Fighting Farm Stress – FarmProgress
Mental health education can reduce the risk of opioid addiction among farmers and ranchers.
By Kathleen Forman
Why are farmers disproportionately at risk for poor mental health, opioid addiction, and even suicide? That's a question David Buys, Mississippi State University associate professor and Mississippi’s state health specialist, seeks to answer through an initiative he's leading.
By digging deep to find the root cause, Buys believes steps can be taken to manage the mental health risks farmers face.
Buys began examining addiction and mental health in farmers and ranchers in 2017 through grants provided by the United States Department of Agriculture and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. After a report from the American Farm Bureau Federation the same year revealed three out of four farmers and farm workers in the United States say they have been impacted by opioid addiction., Buys and his team focused on that issue. From this focus-shift, the Preventing Opioid Misuse in the Southeast (PROMISE) Initiative was born.