Dear All
Thank you so much for taking part in our upcoming ‘Win a Shed’ Raffle. We are immensely grateful for your support without which we could not continue our work in mental health awareness and suicide prevention across families, schools, communities, workplaces, and now increasingly, within rural Ireland.
This raffle has opened an important door for us. It has highlighted just how much the mental health conversation needs to reach our farming and rural communities, where support can be harder to access and the challenges are often unique. Many of you who entered are part of this community yourselves, and we are deeply grateful for the connection it has created.
With this in mind, we hope you will understand why we have made the decision to move the raffle draw to St. Patrick’s Day, 17th March 2026, rather than 31st December.. This short extension will give us the time we need to more meaningfully engage with farmers and their families, ensuring they have access to vital mental health information, training, and supports.
The mental health statistics within the farming community are concerning, and they remind us why this work is so important. Research undertaken by a team at University College Dublin in 2022, revealed that 23.4% of farmers were considered at risk for suicide, with 55.5% of respondents experiencing moderate to extremely severe depression. Male farmers accounted for 8% (144) of all male probable suicides in Ireland between 2015-2018. According to the research, the average annual probable suicide incidence rate for male farmers was 31.5 deaths per 100,000, remaining statistically in line with the average rate, already high, for all men. Moreover, the researchers found that the probable suicide incidence rate for farmers over 65 years of age (29.2 deaths per 100,000) was over twice the rate for non-farmers (14.3 deaths per 100,000).
With 10 extra weeks, we feel we can take the time necessary to delve deeper into this community and play an active role in improving access to mental health information and support to our rural and farming communities. It also allows us to share details of our soon-to-launch Self Directed Online Peer-Support Training Programme. We believe this resource has the potential to make a real difference, equipping people with the skills to support one another, encourage help-seeking behaviour, and strengthen the fabric of their communities.
We sincerely appreciate your patience and kindness in supporting this extended timeline. Of course, if the change does not suit you, you are most welcome to request a full refund. Just let us know, and we will be happy to do it for you.
Thank you once again for participating in this key fundraising event. Your involvement helps us continue breaking the silence around mental health and standing in solidarity with those affected by suicide, across every community, urban and rural.
Kind regards,
Caroline Lafferty
Chief Executive Officer
Cycle Against Suicide
Phone: + 353 87 246 5526
Website: www.cycleagainstsuicide.com