental health issues in the community.
Research
My project was really one big research project. I purposely did not spend too much time talking to experts on this issue. I wanted to get a grass roots perspective of what life is really like under the surface. In the course of my research I did come across a number of networks, programs an agencies already in existence that in some way attempt to help rural people and rural young people.
Rural Financial Counselling Program
The Rural Financial Counselling Program is jointly funded by the Department of Primary Industries and Energy, State Governments and rural communities. Grants are provided to local community groups to assist in the employment of financial counsellors in rural areas experiencing severe economic stress. The grants are available for up to 50% of the cost of a counselling service, with a ceiling on the grant of $50,000. Rural counsellors are trained in farm financial analysis and are familiar with State and Commonwealth assistance programs as well as other community services and can provide farm families with free and confidential advice on financial and related personal matters. Rural Counsellors assist by assessing a farmers current financial position, preparing budgets, assisting with loan applications, providing information on Government assistance schemes and general emotional counselling.
The Anglican Counselling Service
The Anglican Counselling Service of the Armidale Diocese provides personal relationship and family counselling as well as Marriage Education and Mediation and training and supervision for counsellors. The Anglican Dioceses of Newcastle, Canberra/Goulburn and recently Bathurst provided relationship counselling and personal counselling. The service based in Tamworth trains country people as counsellors. Many of these are farmers and they are able to provide a counselling service in the areas they live where often access to such services is non-existent. The service also provides supervision and support for service providers in the north-west including Rural Financial Counsellors. This is essential for the well-being of service providers and the quality assurance of the counselling provided. The service receives financial support from the Attorney General's Department. For two years during the drought, the service received Drought Aid funding to support a Rural Counselling program in Tenterfield and Glen Innes in northern New South Wales.
Travelling Counsellors
In Dubbo, the Rural Financial Counsellor, concerned with the lack of availability for relationship counselling for farm families obtained Government funding to support the costs of sending trained counsellors to farm families in isolated areas. This service is available to eight Rural Financial Counsellors in the Dubbo area who are able to arrange for counsellors to visit their farm clients as required. A pool of counsellors with diverse skills provides a variety of services, for example, facilitation for inter-generational family meetings.
Red Cross Helpline
The Red Cross has established a 1800 number for a Rural Helpline for information and referral for people in rural areas. The spread of information about services available for rural people is also facilitated by 63 local branches in New South Wales that network and distribute information to their members. Local branches tend to look after their members, let them know they care and make sure that people did not shut themselves off. The telephone call-in service for isolated rural people in Gunnedah, Narrabri, Forbes, Tamworth and Dubbo is available 365 days a year. The Dubbo group also conducted Rural Awareness days which provided information for farmers and other interested persons in the community. Speakers provided information on work cover, occupational health and safety issues, mental health and first aid. Experience showed that if only a few men could be encouraged to attend one course, there were many flow-on benefits and there would always be more people at the next day.
All of these agencies assist rural people and rural youth. Whilst they are not all related to the issues I addressed it was nonetheless good to get good background information on what services are out there for rural youth.
Findings
The stigma associated with the label of mental health was cited as a deterrent to young people seeking counselling services. The services offered by psychologists and mental health workers go beyond what is implied by their titles and names of their agencies, but young people tend to distance themselves from such labels. As one service provider pointed out:
The Health Department have highly trained staff who are not being utilised sufficiently in country areas. People are not aware of how good these services are and of how much help they could be.
Issues pertaining to mental wellbeing are larger than the general community thinks and this social paradigm, more than anything, needs addressing. Young people on properties are affected mentally in very different ways to their counterparts in cities or even large regional centres.
Many of them do not have childhoods in the general sense of the term; and are forced to make adult decisions at very young ages. This puts great strain on the children and (due to a culture) they often bottle this up.
Events like parents fighting, splitting up or financial troubles experienced in droughts exacerbate these problems for young people. However, there is a deep seeded feeling of love of their home and heritage and feeling of obligation to help and stay at home even when they do not wish to.
Many young people do not know of what services if any are available to assist them. Moreover, due to isolation, many of them feel they are going through this alone.
When it all gets too tough, suicide attempts are common and due to the farm situation are successful almost every time.
Rural Finance Counsellors exist; they are to few, concentrate on economics and cannot initiate contact with rural people.
Farm youth were asked how they found information about services available to them. Below is a list of the most important sources according to those surveyed:
- Radio (usually ABC)
- Word of mouth
- Pamphlets received through the mail
- Country Life & The Land
- Local newspapers
- School
Comments by farming youth
Several of the farm families interviewed believed that there was a need for counsellors with specialised skills. Two girls indicated that they had sought counselling from a female doctor. One reported that the family tried to save money by minimising the number of trips into town, but this led to a feeling of isolation and a dependence on her parents for company. The other reported that like many rural people, her concern for privacy made it difficult for her to ask for help. She believed many girls in her area were suffering from depression. She also felt that the hardships experienced by farm families in recent years has also had an impact and since that people tend to get depressed slowly over time they may not realise they need help until their condition is quite severe.
One family commented on the help and support they received from their community following a death in their family. They observed that men and boys do not readily seek grief counselling, and that women and girls have don't hide problems and are more likely to seek counsel from a family member. She too was reluctant to talk openly with a person she did not know, but had enjoyed visits from local nuns.
