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Mental health charity 'transformed' farmer's life

Kate Justicein Herefordshire
News imageBBC A man with grey hair sits in an arm chair wearing a checked shirt and a green zip up fleece. The arm chair is striped beige, with a patterned head rest that matches the curtain on the right of the picture. To the left, there is a picture of a young child on a side table.BBC
John Humphreys said he did not know where he wouldd be today if it were not for the help he recieved from the charity

A retired farmer who developed post-traumatic stress disorder after a serious Covid infection has credited an agricultural mental health charity with saving his life.

John Humphreys, 69, was taken to intensive care at the Worcestershire Royal Hospital and spent six weeks in an induced coma after contracting the virus, and although he recovered, he experienced depression and anxiety afterwards.

The charity We Are Farming Minds, which was set up in 2022 by Herefordshire sheep farmer Sam Stables, helped him to access talking therapy.

Humphreys said the charity "has transformed my life".

Before retiring he had farmed near Bridgnorth, Shropshire, for 46 years, but he now lives in Herefordshire.

Humphreys said the next thing he remembered was being taken to hopsital and told he was going to be put to sleep.

"Waking up nearly six weeks later, not knowing where I was, not being able to speak, not being able to move, was a hell of a shock."

The mental health problems hit hard when he finally got home, he said, adding: "It sort of started with hallucinations and I got into a very dark, dark place."

News imageA woman with short grey hair smiles at the camera. She is wearing a dark grey jumper and and patterned scarf and sitting in a maroon arm chair. Behind her is a sideboard with a display of china on it and to her right there are some family photos and ornamental cattle.
Sue Humphreys took pictures of the grandchildren into hospital to give her husband the will to live

His wife Sue Humphreys explained that her husband's hospital stay had been traumatic: "They called me a couple of times, to try and get him to want to live, so I took pictures of the grandchildren because I knew that would be what he would want to live for."

"I knew he was going to need some help, which we approached our GP about, but there was such a long waiting time and the crisis was then, we couldn't wait 30 weeks."

The charity was able to arrange access to talking therapy within a few days, and John Humphreys said he did not know where he would be now were it not for that support.

"To have had to wait 30 weeks to see somebody, I don't know if I could have lasted that long."

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