The Outdoor Gibbon
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The Outdoor Gibbon
43 The Gamekeepers' Welfare Trust
The rural countryside offers serene beauty, but for those who work its fields, forests, and hills, isolation can harbor silent struggles. In this deeply personal episode of The Outdoor Gibbon Podcast, we tackle the critical yet often overlooked issues of mental and physical health among gamekeepers, stalkers, and rural workers.
Starting with the psychological impact of a disappointing grouse season, we explore how working tirelessly year-round only to see days canceled creates immense pressure. These disappointments, coupled with employers who may not understand wildlife management complexities, leave many countryside workers carrying heavy burdens alone. Traditional masculine stoicism compounds the problem, making reaching out seem impossible even when darkness feels overwhelming.
The Gamekeepers Welfare Trust stands as a beacon of hope, offering confidential support through Jamie's Helpline (0300 123 3088). Their services prove especially valuable because they operate independently from official healthcare systems - a critical distinction for those worried about firearms certification implications. Helen from the Trust emphasizes they support "everybody about anything in the gamekeeping community," whether they're students starting out, actively working, or retired.
Beyond mental wellbeing, the episode confronts physical health challenges prevalent in rural professions. The culture of "pushing through" discomfort, fueled by energy drinks and convenient but unhealthy food choices, exacts a heavy toll. Heart disease lurks as a "silent killer" without obvious symptoms. The Trust provides accessible health checks measuring blood pressure, pulse, oxygen levels, and blood glucose - simple tests that have saved lives, including one man who discovered he needed heart stents through a routine check.
From nurse advice clinics to confidential counseling, these resources break down barriers to healthcare access for those living remote lives with demanding schedules. I've witnessed firsthand the importance of addressing high blood pressure early, and I want listeners to know they're not alone in these challenges.
Remember, your health matters - mental and physical. Call the Gamekeepers Welfare Trust, talk to a friend, or visit your doctor. These small steps might seem intimidating but could transform or even save your life. What health check will you schedule today?
https://thegamekeeperswelfaretrust.com/
Do not forget Jamies Help Line 0300 1233088
Hello and hello and welcome to the outdoor given podcast. So this one's kind of a bit of a serious one and probably one not to be taken lightly. It's, um, it's talking about one of those things about health, mental well-being and everything that goes with it. I recorded a very short podcast at Schoon Game Fair with the Game Keepers, welfare Trust, with Helen and one of the nurses that was there. Some of the points in this are going to be relevant to you, relevant to your friends, friends, relevant to your colleagues, relevant to people that you work with or even family members.
Speaker 2:There's a big thing this day and age about not talking about problems, and men are especially bad at doing this. We've just started the grouse season and it's not going great. There's a lot of estates that have cancelled days, so imagine that you're a keeper and you've worked all year long to basically make sure that on the glorious 12th you were going to put grouse up and you get your counts done and there's no birds. Now, for some people they're just, they take it in their stride and that's great, but for for others, that can be a massive amount of pressure, stress and all the rest of it, and especially when maybe your boss doesn't stay on the estate or somebody else isn't there, and they're asking questions as to what's going on. Why, why aren't we shooting? And these pressures do build up on people, and sometimes guys and even girls. They don't know who to talk to.
Speaker 2:This is where the gamekeepers, welfare trust comes into its own. Or even just, if you don't want to talk to them, talk to a or talk to, just pick up the phone and speak to somebody. I know it seems incredibly difficult and it's probably one of those things that we're all there and we all have these moments where we think, oh, I can't see the light at the end of the tunnel. There's always a solution and there's always a way forward. The key is you, as the person, may not see the light at the end of the tunnel, but what you actually need to do is you need to share that with somebody, and that other person sometimes sees it from a different perspective and actually can sometimes listen, and by just being there to listen to you can can really help. So where do you go from here? What I would suggest is, if you do have problems, you can contact the gamekeepers, welfare trust. If you're struggling to even do that, talk to somebody close and the biggest thing about it is there's always that fear that if you you think there's a problem and you're going to say something, suddenly all of a sudden the police are going to rock up at your door, take your guns away and your firearms away and you'll be tired with the brush of mental health again. It's very tricky this day and age because, at the end of the day, the, the police forces are. They're out to protect you who might be having bad thoughts, but they're also out there to protect the general public. So what would I do? I would suggest contacting somebody and having a chat, but going forward.
