A helping hand when trauma hits: Embrace Farm’s support

‘NOTHING prepares you for that phone call.’

Catherine Kenneally knows well the experience of sudden loss. In January 2017, Catherine, who is from Ballymacrown townland outside Baltimore, lost her mother Mary in a car accident on the Skibbereen to Lough Hyne road.

‘I was living up the county at the time and I got a call telling me the news. There’s nothing can prepare you for that shock,’ says Catherine, who is better known by her maiden name, Catherine Collins, in West Cork.

Catherine lives in Tipperary these days with her husband their two-year-old daughter but she comes from a farm background in Baltimore. She and her siblings grew up in a family farm in Ballymacrown with her dad Michael and mam Mary. Her dad died three years ago.

But this isn’t simply a story of loss: it’s a story of hope, and support, and the life-affirming work carried out by Embrace Farm.

Catherine’s experiences of sudden loss help her to understand and empathise with clients of Embrace Farm, the organisation she now works for.

Embrace Farm is a not-for-profit organisation which tries to help farm families across the country in the aftermath of a serious injury and sudden death. The organisation has engaged more than 400 farm families with its comforting and supportive embrace along with practical support in the aftermath of a traumatic incident.

Like Catherine, many of the other members of Embrace have their own stories of sudden loss. The organisation was founded in 2014 by Brian and Norma Rohan from a farming family from Shanahoe, Co Laois.

Brian lost his father Liam to a sudden farm accident in 2013.

Liam, a popular and respected farmer had represented Ireland many times at World Ploughing Championships. He suffered a severe blow to his head while carrying out repair work on machinery. Liam was on life support but died some days later.

The Rohans’ experienced great and invaluable support from neighbours and friends but realised there was little or no emotional or practical support networks available to farm families suffering such loss, and the seeds of Embrace were sown.

‘Usually, people haven’t heard of Embrace unless they actually have to use the service,’ says Catherine.

The Embrace approach is two-pronged, she explains.

‘We try to provide comfort to the family over the loss they have. That could involve help with counselling and other emotional support,’ says Catherine.

‘But when someone dies in a traumatic incident you also have a sudden loss of knowledge when that person dies, you can have a sudden loss of income.’ There can be legal questions facing the surviving family, like succession. Embrace can provide support in these areas too.

Embrace has helped dozens of families in West Cork dealing with the emotional and practical supports, says Catherine.

Last Sunday, June 30th, Embrace Farm held its annual ecumenical remembrance service, inviting farm families to remember loved ones lost within their community.

Over the past decade, this service has become an important event, honouring those who have died suddenly and providing comfort for their families. This year, the service will be broadcast on RTÉ One on Sunday, July 7 at 11am.

Last year, almost 300 names were honoured in the roll call.

‘Sometimes people will send their remembrances that have happened many years before, from as far back as the 1950s,’ says
Catherine.

Each name is read aloud at the ecumenical service. ‘The service is for people of any religion or no religion. It’s for everyone,’ says Catherine, who was back home in West Cork last week for the ‘Living with Loss’ event organised by the West Cork Bereavement Network, which showcased the many services available locally.