Shawn Monson has a plan to help stoic farmers open up about their mental health. Educate folks who are around them.
“We can begin to build a safety net around farmers by mobilizing those people who see and work with them – veterinarians, milk haulers and feed mill operators,” he said.
Monson helps run Farm Well Wisconsin, an organization based in southwestern Wisconsin that supports farmers’ health and well-being. He knows getting farmers to talk about their feelings is easier said than done. Monson grew up on a dairy farm in Dodgeville, Wis. When he was 10 years old, his parents were forced to sell their herd.
“It’s the only job I know of that you can work your tail off, do everything right and still lose your farm,” Monson said.
His dad took a job at a local factory, and his mom became a rural mail carrier.
“I saw firsthand the stress that was happening on our farm,” Monson said. “But we didn’t talk about it.”
Now, he’s on a mission to make sure farmers do talk. Monson knows that while folks in rural communities may bristle at the mention of a therapist, they’re probably already treating their local vet, librarian or pharmacist like one. And what if those folks were trained to recognize symptoms of emotional distress and then do something about it?
The wellness team at Gundersen Boscobel Area Hospital and Clinics sees the power of supportive conversations too. Business operations manager Natalie Tollefson and community wellness coordinator Cameron Novy are partnering with Monson to further train folks in western Wisconsin communities.
“We can bring the players together to talk about and promote health and well-being,” said Tollefson, noting that mental health came up as the number one priority in Gundersen Boscobel’s recent assessment of community concerns. Gundersen Boscobel is co-hosting – along with Southwest Wisconsin Technical College in Fennimore – the Farm Well program Breaking the Cycle of Farm Stress. “While we’re not teaching the course, we’re supporting the planning and promotion.”
A nearby local library is also helping to increase the safety net surrounding farmers. Library programming coordinator Kristin Holman-Steffel at the Schreiner Memorial Library in Lancaster, Wis., helped host a Farm Well-sponsored workshop called COMET: Changing our Mental and Emotional Trajectory.
COMET teaches community members to pay attention if a neighbor seems off and then probe a bit deeper. For example: “We missed you at last week’s craft meeting. How are you doing?”
“I’ve already used the COMET training quite a bit in my role at the library,” Holman-Steffel said. “A little empathy, compassion and safe space to let people share and be vulnerable is really important.”
The more people in communities who can break through the silence and have supportive conversations, Shawn says, the more we can break the chain of stoicism.
“When we ask our neighbor, ‘How are you doing?’ we might hear, ‘Fine. Good. Busy,’” Monson noted. He hopes that we can begin to gently probe a bit deeper. “If a neighbor seems to be struggling, try asking: ‘How are you doing, really?’”
And then, he said, make space for a supportive and authentic conversation.
Original source can be found here.
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