Speaker 2:There's also other things inside this as well. This was not just all about mental health. We were looking at actual your body health. Uh, guys out on the hill, guys working in the field, guys driving diggers, driving tractors, farmers it doesn't matter who you are, we all push ourselves to the limit. Now, if you're that type of person that literally goes, well, I'm going to keep going. I'll go and buy I don't know four cans of red bull a day, or I drink monster guys, this stuff ain't good for you, it really isn't. It's going to do real bad problems with you and I think the nurse mentions it, uh, later on in the podcast. So again, you've got one body. You need to take care of it. Yeah, you can drink your coffees and all the rest of it. Try and steer clear of those of highly processed stuff. Make time to stop. Get yourself a meal. I know it's not always easy, but it will benefit you in the long run.
Speaker 2:As I say, you're all youngsters now listening to this. Potentially there's a few of us that are older and there's a few even older guys listening to these podcasts, and if we could all go back to our younger days, we would probably change quite a lot of what we've done over that course of time. But with modern life, everything's fast, fast-paced and your body won't thank you for it. So go get a health check, even if you're in your 30s. Going and having your blood pressure checked, or going just to the doctors and getting a, asking them to do like an MOT on you. It's so worthwhile because in this day and age we're so quick and everything's moving so fast, you forget about these things and actually sometimes early diagnosis of a problem can save you a lot of issues and health issues in the future. So again.
Speaker 2:Listen to what the nurse has to say in this podcast. If you can get a chance to pop to the doctors, just ask them for a, for a routine checkup, a health check, and the difference that that can make to you. I know I have. I've my father passed away. As a young age, so from from pretty much 18, I spent time going to the doctors and having cholesterol checks done and stuff like that, and it you do find things and you can change the way that your, your life works. Yeah, as a youngster you kind of ignore it and go. I'm young and fit and I can cope with this. But it's worth knowing it in the background because, yeah, you, you get one chance, so make it a good one and make it a long one.
Speaker 2:Anyway, let's get on and listen to what the podcast was recorded at at schoon. I apologize now for the noise of the generator running in the background. It seems as though they stuck the gamekeeper's, welfare trust's tent right next to one of the big power generators, so for the entire day that that poor group literally had the drone of a generator running and I tried to get rid of most of it on the podcast, but it is still there in the background. So just before we start the podcast, I'm just going to give you a telephone number, which is Jamie's helpline, and that's 0, 3 0, 0, 1, 2, 3, 3, 0, 8, 8. Write that down, stick it on the back of a postcard, write it on the back of a sticker or something like that. You can either use it or hand it to somebody else. It is available.
Speaker 2:Hello and welcome to the outdoor given podcast. We're still at scoon and I thought we'd touch on a topic that no man ever wants to talk about, or wants to talk about sometimes, and that's obviously it can be mental health and health issues. So I'm actually sat here today on the Gamekeepers Welfare Trust and I've got two lovely ladies either side of me who are going to give us a little bit of what you can do and things like that. So we'll start off. If, basically, what does the Gamekeepers Welfare Trust do?
Speaker 3:Okay, well, I'm Helen from the Gamekeepers Welfare Trust do OK. Well, I'm Helen from the Gamekeepers Welfare Trust and we just support everybody about anything in the gamekeeping community.
Speaker 2:OK.
Speaker 3:So they may be gamekeepers, stalkers, gillies, allied professions, their families, and whether they are students starting out, whether they're in work or whether they're retired and in later life, fantastic, so every stage of life.
Speaker 2:It's one of those things, isn't it? We hear stories about it, especially in the rural community, about people. It's almost like you don't have anybody to turn to, and I think that's where we kind of need this, is where I think the trust helps. It's kind of that first call, isn't it?
