Income worries, climate concerns, political policy pressures, isolation; what do all these terms have in common?

As detailed by Jacqueline Hogge on page 8, these are all factors that have been identified as placing someone at risk of suicide. They are by their nature, also related to the day-to-day of farming.

For example, according to the Teagasc Farm survey this year, milk prices were down by 28% compared to 2023 and cereal prices were down by 30%, most definitely an income worry.

When it comes to climate concerns, the pressure of the sector to deliver a 25% reduction in emissions has resulted in a blame game – sometimes being directed at farmers.

Changes to CAP and the future of the nitrates directive are unpredictable political policies that will have a direct impact on the day-to-day of farming. And isolation in rural Ireland often leads to loneliness, something that impacts all people, whether you’re aged 18 or 80.

All these everyday pressures can chip away over time, impacting people’s mental health. In other circumstances, it can be a personal situation that leads someone into a dark space.

Everyone’s reasons are individual to them, but the reality is that there are many readers who are facing a tough time at the moment.

Following a very long, eight-month winter and a summer where there wasn’t a lot of Vitamin D infused into our bones, we in Irish Country Living wanted to equip as many readers as possible with the tools to build up their resilience levels.

‘Let’s write an article on that’ just didn’t seem sufficient. Therefore, we are running a month-long series to raise awareness of mental health issues in rural Ireland, a campaign that has been supported by Tirlán and Aware.

Please don’t assume that for the next four issues a theme of doom and gloom will prevail throughout the paper – on the contrary.

Let’s break the cycle around the silence; let;s break the cycle around the stigma associated with mental health challenges

We want to inform you about the extent of mental health issues in rural Ireland, so that if you are going through a challenging time, you know you are not alone.

There will be a focus on navigating our health system to obtain medical assistance, if needed, as well as highlighting social outlets that help combat rural isolation.

Practical advice on navigating tough times will be a key focus and clinical psychologist Maureen Gaffney leads this on page 6, saying that even when our resources feel completely depleted, there are little steps we can do to improve our mood.

Our key focus is providing you with practical information.

Sometimes if you’re really having a bad day, week or month, the last thing you want to do is leave the house. However, the power of exercise, even just a short walk on the farm, can make a big difference.

So exercise will also be a key part of this campaign, which will tie into our presence at the National Ploughing Championships (Irish Farmers Journal stand, block 2, row 14, stand 260).

Each day, the Aware Support Line receives 80 calls from people looking for help or sometimes, just someone to talk to.

So we are bringing three exercise bikes to our stand at Ploughing with the aim of cycling 80km a day on each one, that is a targeted total of 720km during the event – and we want your help.

If you’re visiting the stand, jump up and contribute a kilometre or two. Let’s have the chats, and hopefully, a few laughs and get those endorphins flowing. In tandem with that, there is an iDonate page with all the funds going to towards Aware’s support line.

So aptly, the campaign is called Break the Cycle.

So let’s break the cycle around the silence; let's break the cycle around the stigma associated with mental health challenges; let's break the cycle and talk to a friend, family member or neighbour – it really could make all the difference.