Mental Health in Rural America: Rural Minds - The Daily Review
Farmer’s are two to four percent more likely to die by suicide than any other occupation. A statistic Jeff Winton is all too familiar with after losing his own nephew, a dairy farmer, to suicide. After this event, Jeff created the non-profit organization Rural Minds, whose mission is to advocate for mental health awareness in rural America and to provide resources and information to those who need it.
Mental health care is hard to receive in rural areas with 65% of rural counties having no psychiatrist. While tele-health has become an increasingly popular option, 30% of rural families have no internet access. Even with a psychiatrist available, a stigma exists within rural America that hinders people from seeking help. Jeff Winton, while talking about the stigma surrounding rural mental health, said “I’ve been told by a number of farming families, is that even if one (psychiatrist) is available, because everybody knows everybody’s business and everybody knows what kind of pick-up truck they drive or what kind of car they drive, that they don’t want their vehicle being parked outside the mental health clinic.” He went on to explain how word travels fast in rural areas and soon everyone would know who was at the clinic needing help. Winton included the quote “... from rural America, we’re taught from the time we’re young to not talk about our problems, to pull ourselves up by our boot straps, to get over our issues and not burden anyone else with them. Now we have this growing issue, as you saw on our website, with the statistic that people in rural America are 65% more likely to die by suicide.”