Asked to picture rural America, most will conjure bucolic images of rolling hills, green meadows, and livestock peacefully grazing on pasture, dotted by the silhouettes of the hardworking, salt-of-the-Earth folks who work the countryside. These communities, however, conceal a darker secret. Having grown up on a dairy farm in upstate New York, where the closest town was populated by a mere 500 people, I am a rural American. My firsthand perspective was shaped by living in a small community of industrious, independent, resilient people who were kind and quick to lend a hand.

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.

Rural Minds Founder and Chairman Jeff Winton interviewed by NCBA's Cattlemen to Cattlemen's Russell Nemetz. Normalizing conversations about mental illness and how to recognize the warning signs of mental illness among farmers and ranchers. In recent years, a number of organizations have started to focus more on mental health – and mental health resources – for people living in rural America. Jeff Winton, founder of Rural Minds, discusses some of the barriers that are unique to rural residents when it comes to seeking mental health services and how his company is helping to improve mental health resources in rural areas.

A not-for-profit is challenging the stigma surrounding mental health in rural America. Jeff Winton, a New York dairy farmer founded Rural Minds after his nephew died by suicide in 2012.  “People in rural America, including my family, were raised to believe we shouldn’t talk about our problems,” he says. He tells Brownfield the organization is partnering with several groups for outreach, including 4-H, FFA, and beginning farmers and ranchers.  “Younger people are much more open and willing to talk about difficult situations,” he says.

Cattle producers from across the country gathered in New Orleans, LA, for the 30th annual Cattlemen’s College, which was held prior to the 2023 Cattle Industry Convention & National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) Trade Show. Cattlemen’s College, sponsored by Zoetis, is one of the cattle industry’s premier educational events and features live animal handling demonstrations and sessions with industry leaders tackling innovative topics… Another well attended breakout was “Are You Brave Enough to Attend This Session?” featuring Rural Minds founder Jeff Winton, who addressed the mental health crisis in rural America and provided solutions for producers to prioritize mental health, care for themselves and check in on neighbors. 

The new three-digit 988 number will make it easier for people in rural communities to access crisis intervention, Jeff Winton, founder and chairman of Rural Minds, a Maryville, New York, non-profit dedicated to helping rural residents with their mental health issues, told the Daily Yonder. “Mental illness and substance use disorder in rural areas have been growing exponentially even before Covid hit,” he said. “It’s not seen as an illness. It’s seen as a character flaw. It’s seen as something you should be able to just pull yourself up by your bootstraps and get over… And until such time that we get people to consider it an illness, we’re going to be hamstrung and this epidemic is going to continue to grow.”

Today's show covers an important topic for the agriculture industry; mental health. Tune in and hear what Rural Minds is doing to connect people to resources in their community. CEO, Chuck Strand joins me for today's conversation.

Rural Minds Founder and Chairman, Jeff Winton, featured in This Week in Agribusiness with Max Armstrong. Jeff discusses Rural Minds’ mission to reduce the stigma and silence in rural America around mental illness. 65 million Americans live in rural areas in the United States, many of whom have no access to mental health services and support.

With the session hall packed chair-to-chair at the 156th Annual Convention of the National Grange, President Betsy Huber introduced the founder and CEO of Rural Minds Jeff Winton. Rural Minds is on a mission to be the informed voice for mental health in rural America and seeks to provide mental health information and resources. Roughly 65 million Americans live in rural areas. Rural Minds’ vision is a rural America with no more silence, suffering or stigma around mental health. November 17 is National Rural Health Day and it was an eye-opening presentation on how big of an issue this has become. Who better to partner with than the National Grange whose roots are in the heart of rural America?

Rural Minds Founder and Chairman Jeff Winton Featured in Farm Futures Mental Health Special Issue

“We Had No Idea He Was Struggling.” – Family tragedy spurs Jeff Winton to launch nonprofit aiding mental health in rural America

Suicide Rates in rural America on the rise. Few would have guessed Brooks Winton, a farmer from rural New York, was going through severe mental health struggles. Described as a burley ex-athlete with the ability to hoist farm animals under each arm, the 28-year-old was a beloved member of a close-knit family. That’s why his suicide came as a shock. “He was the father of 3-year-old twins, the life of the party, very hardworking,” says his uncle, Jeff Winton. “Everybody loved my nephew. No one had any idea he was struggling with mental illness until the day we found him.”

“When we talk about tough situations, the conversation about suicide and mental health is tough, but it’s even harder to have that conversation when you lose someone.” That’s how farmer Jeff “Ditz” Ditzenberger began his presentation during a recent Rural Mental Health Connections webinar, hosted by the National Grange. The webinar series is sponsored by Rural Minds, a nonprofit, and the National Grange, which both have missions of education, impacting people and their communities in positive ways and giving people an opportunity to grow.

In recent years, a number of organizations have started to focus more on mental health – and mental health resources – for people living in rural America. We talk with Jeff Winton, Founder of Rural Minds, about some of the barriers that are unique to rural residents when it comes to seeking mental health services and how his company is helping to improve mental health resources in rural areas.

A silent epidemic is ravaging rural America. Compared to urban counterparts, rural Americans have a higher rate of depression and suicide. Yet, access to mental health services is disproportionally lower in rural communities. With these needs in mind, Curious Plot has selected the nonprofit Rural Minds™ as its 2022 Seed to Succeed pro bono grant recipient.

Curious Plot is a marketing, communications and consulting agency serving the agriculture, food and companion animal care markets. Since 2009, its Seed to Succeed pro bono grant program has provided marketing support to nonprofits within these sectors that work for positive change on limited budgets.

Rural Minds Founder Featured on Our Ohio Weekly: Mental Health in Rural America podcast with Ty Higgins.

Rates for depression are higher in rural America than in urban areas and suicide rates among people living in rural counties are 25% higher than those in major metropolitan areas. May is Mental Health Awareness Month. It is well known how big of a challenge mental health in the U.S. is, but very few realize how rural parts of our country are being impacted. A new nonprofit, Rural Minds, was launched last year to provide rural Americans with efficient access to existing mental health service organizations and address the importance of overcoming the stigma around mental health challenges.

In America’s close-knit rural communities, residents are quick to rally when an illness or accident affects their farming neighbors, helping them through the rough patches. But all illnesses are not created equal, and the silent specter of mental illness often brings no recognition and no extra hands to help.

This situation is one that many organizations, health advocates, and individuals in agriculture are working hard to change. For Jeff Winton, a New York dairy farmer, his passion to address mental health in rural America led him to found Rural Minds in October 2021. The nonprofit aims to serve as the informed voice for mental health in these areas and provide mental health resources.

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.