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Hosted by members of the University of Minnesota Extension Beef and Dairy Teams, The Moos Room discusses relevant topics to help beef and dairy producers be more successful. The information is evidence-based and presented as an informal conversation between the hosts and guests.
00;00;11;03 - 00;00;25;27
Emily
And welcome everybody to the Moose Room. That is right. Do not adjust your dials. It is. Emily. I am back again. Brad has once again decided to include me in the recording of an episode. Just so kind of him. It is.
00;00;25;27 - 00;00;39;06
Brad
Nice. It's nice to have you back. We. We've both. You know, Brad's been traveling so much, it's like, I'll just do a bunch of solo, so. But it's always nice to have Emily back once in a while. You know, allow her to be on.
00;00;39;08 - 00;00;44;04
Emily
Right. I am still a co-host. She is? Yeah. Brad. So he acts like it is sometimes.
00;00;44;04 - 00;00;55;07
Brad
But she is. But yes, we are. We are back again to your in our presence to talk about all the fun stuff that you've been doing. What have you been doing lately? Well, what's it like going on in Emily's world?
00;00;55;09 - 00;01;21;20
Emily
Like you, a lot of travel. Probably not anything quite as cool as Germany or South Dakota. But certainly been traveling around the state doing programing also. Doing some other things for extension and farm safety. So, yeah, really getting into the time of year where we're doing a lot of kind of wrap up from the fall final safety stuff.
00;01;21;22 - 00;01;36;22
Emily
You know, grain storage, etc. and of course, now this is the time of year that I really shift most of my focus on to the the health and wellness, specifically mental health and stress, aspects of my work.
00;01;36;25 - 00;02;06;20
Brad
Yeah, it's obviously it's always a hot topic. It's always happening in, you know, as we move into harvest or finishing harvest, finishing fall tillage, those things and all of the unpredictable events that are happening, you know, weather and labor and you name it, we're all experiencing those, I don't know, fall blues, I guess. And so a lot of these stressors can happen.
00;02;06;22 - 00;02;17;27
Brad
And it seems like they're all, you know, it's all happening at once. That sometimes. And so we wanted to talk a little bit about that. And Emily is here to talk about farmer mental health.
00;02;18;01 - 00;02;42;04
Emily
Right, right. You know, and of course this is a topic we cover on this podcast, quite a bit. And it's always nice, I think, just to revisit some of the basics and, you know, unfortunately, yes, there is, a reason for this. You know, we know farm income is declining. Of course, I know things are nice right now for our beef people.
00;02;42;07 - 00;03;27;14
Emily
But we also know agriculture cyclical. And we have been seeing an uptick in, you know, farmers demanding, the services of our rural mental health specialists in the state, in Minnesota and surrounding states. We have also been seeing an unfortunate uptick, in suicides as well. So, you know, this this is something that we need to keep talking about because it is still a problem, you know, and I don't want to sound like an alarmist or doom and gloom or a downer, but of course, we are also getting into a time of year where we're going to be seeing a lot more of each other, likely right, with various holidays coming up.
00;03;27;14 - 00;03;53;27
Emily
And again as some things start to slow down on the farm. You know, more of these issues may come to the surface. We might notice things in people. And so Brad and I just thought it would be good to kind of go through some of the reminders, some of the information we've probably reviewed on here before. You know, but I was actually just on, doing a radio interview with the radio station out of Fargo.
00;03;53;27 - 00;04;18;00
Emily
Shout out to Bridget. And, you know, we were talking about how, like, we just can't say this enough, right? Like, all this bears repeating. So we we hope to just kind of give some reminders and, and remind you of what's available and, and what we can do and, and just have a quick conversation about that because Brad is absolutely right.
00;04;18;01 - 00;04;31;21
Emily
Like this is an important topic. It is not a topic that is going away. Right. So so it's important that we cover it. And again, I think that this is a great time of year to to be talking about it as well.
