THOUSANDS of rural Australian men have taken a break from farm work to chime in on a very important message that’s taken social media by storm.
UK rugby player, Luke Ambler, kicked off the #ItsOkayToTalk campaign to address the stigma associated with men and mental health.
The campaign has gone viral, with men from all over the world posting selfies with the ItsOkayToTalk hashtag and nominating friends to do the same in order to start much needed conversation.
The campaign hasn’t been missed by rural Australian men, who have put their own spin on the idea.
Hundreds of men working in the rural industry have got on board with uploading selfies and addressing how isolating working in the country can be for men.
They’ve also enforced the idea that needing to talk to someone was in no way a weakness – whether they were a farmer or not.
The trending caption uploaded with the selfies reads: The single biggest killer of men aged under 45 is suicide. In 2014, 4623 took their own life in Australia. That’s 12 men every day, one man every two hours! 41 per cent of men who contemplated suicide felt they could not talk about their feelings.
Only 20 per cent of people know that suicide is the most likely cause of death for men age under 45. Let’s show men across the world that #ItsOkayToTalk take a selfie with an okay symbol and tag friends and let’s get the message out. Life is short and suicide is overrated.