The Royal Forestry Society's Breaking Points survey report highlights the mental health crisis within both forestry and arboriculture industries.

Reflecting on his own struggle with mental health, Nick Adams, a forestry contractor and a policy committee vice-chair at the Forestry Contracting Association, says:

"I’d always thought I could just push through. There was a moment I realised the job was going to kill me if I didn’t change something. There is only so much someone can take before they pack it in and leave the industry or worse. Unfortunately, the problems are not new; they’re decades old.”

The report finds that among arborists, 92% report safety risks as a primary stressor and 56%, the highest of any role group, report emotional or mental health struggles. 

In collaboration with other forestry organisations such as the Forestry Commission, the report has collected data from 500 professionals last year, including forestry contractors, arborists, manual forestry workers and forest managers.

Overall, 76% were found to cite financial issues as their top stressor, while only 43% have someone they trust to talk to about anxieties.

While official data shows suicides have risen over the last 15 years while middle-aged men are at a heightened risk of poor mental health, the survey looks to warn this is "especially relevant to forestry where many workers fall into this demographic and experience the compounding stressors of lone working and the transient nature of job roles."

Christopher Williams, chief executive of the Wellbeing in Forestry Group says, "this report outlines the scale of the challenges for those working in forestry and identifies opportunities to better support them and strengthen their resilience."

Breaking Points is part of the Wellbeing in Forestry programme, which is a larger group including includes the Confederation of Forest Industries, Forestry  Commission, Forestry Contracting Association, Forest Industry Safety Accord, Institute of Chartered Foresters, the Royal Agricultural Benevolent Institution, the Royal Scottish Forestry Society, the Small Woods Association and private sector consultants and contractors.

Read the entire report here.