Support in town and on the tractor

In the vast farming expanses of western Victoria, it’s not uncommon to see a farmer slowly working their way up and down a field on a tractor. This iconic visual might conjure up feelings of traditional Australian resilience and determination, or perhaps thoughts of isolation, loneliness, stress, and tough times.

For Steven, a fifth generation farmer, it has been both – quite literally. By normalising mental health care into his routine, he is now open about living with depression and makes sure that he makes his wellbeing a priority in his life. He’s even had one of his appointments with his RFDS mental health clinician on the tractor while sowing a paddock.

“I had an appointment set up with my mental health clinician over video but I didn't realise I was supposed to use the web link and ring in. So I was doing a few things with the tractor just thinking to myself, ‘They’ll be ringing shortly’,” Steven says.

“When she rang I joked that, ‘Oh you’re a few minutes late.' But, it turns out I was supposed to call her.

“She said, ‘Are you happy to do a phone conversation?’, and I said, ‘Yeah! Are you happy to let me keep doing a round of this paddock?’

“Anyway, so I just kept going. We’re talking and I was just working. I got another two or three hectares sown and finished the paddock that day!”

While he’s relaxed about it now, talking about his mental health hasn’t always been this easy for Steven.

“I think I got depression when mum died. Mum was probably my confidante when I had things about the farm that I didn't want to burden my wife with, especially when my kids were younger. My wife had her own pressures and was bringing up the kids, and I'm thankful she did because it allowed me to go on and try to make a living for us.”

For a long time after his mum passed, Steven felt he had to shoulder those burdens alone. This took a toll on his mental health, and his relationships with others.

“When I got depression, a lot of people who I considered good friends walked away, and that really hurt. Looking back now, I know the pressure was starting to get to me. I was getting more angry and more short, and probably more demanding. And they just found it too hard. I know that now, but it's very hard to take at the time.”

This was one of his hardest experiences, but since working with mental health counsellors and the Flying Doctor Wellbeing team, he feels more in control of his mental health.

“I still say, the hardest thing I do all day is get out of bed. I get a lot of physical pain now and I think it's from stress. It’s overwork, over-worry, over-thinking. And that’s where the Wellbeing service comes into it, helping me change my thinking. It’s a big help but it's quite confronting at times. But it's gotta be, otherwise it's not gonna work.”

It hasn’t been an easy battle, and it took four doctors for Steven to get his diagnosis of depression. Unlike in a metropolitan area, Steven didn’t have the option of going to multiple doctors for a second opinion – it took a new doctor joining the practice to get his diagnosis.

Getting the diagnosis was only the first step, and finding counsellors in the local area wasn’t possible at that time.

“When I first got depression, if I wanted to get a counsellor we had to go to Hamilton or Horsham, which are both an hour away. At that point I was so tired and worn out, to get to Hamilton I'd have to have two naps in an hour's drive. Or if my wife drove I'd sleep the whole trip.”

With Flying Doctor Wellbeing available locally, Steven has been able to keep regular appointments.

“It had been really hard to see someone ongoing. Eventually the nurses at the Harrow Bush Nursing Centre put me on to Flying Doctor Wellbeing, saying they will be continual. Now I've got someone.

“She is very calm, she listens very well. She is not patronising at all, she's quite tough and straightforward.”

Steven says the ease in which he connects with the service is vital considering the forgetfulness that can be involved with his experience of depression.

“You get dizzy in your own head, and you don't think of the things you should be thinking of. All sudden it’s like, ‘Oh stuff it - I've forgotten the appointment’.

“With Flying Doctor Wellbeing I can meet my clinician face to face in Harrow or Edenhope, or talk on the phone. There's always a notice the day before to tell you your next appointment is coming up.”

This relaxed approach to connecting allows Steven to make his appointments with Flying Doctor Wellbeing just an everyday part of his life.