#Walkwithme campaign and Britain’s Fittest Farmer

Once stigmatised and rarely addressed, mental health in farming is discussed now more than ever thanks in part to campaigns that raise awareness of the issue. Nuffield scholar Chris Manley and FCN ambassador farmer Charles Anyan discuss their involvement in such campaigns.

#Walkwithme: Chris Manley’s Mental Health Campaign

For Chris, the idea started for this campaign when he was struggling with his own mental health, and expanded on two tools from his mental health ‘tool kit’; walking and journaling, which he claims helped him expel some of the ruminating thoughts in his head.

“I attempted to write a poem called ‘Walk With Me’ in which, every time I wrote the line ‘walk with me’, it would be followed by something that someone would feel who was experiencing anxiety or depression,” Chris explains. “I then filmed and shared a video of me reciting this poem on social media which kick-started the campaign, the objective of which was to break the stigma around mental health and create a safe space for people to take that first step and have a conversation about how they are feeling.”

The campaign gained a lot of momentum in Autumn of 2023, and Chris believes he won’t fully know how successful it was due to the private conversations it may have generated. “We have since had engagement of the campaign from Harper Adams, the Farming Community Network, Cornish Mutual, the Nuffield Farming Network, the Worshipful Company of Farmers and many more. I have been very happy with how it has been received.”

Britain’s Fittest Farmer: Charles Anyan’s Health & Wellbeing Campaign

One of the highlights of Charles’ last few years was being asked to become an ambassador for The Farming Community Network. “They are making a big difference in a lot of areas in farming communities, one of which is mental health,” comments Charles. “They are a charity partner in Farmers Weekly’s Britain's Fittest Farmer campaign and, as a result, asked me to be a representative on the judging panel. The campaign now focuses on mental as well as physical health, and as part of my role we interviewed contestants to assess their mental awareness, and results for this contributed to their overall scoring.”

Organisations offering support with mental health and wellbeing: