Rates of mental illness were already high in the U.S., but the pandemic intensified everything: Illness, loneliness, job loss, grief, and other stressors related to COVID induced a nationwide rise in anxiety and depression. As difficult as the pandemic has been, however, it hit some groups far harder than others. It exacerbated social and economic inequities already known to drive and sustain poor mental health among marginalized communities. Those in rural America, already less likely to receive mental health care than those in urban areas, were particularly hard hit. So were people of color, who are more likely to be hospitalized and die from COVID and are less likely to receive mental health care compared with white people. And for those who were unhoused or formerly incarcerated, the consequences have been profound.

KSIR’s Lorrie Boyer interviews Rural Minds VP Julie Lux about the organization’s launch and mission to serve as the informed voice for mental health in rural America

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.

We were very grateful and honored to have Jeff Winton, the founder of Rural Minds, fly in personally to speak to us. This is a wonderful new organization created to “serve as an informed voice for mental health in rural America and provide mental health information and resources.” To learn more about the reason for its founding and find lots of resources, check out the website Ruralminds.org and be sure to watch the video there. We hope to cement a close relationship with Jeff and encourage programs in every Grange to combat the stigma of mental illness, depression and suicide in rural areas. The suicide rate is 25% higher in rural America than urban—a terrible statistic that we hope to assist in reducing.