Partner in focus: Alison Kennedy, Director, National Centre for Farmer Health

We spoke with A/Professor Alison Kennedy, Director of the National Centre for Farmer Health, who explains the organisation’s vision and recent innovations.

What is the vision of the National Centre for Farmer Health?

Shaping tomorrow’s healthiest farming communities worldwide. We have memoranda of understanding with a number of universities internationally, both in developed and developing countries, and we collaborate on research and health service delivery programs. We also know that our research has an international audience and influences program development globally.

What are some of the challenges you face?

I can think of two particular challenges:

Traditionally, farmers have been seen as a hard-to-reach population when it comes to health, wellbeing and safety — often described as stoic and not willing to seek help. We now know that farmers are interested in their health, wellbeing and safety if we can present information and engage with them in ways that are relevant and tailored to the farming context. However, it’s still an ongoing challenge to get farmers to prioritise the prevention of risks to their health, wellbeing and safety.

To address this, we are continuing to develop practical strategies and resources in which farmers see value from a business perspective as well as a personal perspective. We are also developing ways to help farmers stay on track when they do decide to take action. This includes things like SMS reminders, printable plans and peer support models.

Second, farmers in Australia are spread across a huge area and face a range of very diverse challenges. As a relatively small team, trying to engage directly with all farming communities nationally is not always possible or helpful.

We have addressed this by increasing capacity and capability in the health and agriculture workforces, and working collaboratively with other organisations, both with a national and a local footprint. We’ve done this to increase reach, tailor resources and programs to meet local needs, and have greater and more meaningful impact on the health, wellbeing and safety of our farming communities.

Tell us about one of your organisation's recent innovations?

Oh, there are so many! One of our current research projects, Back on Track, is testing the feasibility of delivering peer-led evidence-based mental health support in farming communities. This is innovative in a number of ways:

We’re filling a well-identified gap in mental health service delivery in rural Australia. We’re working with farming communities to tailor and lead mental health service delivery in those communities. And we’re empowering, training and supporting trusted community members, who don’t have any previous clinical training, to support their peers to engage in Behavioural Activation — an evidence-based psychological therapy that has been shown to be as effective as medication in reducing the symptoms of depression.

A second example is Farmer HAT (Health Assessment Tool — the hat that fits every farmer!) This came out of our inability to deliver face-to-face health check programs during COVID. In response, we developed an online tool for farmers to assess their own health, wellbeing and safety.

This easy-to-use resource can be completed from the comfort of your own farm, either individually or as part of a group. It guides you through a series of questions relating to your health, wellbeing, lifestyle behaviours and farm safety practices. It will provide you with instant feedback and, depending on your results, direct you to relevant and helpful resources to help you to improve your health and lifestyle behaviours as well as your farming business.

Because it’s an online self-assessment, it can be done anywhere, at any time, and it is easily accessible to those in remote and rural communities. You can save, download and print your results and complete the self-assessment on a regular basis to track, compare and benchmark your results over time.

What do you value most about your partnership with Healthdirect Australia?

Our partnership with Healthdirect Australia ensures farmers, health professionals and others accessing our website and resources know that the content is from a reputable, high quality and trusted source. It allows us to share our farmer health, wellbeing and safety content with a wider national audience — and we’re discovering new advantages to this partnership all the time.