Yana are a small charity aiming to raise mental health awareness in the farming community. After 18 months research, ‘The YANA Project’ launched in November 2008 …

“We have a website www.yanahelp.org, a confidential helpline 0300 323 0400 which is manned by Samaritans trained volunteers, and can fund up to 6 (or occasionally more) sessions with an accredited counsellor. We work through Norfolk and Suffolk and the template has recently been taken on in Worcestershire.  We have a presence at all agricultural events in those counties throughout the year. We are also running and funding Mental Health First Aid Courses. This is a good use of the donations we receive – training others within the industry to recognise the symptoms of mental ill health and they can then support and signpost others appropriately. Delegates included representatives from the NFU, YFC, Easton and Otley Colleges, land agents, tenant farmers and IAgSA 

We run on a budget of just £20k. YANA has been described by Public Health England as an exemplar project because it is a very good example of an industry looking after its own and we are definitely ahead of the game in training mental health first aiders in our industry. We have been invited to speak at several national PHE conferences and have been involved with research by the Worshipful Company of Farmers and the Princes’ Countryside Fund is keen to support us”.