00;04;31;23 - 00;04;53;16
Brad
Well, first though, before we get into that, we should note that Emily is the darling of the University of Minnesota Extension, and she was on RFD TV this week on Monday's Market Day report, talking about signs of mental health and what everybody can keep in mind for rural health. So we'll definitely put that video in the show notes.
00;04;53;16 - 00;05;04;02
Brad
So you can go check out Emily on RFD TV. For those of you that know what RFD TV is, you know the wonderful AG program here in the US.
00;05;04;05 - 00;05;24;03
Emily
Well thank you Brad. Yes, and thank you to read for having me. It was, a media appearance bucket list item for me. So. So, yeah, if you if you want to see this conversation basically and video, you can check that out. But you know Brad and I will we'll be digging a little deeper here, having a slightly longer conversation.
00;05;24;05 - 00;05;38;19
Emily
They are so, you know, I kind of asked Brad to, like, come up with some questions, right? Like what? What are some of the things that we need to cover, again, the basics. So, we're going to do a little, farmer mental health Q&A, as it were.
00;05;38;19 - 00;05;45;15
Brad
So if you think about this, what are some of the most common mental health concerns that we see in farmers?
00;05;45;15 - 00;06;09;04
Emily
Great question. And that's a really good one to get started with of just like what? What do we even need to be worried about causing stress to farmers, right. Because because we all experience workplace stress. So there is some stress that is normal. But there are certainly things that farmers are confronted with that are not as common, for, for the average everyday worker.
00;06;09;04 - 00;06;34;24
Emily
Right. So Brad kind of started at the top. But there is a ton of uncertainty in farming. You know, there always has been historically. But I think now more than ever, there is a lot of stress, of course, whether livestock disease, you know, markets, prices, you know, and now we have global trade concerns and tariffs and, and some of those things that we have to consider as well.
00;06;34;24 - 00;07;05;01
Emily
And so all of that uncertainty can really long term wear on farmers, you know, causes a lot of chronic stress. And of course this is something I have always mentioned as well. Generally speaking, farmers are pretty isolated in their day to day, right? Whether by choice or just by the nature of the work, I think it's often a mix of both, and that social isolation can also leave people to just be sitting with their own thoughts.
00;07;05;01 - 00;07;21;14
Emily
They don't have anybody else to discuss them with and to debrief with, and so that isolation as well can really make farmers, you know, a lot more stressed. And, and not having that social support really has an impact on our mental health.
00;07;21;21 - 00;07;40;02
Brad
Yeah. There's, you know, a lot of different things that certainly can affect. And we we all have our, our ways that it can affect us in many different the situations and circumstances that we all go through every day. But what are some of the factors that may influence farmer mental health?
00;07;40;05 - 00;08;05;03
Emily
Yeah, so kind of similar to to the concerns. Right. So some of the factors that influence mental health can be, you know, environmental. So yes what is happening within the environment we're in, you know, with weather. And even if it's not weather impacting your farm, but you know, we talk about the fall blues, the winter blues, you know, less sunshine, those types of things.
00;08;05;06 - 00;08;29;27
Emily
And then there, of course, there are the occupational factors, the the stress of the job, the risk of the job, potential physical harm from the job, you know, and incidents and injuries as well. And then our various personal factors as well. Right. So how well are we taking care of ourselves? I, I harp on the self-care piece a lot, and there is a reason for that, right?
00;08;29;27 - 00;08;52;25
Emily
If we do not have adequate sleep, or we aren't eating enough, or we are not taking care of some sort of medical or health concern, that takes its toll on on our mind, on our brain, you know, and on our ability to process and do our work in an efficient way. So there are a lot of different factors that influence our health.
00;08;52;25 - 00;09;07;10
Emily
And that's why it's so important that we're really paying attention to to the big picture as well. And knowing that our health itself is, is so intertwined, right? Our physical health impacts our mental health and vice versa.
00;09;07;12 - 00;09;28;00
Brad
Yes, definitely. There's lots of different factors that can influence I see that in, in, in my life and see it. You know, sometimes you can see it in, in other people around you. But you know, what are some of those warning signs that we actually see in somebody that might be struggling? You know, sometimes we can see them, sometimes we can't.
