Supporting Mental Well-Being of Farmers and Their Families

“As part of our ongoing effort to address farm stress in rural agricultural communities, the Mountain Plains Mental Health Technology Transfer Center (MHTTC), in collaboration with Colorado AgrAbility Project, is proud to present Supporting Mental Well-Being of Farmers and Their Families, a training on suicide awareness and prevention for rural mental health counselors and rural behavioral health providers.

Our producers work in high-stress, variable environments with careers and income dependent on weather conditions, variable commodity pricing, tariffs, and more. As a result, many farmers (to include owners, producers, ranchers, and seasonal workers) experience significant stress that can challenge their mental well-being. This session will provide a clear and relevant definition of farm stress and explain how farm owners, ranchers, agricultural workers, and migrant farmers experience farm stress and what rural behavioral health providers can do to reduce farm/ranch stress and to prevent suicide. Dr. Andrew McLean, a clinical professor and chair of the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Science at the University of North Dakota School of Medicine and Health Sciences, will discuss the prevalence of mental illness (to include substance misuse), as well as barriers to mental health care access, and utilization among rural and agricultural communities. Additional topics include specific information about how to prevent and screen for the risk of suicide; and behavioral health care prevention and treatment models that have worked for rural agricultural communities.”

Register at: https://wiche.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_IxFnLDNPRBGEHiRY4aCocw