Speaker 3:Yeah, kind of me. This is where I think the trust helps. It's it's kind of that first call, isn't it? Yeah, I think in all the rural community, um, support services, um are there for people and it's always a challenge, especially for men yep to feel that they can call and ask for help, because we're all proud, we're all stoical, we all think we can crack on and get on with it.
Speaker 2:Yes, yeah.
Speaker 3:But at some stage of life anyone needs help.
Speaker 2:A hundred percent and I think in this day and age you don't have to wear it all on your chest to pretend you're the strong person. Actually, just turn into a friend and say, look, I've got a problem. It's doable, but I think it's still. It's very difficult, especially, as you said, use men to to sort of break that barrier down yeah, and that's one of the reasons we've got the check-in with a mate campaign.
Speaker 3:Yep, so that is just to encourage people to talk yes, yeah, we, we see those stickers.
Speaker 2:If anybody doesn't know this, you can obviously get a sticker, stick it in the front of your motor, on the windscreen and it is. It's just give somebody a call. That that, just that phone call. Just touch and base. Being a keeper, being out on the hill, being a ghillie, it's a, it can be a. I think you mentioned it before in in one of the films we've seen with you.
Speaker 3:It's a lonely life yes, it is, it can be. You know, people like being on their own. They're sort of very self-reliant, yes, if they're in that kind of profession.
Speaker 2:But everybody needs somebody sometimes absolutely, and especially in this day and age. I think everybody's they feel very connected through social media, but actually you can be incredibly lonely at the same time, and I think it's probably more.
Speaker 3:How would I say it now is that now's the age where you actually do need to be checking in more with people we talk about being resilient yes and we've had campaigns in the past and continuing to do so about encouraging people to think about their networks, their family, their friends, the people that they can turn to when they need to Whether it's Gamekeepers, welfare Trust or whether it's another organisation and just know where they can turn to when they need it can turn to when they need it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and how does the Gamekeeper Welfare Trust work? Is it phone? Is there some way of contacting people?
Speaker 3:Yes, it's expanding all the time. Okay, our social media and all these networks have expanded over the years. So we have Jamie's Helpline, okay, so you can ring that at any time. Anybody can ring it 's. It can be just a listing service, so it can be just something that somebody wants to get something off the chest, or it may be information, it may be further support, and whether that's about anything to do with your job, anything to do with housing, because we live in tied houses, we're gamekeepers it might be financial problems, it might be relationship problems, it might be health problems and mental health is one of those, and it's very often people ring up about something else and then you can pick up that there's always an element of people struggling in one way or another, whether they recognise it or not.
Speaker 3:ring up about something else, okay, and then you can pick up that there's always an element of people struggling in one way or another, whether they recognize it or not yes, and so how?
Speaker 2:how is it? How's the chair, is it? I'm assuming it is a charity, and how is it funded?
Speaker 3:yeah, so yeah, we are a charity. We are funded by those who support us, really okay, so we don't have any government support or anything like that. It's just people who are fundraising or give us donations kindly, and that's how it works.
Speaker 2:So what we really need to say is everybody that's listening to this. It doesn't matter if you're not a keeper. Put something towards this. It's a crucially important charity in the shooting world.
Speaker 3:At the end of the day, I think the biggest thing, though, is if you are struggling for whatever reason, and you are not in a place to be thinking about where to get help. No, so you need a neighbor, a friend or a family member or a work colleague to point that out to you and remind them it's.
Speaker 2:Sometimes. It's really difficult, though, isn't it? Because I think that's the the biggest thing? Some people can hide it incredibly well. Yeah, and it's really difficult to pick out on. There's a problem yeah have it, having lost friends to it, you, you, you kind of kick yourself and you say, why didn't he just say something? Yeah, and it is, I think it's that chatting with a friend, it is ask that probing question and see what the response is. I think that's kind of a critical point.
Speaker 3:Be honest.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, and it's not nothing to be ashamed about. It's just let somebody know, because there might be help around the corner.
