Rural Mental Health Connections Webinar Series

JOLIE FOREMAN
Executive Director, Shelby County Cares

THOMAS EISENBARTH
Kansas farmer, rancher, and founder of Grounded ag

Farming is more than a livelihood – it’s a way of life shaped by hard work, resilience, and uncertainty. Financial pressures, unpredictable weather patterns, long hours, and isolation can take a serious toll on mental health. Yet, many farmers face additional barriers to getting the support they need, including limited access to mental healthcare, privacy concerns, stigma, and a culture that often values self-reliance over asking for help.

These challenges can contribute to an increase in stress, anxiety, depression, substance use, and suicides. Farmers are 3.5 times more likely to die by suicide compared to the general population.

Dr. PRAVESH SHARMA, MD
Associate Professor of Psychiatry & Psychology - Mayo Clinic College of Medicine and Science

HEATHER MAJEWSKI
Founder - Quantum Wellness

Women living in rural America face unique challenges related to alcohol use disorder (AUD). Economic stress and social isolation can increase vulnerability for alcohol misuse. Stigma surrounding AUD is greater due to a lack of anonymity, limited access to treatment, and social norms that discourage seeking help. As we approach the holidays, it is important to recognize that this season can exacerbate AUD due to a combination of stress from additional expenses, social pressures, and personal expectations, along with increased alcohol availability.

This one-hour webinar features Heather Majewski sharing her lived experience of managing her alcohol use disorder that began when she was a teenager living in a small town in a rural area. We will also hear from Mayo Clinic’s Dr. Pravesh Sharma about his work leading a project funded by the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) and Mayo Clinic Research to improve patient-centered research with women who misuse alcohol.

DR. ERIC ARZUBI, MD
CEO & FOUNDER - Frontier Psychiatry

ASHETON MEDLIN
STUDENT - University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

This webinar features Asheton Medlin sharing her personal experience with stigma surrounding mental illness and barriers to mental health that are unique to growing up in a rural community.

The presentation also features Dr. Eric Arzubi, CEO and Co-Founder of Frontier Psychiatry in Billings MT. He speaks about his observations as a psychiatrist treating adolescents living in rural communities throughout Montana, Idaho, and Alaska.

In addition, Adriel McMahan, Rural Minds’ lead on the Rural Teen & Young Adult Mental Health pilot program, will provide an update on the initiative and plans for the program’s national launch.

DR. KEISHA RENEÉ CALLINS, MD, MPH - OB/GYN - Community Health Care Systems, Inc.

Carrie E. Banks, MS, PMH-C - Postpartum Support International - Peer Support Programs Director

This webinar features Dr. Keisha Reneé Callins, a physician, public health professional, and obstetrician/gynecologist, discussing how she works with mothers to manage postpartum depression. She is committed to providing women's healthcare services, especially in rural and underserved areas of Georgia.

Joining the webinar speak from her experience with living in rural America and managing postpartum depression is Carrie Banks, Peer Support Programs Director at Postpartum Support International.

DR. MADELAINE FELDMAN, Rheumatologist - New Orleans, Louisiana; Vice President of Advocacy and Government Affairs - Coalition of State Rheumatology Organizations

ALFRED PENCE, Pharmacist - Stanford, Kentucky

This webinar features a panel discussion regarding access to medications. Getting access to the medications you need shouldn’t be hard. Unfortunately, health insurance companies and pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) keep adding new obstacles that patients have to overcome just to get the medications they need at their local pharmacy. Learn more about how we can change the current system by limiting the control of these dominant healthcare organizations.

CANDACE DEMATTEIS, Policy Director for the Partnership to Fight Chronic Disease (PFCD)

This webinar features a presentation on the current Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), which includes drug price-setting provisions that will result in less research for new medicines that can be prescribed in a pill or capsule form. Known as the “pill penalty,” this one piece of the IRA threatens the development of future breakthrough drugs that treat mental illnesses, cancer, and many other diseases.

JOEL WHITE, President, Council for Affordable Health Coverage

This webinar features a presentation on The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), one of the most consequential healthcare laws since the Affordable Care Act was signed into law, and the biggest change to Medicare coverage since the creation of Medicare Part D in 2003.

Webinar viewers will gain an understanding of how to access these new benefits and the potential unintended consequences of these changes.

TODD DONOVAN, President, Board of Directors, National Alliance on Mental Illness-New Hampshire

DR. MARK FRYE, Psychiatrist, Mayo Clinic

This webinar features Todd Donovan, President of the Board of Directors, National Alliance on Mental Illness – New Hampshire, sharing his lived experience managing tardive dyskinesia in his rural community. It also features Dr. Mark Frye, a psychiatrist with Mayo Clinic, providing medical expertise and perspective on screening for TD and managing the condition when living in a rural area.

DAVE ROBERTS, Member, National Grange e-Membership Working Group; Executive Committee Administrator and Treasurer, National Grange’s Nations Council of Organizations

SUSAN HANKS, President - Rio Linda Grange ; CFO/Treasurer - California State Grange

This webinar features a conversation about the Rural Mental Health Resilience Program and demonstrations of how to easily access program materials.

CHRISA HICKEY,
Author, speaker and mental health advocate

MONICA TAYLOR-DESIR, MD, MPHPsychiatrist, Mayo Clinic

This webinar presents one woman’s lived experience with managing her adult son’s mental illness and overcoming barriers to mental healthcare in rural Wisconsin, and a community psychiatrist sharing her expertise treating patients in rural America.

BECKY WISEMAN, LCSW-R
NY FarmNet Family Consultant Case Supervisor

This webinar provides suicide awareness and prevention training from Becky Wiseman, LCSW-R, a mental health professional with an approach that’s relevant to people living in rural communities.

JOSEPH DZIERZEWSKI, PhD
National Sleep Foundation 

DAWN GRITTMAN, PharmD, CPHQ
National Alliance on Mental Illness

EM SKEHILL
Mental Health America

This webinar focuses on the mental and physical health benefits of sunlight, sleep, nutrition, exercise and mindfulness. We will also share tips about how to help boost mind and body wellness.ere

TRAVIS CARLSON
Writer and Filmmaker

BRITTNEE HENRY
Mental Health Caregiver and Advocate Communications and Marketing Professional

This webinar features two rural caregivers sharing their stories of lived experience providing care for their loved ones, and free resources for the mental wellness of rural caregivers

MONICA KRAMER McCONKEY, Professional Counselor

NATHAN LAWSON, Farmer and Rural Mental Health Advocate

This webinar features people from rural America sharing their experiences of being personally impacted by suicide, information to help prevent suicide and free resources for rural mental health and suicide awareness and prevention.

FOUNDER, TUGS

Pete Pompper, National Grange Community Service Director, provides an overview of the National Grange and the partnership with Rural Minds to provide mental health resources to rural communities. Jeff “Ditz” Ditzenberger, a Wisconsin farmer who shares about his personal experience with attempting suicide, living with mental illness, and founding TUGS, a mental health nonprofit.

PANEL OF MENTAL HEALTH PROFESSIONALS

Content for this webinar focused on the power of sharing lived experience and confronting mental health challenges. In addition to a personal story about overcoming mental illness and attempted suicide, the event featured medical validation of the benefits of peer support for mental health and access to relevant information and services.

Speakers: Jeff "Ditz" Ditzenberger (TUGS), Mark A Frye, MD and Pravesh Sharma, MD (both from Mayo Clinic), Michael Pollock (DBSA), Jeff Winton (Rural Minds)