Mental Health

Farmers and ranchers deal with a lot of uncertainty in a good year. Add to that current low commodity prices, trade wars, extreme weather, and now a pandemic. Coping with the stress of everything happening around us is not easy. AgriSafe is collaborating to bring information and resources to farmers and ranchers to raise awareness and offer guidance in the midst of difficult situations.

Webinars

Tools to Help Manage Financial Risk for Livestock Producers (Continuing Education: Multiple Disciplines)
Changing climate, market conditions, and many other factors impact the work and health of livestock producers, ranchers, and farmers. When a natural disaster is added on top of other stressors, support from a variety of sources is needed. This webinar will focus on the USDA Disaster Assistance Programs available to support producers who are raising livestock.
The Impact of Climate-Related Hazards on Mental Health
Extreme weather and climate events can lead to negative human health outcomes. Although the initial outcomes from these natural hazards are typically obvious, the long lasting impacts can be more difficult to identify because of the diversity of potential health burdens during the recovery phase. Mental health outcomes are one of the more complex relationships with natural hazards. The goal of this presentation is to build the link between human health and extreme weather and climate events. The discussion will be focused on rural populations.
The Healing Capacity of Honey Bees: Veterans Using Beekeeping as a Modality to Achieve Positive Mental Health Outcomes
Veterans deal with a whole host of disabilities, traumas, and transitional issues following military service. Agriculture can serve as a solution to many veteran issues through professional training to support career goals and therapeutic activities to support overall wellness of the veteran and their families. Crosscutting programs like Heroes to Hives seek to address these multifaceted needs through professional training in beekeeping and transpersonal wellness practices within the course that seek to utilize bees and the interaction with them as modalities for positive health outcomes. In this session, we will discuss how Heroes to Hives delivers wellness opportunities and practices to their students.
Talking to Farmers About Pain
The occupational hazards that farmers face put them at greater risk for acute and chronic pain as a result of ergonomic repetition, accident, or surgical procedure. Addressing specific occupational sources of pain and what activities the pain inhibits are crucial to improving treatment. This module will focus on how to transform the conversation between provider and patient to improve health outcomes and patient satisfaction.
Tackling Tough Clinical Conversations
Many healthcare providers report that addressing behavioral health and substance use issues are one of the most challenging areas of their practice. Providers are unsure how to address these issues and yet they are in a prime position to reduce the negative outcomes related to behavioral health problems. This is especially true in rural areas where agricultural workers are found to have higher rates of suicide, depression, and substance use. This webinar will focus on how healthcare providers can start the conversations necessary to identify and treat behavioral health problems.
Stress Control Strategies for the Forestry and Timber Workforce
Stress can directly impact safety. Whether managing forestry wildfires or working long strenuous days harvesting and hauling timber, the forestry and logging workforce face unique situations that can predispose stress and challenges to mental well-being. The agriculture, forestry, fishing, and hunting (AgFF) industries has one of highest percentages of deaths by suicide. Key factors contributing to despair and distress include financial losses, chronic illness or pain, a sense of work-life imbalance, and lack of mental health support. And it is common to encounter circumstances beyond their control, such as unpredictable weather patterns, rapidly changing prices, and long workdays sometimes in isolation. Perceived lack of control can lead to helplessness and hopelessness, anxiety, depression, substance use and suicide. This session will explore the topic with a review of specific risk factors, and discuss ways to support this workforce in an unpredictable environment.
Stress and Dairy Farming: Challenging Times in the Dairy Industry Pave the Way for Mental Health Struggles
The dairy industry has been struggling with low milk prices, infrastructure problems, trade issues, and isolation for several years. Small family farms have been going out of business faster than any time in recent history and even milk cooperatives that buy milk from the farms have claimed bankruptcy. At the start of 2020, the end of the four-year milk price nightmare was starting to come to an end and producers saw the light at the end of the tunnel to start digging themselves out of. Then COVID-19 hit. This pandemic rocked the system in an unprecedented and unpredicted way. With this comes intense farm stress, despair, and desperation for many. Understanding how the system works – or doesn’t – is important because dairy producers work 24/7/365 to provide our families a safe and nutritious food. The very least we can give them is an attempt to understand and help them when they need it.
Stepping Boldly into Tough Conversations (Continuing Education: Multiple Disciplines)
Difficult conversations are something that people rarely look forward to. The reality is ignoring a situation and hoping that it will resolve itself, rarely works. Join us to learn how to confidently step into a tough conversation and promote open communication.
Sleepless in America
The U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention now identifies sleep deficiency as a public health problem. Sleep affects every moment of our daily lives, from how we think and remember to how our bodies thrive or deteriorate. It determines how we deal with stress, make choices related to safety, and function as human beings. While most health education tends to focus on nutrition and activity, sleep is arguably the single most important factor in maintaining a healthy lifestyle, and lack of it causes a significantly reduced quality of life. This presenter proposes that we prioritize sleep and improve daily sleep hygiene to enhance every facet of our well-being.​ Intended audience: All adults can benefit
Safety Sensitivity of Opioid Use in High Hazardous Industries Such as Agriculture
The American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine released recommendations for opioid prescribing based on safety-sensitive occupations. Safety-sensitive work is typically classified as operating motor vehicles, modes of transportation, other heavy machinery, or tasks requiring high levels of cognitive function or judgment. Farm duties frequently demand the use of heavy machinery, and concurrent use of narcotics alongside safety-sensitive work can be dangerous. This training educates healthcare providers on how to assess occupational agricultural risks and corresponding patient guidance for those who are taking opioid medications.