Speaker 3:Everybody has a period in their lives when they're struggling, one for one reason or another, and we're all on this continuum, like a, like a, you know a staircase, and sometimes people are at the top and sometimes people are at the bottom and sometimes the people are in the middle absolutely so.
Speaker 2:We're not. We're not going to dwell too much on on the mental health side of things, because obviously I think this podcast is following on from. We've actually talked to somebody, but I think it's really important we get that out there. But it's not just that. There's other health issues in there as well, so we need to. But then as men, we don't like going to the doctor, we don't like revealing that there's a problem or things like that, but there's, there's many things and I think it gets people and and heart disease is something that that that is critical. I've obviously got a nurse sat next to me who is going to be able to sort of say some of the things you can do or or have checked. That's actually going to potentially it's going to save your, because I think heart disease is known as the silent killer.
Speaker 4:Yeah, so what we're doing at the fairs and things in particular are checking your blood pressure, your pulse, your oxygen levels and your blood glucose. Your blood pressure you can have no symptoms at all, be completely unaware, but it's too high and your heart disease blood pressure is called the silent killer. For that reason We've done two, yeah, a couple so far where their blood pressure's been really high. So we've recommended they go to their GP, and I know one in particular from about a month ago and he's now got surgery at the end of the month for stents in his heart.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 4:So it's something he would have been completely unaware of, but inevitably he would have died from that and the consequences of it. So just coming in yet getting your blood pressure checked, even that chat then leads to other things that we can give you advice on. We are all registered nurses. Just some advice, what you can do, who can help you with your other problems, and there's lots of leaflets and advice we can give you about how to better your blood pressure, better your health and your diet. If you're out and about all the time yeah, you're just snacking, you're grabbing something quickly we can recommend what we would, what changes you can make to your diet rather than a quick I'd say a lot of keepers probably live on energy drinks, which are probably one of the worst things, but it is.
Speaker 2:It's that quick. We'll live by the garage, we'll buy something.
Speaker 4:Buy a chocolate, energy drink and a sandwich or a pie, and of course, all of those, all of those things are just adding to yeah, your collection, yeah, exactly that, and you're, obviously your job's, very physical, so that makes people can often then think that they're okay, like they're unaware that there there can still be things in the background even if you are that physical.
Speaker 2:It doesn't just balance the self out so you guys, you guys are kind of offering like a one-stop.
Speaker 4:It's like a bit of an mot yeah, that's what we're calling it get your mot. It'll take five, ten minutes, if that, and just that reassurance, because one getting a gp appointment can be near on impossible, especially for something just sort of this routine.
Speaker 2:Um, and yeah, just that peace of mind that everything's okay and yeah, and then we can advise if not and and put, obviously, yeah, then you can recommend that they go off to see their gd, the next line, the next port of call, because obviously sometimes symptoms don't always naturally show up in a blood pressure test or a blood oxygen test.
Speaker 4:No, yeah, what we're doing obviously isn't a full, a full workup, but it can, certainly it would, there's chances of it would show, if anything, your blood pressure too high, your pulse is too high, too low, or your blood sugar, um, if that's raised or low as well for diabetes they say it's it's men over 40 should really go and basically have like go and see the doctor and kind of have that blood test.
Speaker 2:But actually it's guys down as young as 30 go go to the doctor, have just asked for your bloods to be done.
Speaker 4:It's one of those yeah, just a routine check over that. Yeah, I think england are much better than scotland in doing that. They offer that annually. Scotland don't offer a search, but they will do it if you phone and say I would like this done. I just want to check over reassurance again.
Speaker 2:It's. It's one of those things, guys or girls, that you might be listening to. This. It's so critical. I know I was diagnosed with high blood pressure and I've gone through almost two years to get to the right point, to actually get it under control. So I can speak from my own personal experience. How important is it? So, yeah, back to the uh helen from the gamekeeper wealth well, I can't say it. Welfare, trust. Is there any other things we should know?
