Forty-eight hours in September 2012 contained one of a farming family’s happiest days and one of its most tragic.

Brooks Winton’s older brother, Toby, had just gotten married, and the extended family had gathered to celebrate.

Two days later, Brooks, 28, took his own life, leaving behind a wife and 3-year-old twins.

“He gave me a big hug as I was leaving the wedding reception and said, ‘Uncle Jeff, I just want you to know I so appreciate everything you’ve done for my family and me,’” said New York dairy farmer Jeff Winton.

“I didn’t think anything of it because he was a very grateful, very appreciative young man that always went out of his way to thank people for things,” Winton said. “But little did I know he was saying goodbye to me.”

Rural Minds founder and chairman Jeffrey Winton of Mayville in Chautauqua County is building connections for mental health services across rural America. Winton was the keynote speaker Wednesday at Trauma Symposium 2024 presented by the Cattaraugus County Trauma Informed Coalition in the Dresser-Rand Auditorium at the John J. Murphy Professional Building. The seeds for Rural Minds were planted on Sept. 3, 2012, with the death of his nephew, Winton said.  A Chautauqua County native, Winton’s life changed along with the rest of his family 12 years ago when his 28-year-old nephew Brooks, the father of three-year-old twins, took his own life.

Jeff Winton, Rural Minds Founder and Chairman, discusses the mental health emergency impacting rural America.

Having grown up on his family’s dairy operation on the banks of Lake Erie in Chautauqua County, NY, Jeff Winton ’80 is acutely familiar with the plight of the American farmer. The isolation. The unpredictability of climate. The misconception that farm life is carefree and relaxing, when in reality it’s demanding and often backbreaking work. And, especially, the ingrained belief that farmers should be able to solve their own problems—even when it comes to internal struggles, which they seldom admit out loud.

In this STtalks episode, we discuss the topic of mental health in rural communities with Jeff Winton, CEO & Founder of Rural Minds. This non-profit organization works to provide the right resources needed in rural communities to assist those who are seeking help. With the Holiday Season upon us and while we are in the midst of our winter season, it was important to us to visit on the topic of mental health.

MAYVILLE — America’s mental health crisis became personal for Jeff Winton of Wall Street Dairy in 2012 when his nephew, Brooks, committed suicide. “It was very sudden and we had no idea he was struggling,” Winton said. “It caught us off guard. In rural America, we don’t always talk about our struggles.” A few years later, Winton became the founder of the nonprofit Rural Minds. He credited the idea for the nonprofit — with its main goal to help those in rural areas who are suffering with mental health needs — to his late mother.

Despite significantly higher rates of suicide among rural residents, mental health resources in rural Kansas continue to be lacking, panelists in Dodge City said last week. Chuck Strand of Rural Minds, a national non-profit, said self-reliance can be a challenge and an opportunity. "Someone mentioned the challenge of people in rural communities being very self-reliant and do-it-yourself," Strand said. "That mindset can be necessary to survive and thrive in rural communities, but it can be a real challenge when that mindset is driving a response to a mental health challenge or a potential mental illness." Rural Minds offers the information and resources so people can do it themselves, he said. Rural communities have a lack of access to both mental and physical health providers, Strand said. Telehealth has filled some of that gap. However, 30 percent of rural homes don't have access to reliable internet access.

Growing up on a dairy farm in upstate New York, where the nearest town had a population of about 500 people, I have firsthand perspective on living in rural America. Rural communities are typically small and friendly — and the people are fiercely independent, yet quick to come together and help their neighbors in need. Over the years, however, I was aware that there was something going on in my small farming community that people kept hidden — a taboo topic. As I eventually discovered that there were people in my community who had a relative or a friend living with an untreated mental illness, such as depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder or schizophrenia. Yet, their struggles were met with silence because in this community — like in much of rural America — there was little information and few, if any, resources available.

Asked to picture rural America, most will conjure bucolic images of rolling hills, green meadows, and livestock peacefully grazing on pasture, dotted by the silhouettes of the hardworking, salt-of-the-Earth folks who work the countryside. These communities, however, conceal a darker secret. Having grown up on a dairy farm in upstate New York, where the closest town was populated by a mere 500 people, I am a rural American. My firsthand perspective was shaped by living in a small community of industrious, independent, resilient people who were kind and quick to lend a hand.

With the session hall packed chair-to-chair at the 156th Annual Convention of the National Grange, President Betsy Huber introduced the founder and CEO of Rural Minds Jeff Winton. Rural Minds is on a mission to be the informed voice for mental health in rural America and seeks to provide mental health information and resources. Roughly 65 million Americans live in rural areas. Rural Minds’ vision is a rural America with no more silence, suffering or stigma around mental health. November 17 is National Rural Health Day and it was an eye-opening presentation on how big of an issue this has become. Who better to partner with than the National Grange whose roots are in the heart of rural America?

In recent years, a number of organizations have started to focus more on mental health – and mental health resources – for people living in rural America. We talk with Jeff Winton, Founder of Rural Minds, about some of the barriers that are unique to rural residents when it comes to seeking mental health services and how his company is helping to improve mental health resources in rural areas.