A major barrier to individuals seeking help in rural communities is the stigma often associated with mental health challenges. Rural Minds is working to confront the stigma through people talking about their personal, lived experiences with mental illness.

“Sharing the burden of mental illness and life experiences can be really, really powerful,” said Dr. Mark A. Fry, consultant in the Department of Psychiatry and Psychology at Mayo Clinic. “As a psychiatrist, I would tell you it’s a critically important part of the overall treatment plan. In my opinion, the concept of providing peer support – sharing lived experiences with mental illness and supporting each other – really is invaluable.”

In our quest to help end the silence, stigma, and suffering that surround mental illness, Rural Minds is partnering with the National Grange to address the current mental health emergency in rural America. Compared to people who live in urban areas, residents of rural communities have higher rates of depression and suicide, but are less likely to access mental healthcare services. Studies have also indicated that suicide rates among people who live in rural counties are 25% higher than people who live in major metropolitan areas. Our aim in collaborating with the Grange is to develop a grassroots, person-to-person approach to providing people who live in rural communities with mental health and suicide prevention information by working with local Granges, civic groups, and community leaders across the country.

The new “Rural Mental Health Connections Webinar Series” will focus on the mental health and wellness needs of people living outside urban and suburban areas. Each webinar will be one-hour in length featuring someone sharing their personal experience of living with mental illness in rural America and overcoming barriers and mental health challenges. Each event will also include educational content presented by mental health industry experts, interaction with online audience participants during Q&A sessions, and helpful mental health information and resources available online at no charge. To learn more about each webinar in the series and free registration, click here.

When a rural family gathered for a weekend wedding in 2012, they never anticipated that, 48 hours later, the celebration would end in the death by suicide of the beloved brother of the groom. The tragedy led his courageous grandmother to make a radical decision.