27th September 2025
An Aberdeenshire farmer has opened up about his battle with depression and is now sharing a message of hope and positivity with fellow farmers across the country.
RSABI suicide prevention lead Josie Barclay, Kenny Elphinstone, and RSABI CEO Carol McLaren.
Kenny Elphinstone, who has battled with depression for much of his life, talks openly about his mental health journey in a short film produced as part of the RSABI’s suicide prevention work.
In the video, filmed on his farm, Kenny shares his battle with his mental health which reached an all-time low a few years ago when he attempted to take his own life.
In the months running up to this, his mood fluctuated between a state of hyperactivity where he had to be flying on with work all the time, leaving him exhausted and not sleeping properly, and feeling so low he could barely function.
“I would say the best way to describe the way I felt was trapped. Every day was a struggle, and one particular day I was home alone, and I thought – this is never going to get any better – and I couldn’t see any way out,” he recalls.
After a hospital visit, Kenny was back home and, initially, he still really struggled with his mental health, but things started to improve. A major part of his recovery has been the support he received from friends and his wife, Jill.
‘Find someone who is kind and prepared to listen’
Farmer Kenny Elphinstone.
He added: “The person who helped me most without a doubt was my wife, Jill. She got me out of bed in the morning and got me going and she kept me on the straight and narrow once I was back on my feet.”
The importance of sharing how you are feeling with someone you trust – and not bottling things up – is a huge factor in making it through the really hard times, Kenny said.
He is now encouraging farming folks who are feeling low or lonely to find someone they trust to talk to or contact an organisation like RSABI. And, he said, a little kindness and compassion can make an enormous difference to someone feeling low.
“On a scale of one to 10 I would say kindness is at least a nine. If you’re really struggling and you find someone who is kind and prepared to listen to what you’ve got to say, it will make you feel a lot better,” Kenny said.
‘Putting things off will only make the situation worse’
He also urged farming families to prioritise and make time to discuss the future and to be prepared to make changes to their businesses to plan for the future before the mental health of family members starts to struggle as anxieties really start to creep in.
“If you are in business with others you really need to make time to get things sorted and cut and dried. Putting things off will only make the situation worse, especially in cases where you are not all singing from the same hymn sheet,” he said.
Kenny also emphasised that working regularly on your own can really impact farmers, highlighting just how vital it is to get off the farm and catch up with other people.
“The nature of farming means that you can spend time on your own and that really doesn’t help, so its important to meet up with others. Some people will say they don’t have time to go to events but it is so important to get out and about and catch up with folk, especially if something is going round and round in your head,” he said.
Kenny has learned a great deal about how to keep his mental health good in recent years and the steps he needs to take if he starts to feel his mental health deteriorating or starts losing sleep.
Listening to music is something he finds relaxing and a very valuable distraction, and he is very aware of the importance of speaking to someone about how he is feeling.
For a while, when he was struggling, he lost all enjoyment in farming. Thankfully Kenny now has that back again and says lambing and ploughing are his two favourite jobs to do on the farm, along with working with other people.
RSABI has recently recruited a full-time member of staff working on suicide prevention, thanks to funding from the Alistair and Margaret Miller Trust. Next month the charity starts a major research project with Glasgow University aimed at understanding and preventing suicide within Scotland’s farming and crofting communities.
RSABI is also supporting a major ongoing campaign which includes a website with a range of information, resources and a local services directory available at suicideprevention.scot. This work is led by Suicide Prevention Scotland, and RSABI is one of the community of organisations working to deliver the Scottish Government and COSLA’s joint suicide prevention strategy, Creating Hope Together.
September is national Suicide Prevention Month, and a key message is around changing the narrative around suicide, encouraging people to talk openly about it and, if they are worried about someone, to ask them directly if they are having thoughts of suicide.
RSABI’s free confidential support service is available 24 hours a day, every day of the year, by calling 0808 1234 555 (calls won’t show up on phone bills) or through a confidential webchat service, available on RSABI’s website. Counselling can be arranged by RSABI quickly and simply and it is available free of charge to people in Scottish agriculture.
If you are struggling with your mental health or having thoughts of suicide, please reach out for help, speak to someone you trust or call one of these helplines:
- Samaritans: 116 123 (Available 24/7)
- Breathing Space: 0800 83 85 87 (Available Monday to Thursday 6pm to 2am. At weekends, open between Friday 6pm and Monday 6am)
- NHS 24 mental health hub on: 111 (Available 24/7)
If you don’t feel you can keep yourself safe right now, please seek immediate help by attending any Accident and Emergency (A&E) or contact 999 and request an ambulance.
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