Prince William has launched a new mental health strategy for Duchy of Cornwall tenants, with a specific focus on farmers.
The strategy, developed over the past year and available to all tenants across the estate, is designed to prioritise farmers' mental health while de-stigmatising the topic.
The Duchy of Cornwall estate, which is now headed by Prince William, extends to 20 counties in England and Wales, consisting off approximately 500 farm lettings.
The Duchy said it would provide mental health care and support to its tenant farmers via trained staff at a dedicated wellbeing service, as well as staff and farmer training.
Concerning figures show that one farmer loses their battle with mental health each week in the UK.
Matthew Morris, rural director at the Duchy of Cornwall, said mental health was an 'incredibly important' conversation to have, especially in the farming community.
"Talking about mental health in rural communities can be difficult and is often stigmatised, so one of things," Mr Morris said.
"The Duchy want to do with the new strategy is to de-stigmatise the conversation and make it normal to talk about mental health.
"We are really proud to have now launched the strategy, as well as multiple support networks for our tenants where we hope we can make an active difference.”
To launch the strategy, the Duchy has partnered with RABI, the Farming Community Network and Hereford-based charity, We Are Farming Minds, co-founded by Duchy of Cornwall tenants Sam and Emily Stables.
Following struggles with their own mental wellbeing and seeing the stigma around mental health in the industry, the Stables founded the charity to support farmers' mental health.
The Duchy of Cornwall and We Are Farming Minds are partnering on the strategy for at least three years and will have regular check-ins to see how the partnership can improve.
The Duchy’s new mental health strategy is available now to all tenants across the estate.
