The Open Road: "It's about supporting farmers' mental health" with Sarah Crosthwaite

Sarah Crosthwaite is a a rural mental health clinician from Northeast Victoria, and she has worked as a rural outreach counsellor to farmers across our region. The rest of the time she works with her husband and their team on our 550-cow dairy farm in the Kiewa Valley.

Sarah Crosthwaite discusses her journey in addressing mental health issues within farming communities. She shares insights from her experiences as a rural outreach counselor, the challenges faced by farmers, and the importance of mental health support. The discussion covers her educational background, the impact of natural disasters on mental health, and the establishment of her counselling service, Open Road Counselling. Sarah emphasises the need for better access to mental health services and the importance of normalising conversations around mental health in agriculture.

She's recently off the stage after presenting her Nuffield Scholarship in Tasmania, where she led with the question, ‘What can be learnt from international farming communities to improve and strengthen positive mental health outcomes for Australian primary producers?

She has since set up her own business, Open Road Counselling, is a counselling service for farmers, their families, farm workers and anyone working with in the agricultural industry right across Australia. To find out more check out their website!

Nuffield episode sponsor:
A message from this episode sponsor, ANZ Agribusiness:

Farming in Australia is never without opportunity, nor challenge. From season to season, and from day to day, producers manage a myriad of risks and rewards as they produce the vast range of commodities global markets now demand. At ANZ Agribusiness, we’ve been supporting farmers to take opportunities and manage through challenges for over 150 years. We’re a proud and long term partner of Nuffield Australia, supporting its goal of capacity building for producers, their businesses, industry and rural community. Our network of regionally based Agribusiness bankers are ready to support both our existing customers, and any farming business seeking a review of their banking arrangements at any time. Find your local ANZ Branch manager today.

EvokeAG 2026:
I'm excited to be one of the MC's for evokeAG in 2026. This event is unlike any other in Aussie agriculture and brings together the brightest minds from across the AgriFood ecosystem focused on solutions to some of our planets biggest challenges. Get your tickets at evokeAG.com