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Ben and Liam
from Triple J
go full ‘Naked Farmer’
for mental health
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The brekkie boys were joined by the man behind the Instagram page The Naked Farmer, which is filled with pictures of — you bloody guessed it — Aussie farmers in the nud.
So why has Ben Brooksby, The Naked Farmer‘s founder, got an IG full of tasteful rural nudes? The 24-year-old, who’s a fifth generation farmer from St Helens Plains in Western Victoria, says “people love to get nude, of course, and it’s a good way to showcase our farmers.” Anyone can slide into the DMs and submit photos to his page.
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Check this out on Instagram HERE
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And it’s all for a good cause, says Ben, who’s using it as a way to educate people on “where our food and fibre actually comes from” and to support people in the agricultural industry who suffer from mental health issues.
This immediately struck a chord with our Ben, who recently learnt that the suicide rate is 66% higher in rural areas than it is the city and that farmers are more than twice as likely to take their own life than other professions.
“Having grown up on a farm, I know lots of farmers who have and still are going through hard times,” says Ben. “It’s one of the reasons why The Naked Farmer Instagram page resonated with me and I think it is a great way to start a conversation about mental health.”
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Remembering his time spent on the dairy farm, Ben says he could always tell when his boss was stressed but that the environment was such that he would shut himself off from others and internalise problems, rather than talk them through. And of course, because the vast majority of farmers are self-employed, they get hit badly by a rough season or a drop in the price of milk, for example.
There’s also a very real stigma around mental illness in many smaller communities.
“What I always found helpful whilst working on the farm,” says Ben, “was that I did it with my older brother James, so we could talk to each other when things were tough.”
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Check this out on Instagram HERE
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As if to illustrate the point of the campaign, there have already been some neg comments on Ben and Liam’s post. But as it says in TNF‘s mission statement, ‘it takes just as much guts to talk about mental health issues as it does to get your gear off.’ Their fundraising efforts are in aid of the Royal Flying Doctor Service Mental Health Unit, who visit remote towns and properties to provide education, treatment and support. RFDS also offer a one-on-one first up consultation followed by Skype sessions from your home.
You can call them on 1300 887 678 seven days a week (24 hour service). If you have a problem you can also call Lifeline on 13 11 14 or Beyond Blue on 1300 22 4636. And you can send your naked.jpgs to Ben @the.naked.farmer.
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