Community Impact Grant
Addressing Stressors, Preventing Farmer Suicide: Social Connectedness and Health
Awarded in
2020
Farmers are an occupational group with one of the highest rates of death by suicide- as much as two and half times the rate of the general population. To impact the number of farmers experiencing mental health distress and prevent farmer suicides, this project, Farm Well Wisconsin, aims to develop a comprehensive range of upstream interventions to create an ecosystem of support to foster farmer resilience.
In its two first years, Farm Well has trained more than 700 rural community members and agribusiness professionals in peer support and suicide prevention, expanded their social media reach 10-fold and conducted training for more than 75 health providers, residents and medical students. Farm Well staff members have also been asked to join statewide coalitions and steering committees related to farmer mental health and rural suicide prevention.
