Rural Minds Featured in Good Day Magazine – The National Grange
For much too long, discussions around mental illness in rural communities have been taboo while this silent epidemic continues to ravage rural America. Rates for depression are higher for rural residents compared to those in urban areas, and suicide rates among people living in rural counties are 25 percent higher than those in major metropolitan areas. Rural Minds™ is a new nonprofit that aims to end the suffering, silence, and stigma around mental illness in rural America.
The seeds for Rural Minds were sown from the personal tragedy experienced by founder and chairman Jeff Winton when his beloved 28-year-old nephew, Brooks, died by suicide. Brooks was the father of three-year-old twins and worked on Jeff’s dairy farm in rural upstate New York, where Jeff also grew up.