Aug. 27—There is a new mental health hotline available for Missouri farmers who need assistance.
The AgriStress Helpline is a free, confidential service launched by the Missouri Department of Agriculture. Farmers and rural families in need of mental health assistance can call or text 833-897-2474 to get in contact with a professional.
Garrett Hawkins, president of the Missouri Farm Bureau, said the helpline is another tool in trying to improve access to mental health resources for farm and ranch families.
“In reality, if you don’t have access to this type of service in your community, being able to pick up the phone and call a free confidential hotline could be what is absolutely critical to your family,” Hawkins said.
A 2020 study found all of Missouri’s 99 rural counties have a shortage of mental health professionals. The Family Guidance Center serves nine counties in Northwest Missouri, and CEO Kristina Hannon said it’s important that people in rural communities have access to mental health care.
“I am excited for any additional resource that gets that help out there and can connect people to those people in the community who can come to them 24/7, confidentially, to help respond and meet their needs,” Hannon said.
According to that same study, the suicide rate among rural Missourians grew by 78% from 2003 to 2017. Hawkins said the pandemic shed more light on mental health issues within the farming communities, but there still tends to be a stigma surrounding the subject.
At the Family Guidance Center, Hannon said staff members do engage with some people who come from farming backgrounds but not as many as they’d like to be seeing. During times of severe flooding, Hannon said they went out to check on farmers and rural families. While speaking with people in those communities, she said the language changes from phrases like “mental health” and “depression” to more common words like “stress.”
“They are people who are not going to voluntarily seek out help because the culture is such that ‘We solve problems on our own and within our own community,'” Hannon said. “So, it’s really important to be able to do those outreach to farmers to make sure that they understand that services are there to be of support and assistance to them.”
Farmers are dealing with many factors daily that are out of their control, including weather and volatile markets. Many farms are passed down from generation to generation and families worry about being the one that loses that farm. As of 2020, Missouri had nearly 16,000 fewer family farms compared to 20 years prior, and bankruptcies are on the rise.
“All of these factors combined cannot only make it physically challenging but mentally challenging if you feel like you can’t ever catch a break or get any rest,” Hawkins said.
In an effort to help with rural health care disparities, the American Farm Bureau has a Farm State of Mind page on its website with a list of mental health resources in every state. In Missouri, the list includes resources from the University of Missouri Extension, Missouri Department of Mental Health and now the Missouri Department of Agriculture’s AgriStress Helpline.
“We would much rather see a farmer or rancher who is under stress receive the help they need rather than continue to suffer,” Hawkins said.
Farm State of Mind resources can be found online at fb.org/land/fsom. The Family Guidance Center can be reached at fgcnow.org or by calling 816-364-1501. If you or someone you know are having a mental health emergency, call the crisis line at 1-888-279-8188.
Hannon comes from a farming family herself and encourages anyone in rural communities who is struggling with mental health to reach out to Family Guidance Center.
“Those of us who choose to work in smaller systems, we’re from your same place,” Hannon said. “We understand farming culture. We’ve been a part of it.”
Morgan Doyle can be reached at morgan.doyle@newspressnow.com
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