00;09;28;03 - 00;09;35;18
Brad
What are some things that we may look for in either ourselves or in other people that we we are around?
00;09;35;20 - 00;09;57;12
Emily
The warning signs for stress are so different in everyone. That's why I really like this question, because, you know, again, how we experience stress, like what I go through when I'm stressed is not the same as what Bradley goes through, right? It manifests or it looks differently in us. But we're both experiencing stress, right? That's the similarity there.
00;09;57;14 - 00;10;21;11
Emily
And so I think it is important to know what these different things can look like, because it also helps us, you know, realize when somebody is off of their baseline. Right. Like we we kind of know what people are like normally or on a regular basis. And so knowing what some of these warning signs can be also really helps us pick up on them that much quicker.
00;10;21;11 - 00;10;48;06
Emily
So there's a lot of different things, you know, changes that people can go through or symptoms. They may have a common one. Many people experience are various physical symptoms. So, for example, I suffer from a lot of physical symptoms when I'm stressed, namely a headache. I kind of get it in the same spot and kind of, you know, in my head, also, I'll get an upset stomach when I'm stressed.
00;10;48;06 - 00;11;13;15
Emily
And so, you know, those types of physical symptoms being sick a lot more often. Again, not feeling well, headaches, stomach, you know, stomach upset. Those are some common signs of stress. There's also behavioral signs of stress. So kind of tied to that physical symptoms as well. You know, a poor appetite or overeating under sleeping or oversleeping.
00;11;13;17 - 00;11;36;02
Emily
You know, lack of grooming, those types of things may show that. Right. Like people are just so overwhelmed that they are starting to take less good care of themselves. Right. And then other behaviors as well. Like maybe if they're somebody who is really involved, you know, there for each volunteer or they do a lot of church and suddenly they aren't as involved, right?
00;11;36;02 - 00;12;03;27
Emily
They aren't acting the way they normally do or being involved with their same things. That's something to really look out for. And then lastly, there's just those emotional warning signs, right? Like somebody who does seem very quote off, somebody who seems extra sad or depressed or very distracted or maybe even emotionally numb. Right. A complete lack of emotions.
00;12;04;00 - 00;12;34;20
Emily
All of those things can be signs of stress. And and it's also important to note here that, again, these are the things we may feel when we're experiencing just our regular normal stress in the day. Like, oh, I got a deadline. I'm five minutes late out the door, you know, and we feel a little stress. So really think about too is, is this what we're just seeing in a bad day, or are these symptoms persisting for a few days for a week for longer than that?
00;12;34;20 - 00;12;56;10
Emily
Right. That's also what we need to look for in this is, is how long is this going on? Right. Because sometimes we just have days where we feel a little crappy. Right. But it's really about intentionally looking deeper or just paying attention to what is happening, happening over a longer period of time, to see if somebody is doing okay or suffering.
00;12;56;10 - 00;13;17;10
Emily
And again, Brad also mentioned, you know, looking for this in ourselves as well. So I tell people to, to do what I call just like the gut check, you know, like just sit still with yourself for a minute and really assess, like, how am I feeling? What am I experiencing? Like, what are my body and mind feeling right now?
00;13;17;13 - 00;13;36;23
Emily
And you may find some symptoms of stress that you were just kind of letting yourself ignore as well. So lots of things you can do on that. You know, it looks very different in everybody. But I also remind us all that we are all experts in the human experience. You know, we have all been doing this for our whole lives.
00;13;36;25 - 00;13;44;07
Emily
So you can really trust yourself as well. You know, trusting your gut and your human intuition is a part of this.
00;13;44;10 - 00;13;57;00
Brad
How important is it, you know, if we see these signs in a person, how important is it to noticing them and either reaching out to them or to other people to to help them and get them help?
