Thursday, 21 July 2011

Farmers don’t get sick – do they? An award-winning farmer talks about how he overcame the “hard man” stereotype to take care of himself on The Nutters Club this week.

Ken and Sue Ballantyne won four categories for excellence in the 2010 Horizons Ballance Farm Environment Awards. A hardworking King Country farmer, Ken never dreamt depression could be the cause of his physical problems. Instead of caring for his own well-being, Ken just thought he was overdoing it – until he found himself admitted to the mental health ward at Rotorua Hospital.

Ken and his wife Sue talks to The Nutters Club co-hosts Mike King and psychiatrist Dr David Codyre about depression, managing bi-polar and life on the farm this Friday at 10.30PM.

“Shooting the episode with Ken and Sue in the studio had lighter moments as well as some hard truths,” says series director Marcus Clayton.

“We knew it was a brave move for the couple to appear on camera to share their story of beating this condition together – and that took some guts. Farmers can be a stoical bunch, but by speaking out about the isolation and despair Ken felt, and how he got through it, he hopes to help others in the same situation.”

Ken adds, “I hope that by Sue and I speaking out, other people who are in the deepest, darkest hole that depression is, will realise with the right help from family, medical professionals and councillors there is hope, and people get over depression and lead normal lives.”

The Nutters Club with Mike King is a weekly radio show on RadioLIVE, Sundays at 8pm, filmed and produced by Top Shelf Productions for Maori Television where it screens on Fridays at 10.30PM. The Nutters Club Facebook page provides a forum for those with mental health issues and the book, The Nutters Club with Mike King is in all good bookstores now.

ENDS

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