Speaker 3:yeah, because we've been building on on all our health services over the last few years, so we have a nurse advice clinic, health, health and well-being hub. So you can ring up or you can go online and you can make an appointment and speak to a nurse Right, it's one of our team Fantastic About anything. So it might be a family member, it might be a child rash, it might be a back problem, it might be a diagnosis that you've had and you're feeling bewildered or unsure, or or just you know someone to talk to in between appointments. And, and the important thing as well, is that, although our nurses are nhs, registered nurses and ots and and other professionals, our service is not affiliated to your doctor, so it does not go back on your records okay, I think that's what a lot of people are fearing, isn't it?
Speaker 2:huge body for everyone, yeah we, we all now have firearms and shotgun certificates and the whole thing is you have a flag on there and if suddenly something gets ticked, that could be your job or your livelihood. So, as I say, if you are worried, this is obviously a fantastic way of actually talking to somebody without a GP or a nurse, jumping to conclusions and ticking their own box at the end of the day, yeah, not only that, but it is hard to get an appointment in certain places, isn't it oh?
Speaker 4:yeah, especially with a GP, or yeah, working as a nurse and a GP practice.
Speaker 3:I know that we're fully booked for a very long period of time and you can do this at night or weekends, which you know, if something crops up over a weekend or or a need and it's, it's really difficult and it's not looking to people who know the job, know what's excited of you, what you're doing.
Speaker 4:Rather, if you speak to an us or gp who is could be against shooting like fish and all these sort of like 100 is someone who's with you and what you're doing and knows what your job is.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think scotland we're quite lucky because a lot of the gp surgeries and practices are quite, they're quite supportive because the field sports are still a big thing. But I know there are guys down in england that will be listening to this, that they do struggle and and there are GP surgeries that won't even do their firearms application anymore.
Speaker 3:Yeah, exactly, and the other thing that we do offer is counselling. So we will fund counselling from our own team or people that we trust, which again will not go back to your doctor. If you are concerned and again it might just be that there's long waiting lists and you need it now- yeah, 100%, yeah, 100% of.
Speaker 2:I think it's really important that. Yeah, it's a great service. It's out there. So if you can help, it, do, but if you need to use it, use it exactly so, yeah, I'm not going to keep this as a very long podcast.
Speaker 2:We're going to keep it short and sweet, but it is it's right to the point it needs to be. If you've got a problem, guys, don't hide it, get out there, talk to somebody. Even if you need to just speak to somebody in confidence, this is the place to do it. Yeah, thank you ever so much. Thank you and, uh, thank you for letting me do this in a busy middle of the busy show, while there's people that trying to come onto the stand thank you there's nothing more important than health.
Speaker 3:At the end of the day, you can't do your job if you're not healthy you get to let you get one life, so make sure it's a healthyine.
Speaker 2:Now, if you do need to call that, the telephone 888-1300-123-3088. And obviously that's a listening service and, yeah, I think it's all very, very confidential, but it's worth having that number. If there is any points raised in that or anything that you're thinking about that you are worried about, be it your health, mental state, anything along those lines get in touch with the Gamekeepers Welfare Trust, call a friend, chat to somebody If you need to go and see the doctor regarding your health. As I said to you, these things are important. You might not think about it, you might just push on, but eventually something comes and snaps and causes you problems.
Speaker 2:Mental health is a big topic and, again, we're very poor at talking about it. So get in contact, get talking to somebody and maybe that you can get a resolve and a problem solved with no intervention, no other issues, and that way you will carry on and lead a healthy life. So I'll put some links in the description and hopefully you can work with that. But, as I said to you, it's really important. We're all in this together. We're all working through many things. We're all worried about our firearms licenses and everything that goes with it. But if you talk to people, that can make a huge difference. We will be talking more on mental health in a later podcast. Uh, we're actually going to chat to somebody who's gone through the ringer with it and come out the other side a much better person, but obviously it still has has its issues. So stay tuned for that one and uh, yeah, thanks very much for listening and we'll catch you on the next one.