Another girl, whose family had recently lost their farm, believed that there was a great need for counselling services for farm families. With hindsight she realised that her mother and father should have sought emotional help instead of believing they could 'manage'. Their relationship suffered badly during their transition from farming. She believes they needed advice on how to accept losing the farm. Though it has been some years since they lost their property, she believes the psychological effects linger.
Another young person believed that rather than seeing a social worker at the community health centre, there is a need for a service which visits farmers and their families in their homes. There is a need for workshops for families to develop communication and conflict resolution skills, similar to those developed to address inter-generational problems.
One family had used the Anglican Counselling Service, which was staffed by local farmers (trained as counsellors) whom they knew personally, and found the experience very beneficial. On participant noted that because of their strong sense of independence, rural youth can be almost at a point of desperation before seeking help. Another believed counselling may have helped the five people in his district who have committed suicide in the last six months.
Other young people interviewed, whether they supported the concept or not, made a point of stating that they did not need such a service themselves. One young bloke felt there was no need for counselling services and that money spent on such services is 'wasted'. Instead he thought support should be more 'practical', for example, 'if a kid can't get work, he needs help with finding a job, not a discussion of how he is feeling!' While he acknowledged there had been suicides, he did not believe that counselling was the solution. Another agreed that the provision of counselling to help farming families/youth is a 'bandaid' solution and that money and effort would be better spent on addressing the problems that lead to emotional stress.
These comments reflect two points; firstly the self image of rural youth on properties as practical people who just get things done rather than talking about it; and secondly, as I have noted in several places, the view that the source of the problems for young people on rural properties is related largely to their parents, the family structures and the financial situations effecting the parents. The solution is to redress that problem directly by doing things that are going to improve that condition.
Barriers to farming youth seeking assistance
The majority responded that pride was the greatest barrier farming youth had to overcome, followed by lack of knowledge about what services are available.
Pride
The rural ethos, and farmers' need to see themselves as self-sufficient were cited as the main obstacle to youth seeking assistance. One provider believed wealthier families were often more prone to these attitudes, since they had status to preserve in the community. Even if they retain relatively high levels of wealth, their experience of financial and other stresses, and therefore their vulnerability to damaging consequences, is not necessarily less severe.
One provider believed that the ethos of survival in the country, together with strongly defined gender roles, prevents males from seeking assistance. Women were more often the main point of contact because they realised the difficulty of continuing to maintain their standard of living.
Trust
Effective counselling and support in rural areas requires a certain degree of respect for service professionals to be successful. Many of the professionals appointed to the country are young graduates. Farming youth tend to have less confidence in these, particularly since they are not expected to remain long in the area. For this reason, Drought Support Workers were deliberately selected from rural backgrounds. This experience, combined with their location within the Department of Agriculture, has greatly enhanced their acceptance.
To deliver services effectively to rural people, providers must show that they have a genuine interest in country people and in rural life. Lifeline is working hard to show that they are not only a city-oriented agency.
Confidentiality
One Rural Financial Counsellor who is herself a farmer has found that some local people may avoid seeking her help because they may be reluctant to divulge their problems to another farmer in their community. However, since her office is on her isolated property, privacy is fairly assured. Several providers emphasised confidentiality in their services and have found that once a reputation for trust and respect is developed, there were few barriers to farm families using the service.
Lack of information
Several providers believed lack of knowledge about the services that they offered was a barrier. Country people's attitudes towards public servants and ignorance of Government programs for farm families can be barriers to acceptance of services. For example, one Centrelink officer believed that young people generally are often not well-informed about the nature of its services and may be inhibited by misunderstandings about conditions of employment. Farmers' and their children's lack of contact with the Health Department can also lead to confusion over its procedures.
Distance and cost
Several respondents noted that cost and distance are the greatest impediments to farm families seeking counselling services. Lifeline's distance telephone counselling service and the travelling counsellors who visit farm families in their homes have helped overcome these obstacles.
Strategies
Observations
Family and friends may not have the skills to cope with the extent of some problems. For example some youth commented upon feeling suicidal, feelings which are best worked through with a trained professional.
Difficulties in physically accessing services creates a localised demand for counselling and support services. Lack of anonymity and confidentiality, and the power relationships in small communities are factors which may affect access to counselling and support services in rural and remote areas. Distance, lack of financial means prevent many young people travelling to centres where services are located.
I found that families expressed concerns about finding employment and housing. Young people are a particularly vulnerable group needing support with setting goals in directions other than for a future on the land, and in coming to terms with grief. High levels of stress inhibit the ability of adult family members to provide support to children who are also grieving. Teachers and counsellors need to be aware of these issues in order to be able to provide support to youth.
Recommendations
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That the Rural Financial Counselling Service be maintained throughout rural Australia.
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That Centrelink provide youth support officers in all rural offices with a direct line for local youth to access.
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That more 'one-stop shops' be established for youth.
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That personal and family counselling services relevant and acceptable to farming youth be established on a model similar to the Rural Financial Counselling Service.
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That service agencies provide staff training to raise awareness of rural issues so as to encourage sensitivity in their dealings with rural young people.
More information
For more information please feel free to contact me, Adam Marshall via YAPA.
Notes
Adam was a member of the Health Team of the 2003 National Youth Roundtable, and spoke about his research at the YAPA Policy Forum on Rural Youth Issues in Tamworth in November 2003.
