Rural Minds Founder Jeff Winton Featured: Programs Fight Stigma to Promote Mental Health - Iowa Farmer Today
Forty years ago, the nation was dealing with the onset of an historic crisis with the farm economy. Land was foreclosed, livestock were sold and people left the farm for the city.
And sadly, farmers were dying by suicide, partly because they didn't know how to deal with the impact.
It is better now, but a great deal of work remains to be done to ensure rural residents have adequate access to mental health care.
“Iowa is 45th in the nation when it comes to mental health providers per capita,” says David Brown, Extension behavioral specialist with Iowa State University. “Fifty percent of Iowans live in areas where mental health care is not very accessPible. Things have gotten better, but a lot of work remains.”