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.

The Ross Grange in Falconer is inviting the public to a meeting on Monday to talk about a "silent epidemic" facing the nation. One the speakers will be Jeff Winton, a Chautauqua County native who founded the national organization Rural Minds. Winton says the epidemic is the suffering caused by mental illness, suicide ideation and substance use disorder in rural areas. Winton, who lost a nephew to suicide early in the 2000s, says the "independent" people who live in rural areas are often reluctant to acknowledge and talk about mental illness, even though it is prevalent.