AgriCare NL is a mental health and farm safety program delivered by the Newfoundland and Labrador Federation of Agriculture, in partnership with the Sustainable Canadian Agricultural Partnership.
We provide a number of services and supports to farmers, farm workers, their families, and the agricultural community of Newfoundland and Labrador. Our program model is similar to a comprehensive employee family assistance program, with the key difference being that it is tailored to the needs of farmers.
AgriCare NL is comprised of a number of individual initiatives that support farmer mental health, wellness, and safety on the job.
Our key initiatives include:
AgriCare Wellness Network
Professional, confidential and discreet mental health care at no cost - including 24/7 crisis support by phone, and ongoing counselling sessions by appointment.
AgriCare Farm Safety
An occupational health and safety resource hub for agricultural workers and farm employers in Newfoundland and Labrador.
AgriCare Business Management
Farm business management tools and guides for business planning, financial risk management, and farm succession and/or transition. Referral to new and existing provincial and federal incentive programs that support farmers and their businesses.
The Canadian Centre for Agricultural Wellbeing (CCAW) has done a great deal of research with farmers across the country to evaluate the available programs and services that support agricultural safety and wellbeing, while also asking about the kinds of supports that farmers are looking for.
This research had led them to discover that most farmers don’t find general provincial crisis lines or traditional employee assistance programs helpful, due to the lack of understanding that most health care providers have about farm work.
With that in mind, the guiding mission of AgriCare NL is to try to offer access to an alternative:
An “agriculturally informed” model of care that validates and takes into account the unique experiences of farmers, and focuses on providing short term solutions, networking resources, good planning and informed business management.
This is achieved by ensuring that all of the mental health care providers within our network are trained with a basic level of agricultural literacy through the Canadian Agricultural Literacy Program (CALP), providing them some much needed context when supporting our farmers.
Most of all, we want to make sure farmers have an ag literate care professional to call if they're experiencing a mental health crisis.
Kylie Stokes is the Program Coordinator for AgriCare NL and has worked with the Newfoundland and Labrador Federation of Agriculture since January, 2024.
Kylie is a professionally trained psychotherapist with a Master's Degree in Counselling Psychology, and has worked as a professional counsellor in psychiatric care, as a behavioral therapist in home therapy programs, an art therapy instructor, a career counsellor, and as a crisis line counsellor for employee-family assistance programs. Kylie's approach to mental health care and safety programming involves a humanistic, person-centered approach that focuses on short term practical solutions, networking resources, comprehensive planning and elements of strengths-based psychotherapy.
Contact our program coordinator Kylie anytime you have questions, comments or ideas about future initiatives for farmer wellbeing and safety in Newfoundland and Labrador.
If you are looking for mental health support for yourself or someone else, and are not sure where to begin, our coordinator Kylie will be happy to meet with you privately to discuss your concerns and provide referral on to the appropriate resources.