00;13;57;02 - 00;14;21;04
Emily
I can't overstate how important it is. Bradley. Something to really keep in mind with this, right, is I know how uncomfortable it can be. That is the number one question slash concern I get from people. It's it's about helping others. You know, I am worried about so-and-so, but I am so afraid of saying the wrong thing or upsetting them more or right.
00;14;21;04 - 00;14;45;22
Emily
Like not knowing how to react, not knowing what to say. And that's a really valid concern. And unfortunately, it keeps a lot of us from actually reaching out. And so yes, it is important to reach out and, you know, Bradley hit on something important. Maybe you don't feel comfortable with the reaching out, but do you know somebody else who is you know, and if you say you don't,
00;14;45;24 - 00;15;17;17
Emily
Hello. Hi. You know me, right? I'll reach out, reach out to strangers, whatever. But that to our point here, right? It's important to reach out because, like I've already said, people who are feeling heavy chronic stress with that are feeling isolated and are typically purposely isolating themselves because they do not want to be a burden. They feel that nobody else knows they're feeling this way, or understands or has felt this way themselves.
00;15;17;17 - 00;15;53;22
Emily
Right. And so we get caught in this isolation kind of spiral of like, nobody would understand. Nobody wants to know anyways. I'm just going to keep it to myself. And that's how these problems can get worse. And so reaching out to somebody can help break down that isolation. And I think the most important part of this, right. The thing that I know, it made me nervous before I started doing this and got all the training I did, is feeling like we need to fix the person, like we need to have the answer, we need to provide some sort of advice.
00;15;53;24 - 00;16;15;27
Emily
And I am here to remind you that you do not. If you want to reach out to somebody, you don't have to be prepared to have some sort of fix. You just need to be there to listen and to acknowledge. Right? So, so reaching out to somebody can can just be as simple as, you know, after you do the typical how are you?
00;16;15;27 - 00;16;34;13
Emily
Oh I'm fine. And then I always like to ask people, how are you really. Right. And that provides an opportunity for them to open up. If they want to. And, and maybe they don't and so they won't. Right. But I've at least made that step to show them. Like if there's more you want to tell me you can.
00;16;34;13 - 00;16;57;04
Emily
And if they do, again, I'm not there to fix it for them. But I can usually feel the proverbial weight lifting from their shoulders and just being able to tell somebody else what is going on. And again, you don't need to have a big fancy response or a speech written or all this advice and ideas and resources on hand.
00;16;57;06 - 00;17;27;25
Emily
You know, when people share tough things with me, I typically just say, wow, that sounds like a lot and I can see why you are stressed. I am so sorry you've been having to go through this, right? That's all I do. I just acknowledge it because I probably don't know for sure what to fix is anyways. Right. And and we don't need to, what people need as a first step is someone to reach out, someone to acknowledge and somebody to just provide that social connection to get them out of that initial isolation.
00;17;27;27 - 00;17;49;23
Emily
So yes, reaching out is so important. And I know that it can feel intimidating at times. You know, even still, for me, there there are moments I feel intimidated by these conversations. But then I remind myself it is not about being the fix, it is just simply about acknowledging that they're going through something. And that is tough.
00;17;49;25 - 00;18;11;09
Brad
Yes, acknowledging that and trying to help them, get care, certainly can always be a challenge. Both you and I live in the rural parts of the state, or we don't live in the metro area. What are what are some of these challenges that farmers face? When they're trying to get access to care that they need?
00;18;11;12 - 00;18;45;04
Emily
Yeah. And and I'll say that this this response goes for not just farmers, but. Yes, like you said, Brad, anybody that lives in a rural area, you know, we know that access to certain types of services is harder to come by in rural areas. And and a lot of that is, yeah, that, that availability of services. I mean, here in Minnesota for about a month now, we've been hearing about various hospitals closing, closing or a lot of OB, you know, labor delivery departments are closing in our state right now in rural areas.
00;18;45;06 - 00;19;12;05
Emily
And so that limits the amount of care people can get if they have to travel so long for these appointments, they're going to go to less of them, you know. And of course, there's also that low social acceptability around getting help for mental health that unfortunately does still exist in farming and rural communities. But it's really, again, about the care that is available.
