The Commodity Classic trade show in partnership with the National Association of Farm Broadcasting has produced a program called “Mental Health on the Farm.”
Mental health practitioner Ted Matthews says stress is normal for farmers.
“Every farmer has stress. It’s just a matter of how they handle it. And, how much can you handle, well, you don’t want to find out at the end how much you can handle, you want to you want to accept the fact that it’s stressful and start looking at what can I do to lower that stress right away. Because the more it builds, the higher the potential for it goes too far and. And of course, sometimes that ends up in suicide and that’s the last place we want it to go.”
Matthews says it’s important the conversation focuses on improving mental health.
“First thing I do is I tell them we’re talking about mental health, not mental illness. The focus needs to be on that understanding because the reason a lot of times farmers don’t seek help until far too late, is because they say I’m not crazy, you know, I can handle this and it’s like, so why wouldn’t you want to lower your stress beforehand and the reason is they think mental illness and they think they’re not crazy, so they don’t do it, they won’t do it. So, don’t make it something that says, there has to be something really wrong with me in order to deal with and to lower my stress and anxiety and depression.”
Kansas famer Lowell Neitzel says he learned mental health is an important topic after watching his father suffer with depression for years, dealing with depression and anxiety himself and seeing fellow farmers struggling as well.
“You know, as farmers we’re supposed to be these tough guys and we just run hard all the time and nothing can take us down. But, you know, we have so much, so much worry and so much stuff on the plate that sometimes we just can’t handle it all at once. And it is refreshing to have people I look to in my community as role models and leaders to say hey, I’ve been in your position too and it was really eye opening and nice to hear that they’d been in my situation too and I wasn’t alone.”
Adrienne DeSutter is part of her husband’s fourth generation corn and soybean farm family and holds a Master’s degree in Counseling. She says while the data behind farmer suicides makes heads turn, the community impact is what hits home.
“That’s, to me, the biggest message, the biggest statistic, is that this is all of us, this is our communities, these aren’t just numbers, these are farmers we know and people and families that we know, and this is us. You know, this is us. We’re living this stress, suicide doesn’t just happen, it’s not just one bad thing happens, it’s a build of stress and issues and mental health conditions that haven’t been addressed properly sometimes. So, it’s something that as a community we really need to make sure we are paying attention to, are watching for signs we’re being vigilant for each other because that’s what agriculture does, we’re ready to step up to that and help each other out when we need to, and mental health is really no different.”
You can listen to “Mental Health on the Farm” by downloading it as a KGFX Beyond the Mic podcast (there is no fee) or by using this link www.drgnews.com.
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