00;19;12;07 - 00;19;42;15
Emily
It's estimated that 62% of rural communities face a shortage of mental health professionals in their communities. So, you know, more than half of our rural population does not have access to adequate mental health care. So that is definitely a big barrier, a big challenge. This is something that's getting better, which of course is the good news. But, our our improvements are not keeping up with the demand.
00;19;42;15 - 00;20;07;15
Emily
And so that is definitely something that also plays a role here and may also be farmers and others don't really want to talk about it because they know. Well, there's not going to be help for me anyways. You know, so that is definitely a challenge. But of course, in Minnesota we, we have some resources that try to help alleviate some of those problems.
00;20;07;15 - 00;20;10;22
Emily
And I know other states have programs as well.
00;20;10;24 - 00;20;26;10
Brad
Now, if I recall back to the beginning, I said you were the darling of University of Minnesota Extension, right? Because you're famous, you're talking about mental health. And we people will know you all over the US. So how does your work at the University of Minnesota support mental health?
00;20;26;13 - 00;20;55;06
Emily
Yeah, you know, I'm really fortunate. Of course, many people know I have been doing work in farm safety and health full time for six years. But prior to that was also, you know, dabbling in it in in my position as a dairy educator as well. And, you know, I would say our purpose and extension of courses is outreach, is is providing people the resources they need, getting them connected to those things, sharing valuable information, etc..
00;20;55;08 - 00;21;20;07
Emily
So like always, there's so much information available online on our website. You know, again, my, my big role, I think in supporting farmer mental health is is providing education, information and resources. And so I do a lot of that through teaching our various programs. I believe we've talked about comet changing our mental and emotional trajectory.
00;21;20;13 - 00;21;41;09
Emily
That is a program that I am a facilitator for in the state of Minnesota. And that teaches people, what I was just talking about how to have those intentional, caring conversations. So if you want to learn more about that, check that out. We have our ambiguous loss and farming training. You can find that on our website.
00;21;41;09 - 00;21;59;28
Emily
We'll link all of this. Don't worry. Right. There is also, of course, the fabulous work of UMass, the Upper Midwest Agricultural Safety and Health Center, so you can find a lot of information from them. You know, they are also, in the School of Public Health at the University of Minnesota. So there is a lot that the U.
00;21;59;28 - 00;22;21;21
Emily
Is doing to support these efforts outside of of just extension as well. You know, which is really exciting. It's great that we have so many people that that care about this. And I've said it before and I will continue to say it. You know, Minnesota is considered one of the leaders in the nation for our farmer mental health work.
00;22;21;27 - 00;22;36;11
Emily
And and I think that's really important. And and I'm really grateful that we are look to, to help others around the country in this way. And so I really encourage folks to, to check out our resources. And of course, there are other resources as well.
00;22;36;15 - 00;22;46;02
Brad
And we have learned a lot today. And know is there any other things? We I think we're good. Yeah, we pretty much touched on everything.
00;22;46;09 - 00;23;08;15
Emily
Yeah. And and I'll just say again, we're going to link a bucket load of resources, both Minnesota and National down in the show notes. So make sure you check those out because I would be here all day. Talking about all of these wonderful things that are available. So make sure you check out those show notes. And, you know, of course, I always like to remind people to take care of yourselves.
00;23;08;15 - 00;23;15;29
Emily
And it's okay to not be okay. But it's not okay to not tell anyone about it. So I was at it. We're just wrapping it there.
00;23;16;01 - 00;23;17;14
Brad
There's a quid.
00;23;17;16 - 00;23;38;25
Emily
Because I always just, I'll do the quick wrap up, so. Okay. If you have questions, concerns, or scathing rebuttals about today's episode, you can email those to we Can newsroom at Umkc, Edu. And of course check us out online extension drumset. Now that we've done a proper close goodbye. We'll see you next time.