Our mission is to serve as the informed voice for mental health in rural America, and to provide mental health information and resources. We are working to confront mental health challenges in rural communities and the stigma that surrounds mental illness. | |
A Message from Rural Minds Founder
and Chairman Jeff Winton
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This month marks the second anniversary of Rural Minds. Looking back over the past two years, we are greatly indebted to our partners, supporters, team members and people with lived experience who have made possible all that we have accomplished thus far. | |
Last week, I was honored to speak about Rural Minds’ mission to improve mental health in rural America at both the Pennsylvania State Grange and the New Jersey State Grange meetings. And as you’ll read in this newsletter, we’ll be participating at the National Grange Convention in Niagara Falls, NY, in November. We are grateful for the opportunity to collaborate with long-established and highly-respected grassroots organizations like the National Grange to reach more people and help amplify our important message of hope.
We believe that collaboration is key to our success in confronting the mental health crisis in rural America. Since our founding, Rural Minds has established partnerships with multiple nonprofit organizations including the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), Mental Health America (MHA), Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance (DBSA), National Sleep Foundation (NSF), NY FarmNet, Stigma-Free Society, American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP), American Soybean Association (ASA), National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) and National Association of Wheat Growers (NAWG).
In addition, we formed the Rural Minds Partnership Council with membership from leaders in the biopharmaceutical industry and agricultural companies and organizations. We have also supported advocacy partnerships and rural mental health legislative initiatives, such as the National Agricultural Crisis Hotline Act of 2023 for farmers and others in the agriculture industry.
In the last two years, we’ve accomplished a great deal, but realize that so much more needs to be done. And we invite you to join us in our continuing quest to end the suffering, silence, and stigma around mental illness in rural America.
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Join us for the next webinar in our Rural Mental Health Connections Webinar Series:
Managing Mental Illness in Rural America
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Wednesday, November 8, 2023
7 pm ET | 6 pm CT | 5 pm MT | 4 pm PT
Sponsored by Janssen Neuroscience and presented by Rural Minds and the National Grange, this one-hour, moderated webinar will present one mother’s lived experience with managing her adult son’s mental illness and overcoming barriers to mental healthcare in rural Wisconsin, and a community psychiatrist sharing her expertise treating patients in rural America.
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Chrisa Hickey is an author, speaker and advocate specializing in supporting families raising children with serious mental illnesses like childhood onset schizophrenia, childhood onset bipolar disorder, and severe depression. Chrisa began her advocacy work when her son, Timothy, was diagnosed with schizophrenia at the age of eleven.
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Monica Taylor-Desir, MD, MPH is a psychiatrist with the department of Psychiatry and Psychology at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN, and has served rural and tribal communities for more than 25 years.
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The webinar will be moderated by Rural Minds Vice President of Communications Julie Lux and presented live via Zoom with the option to hear audio as listen-only.
To honor the confidentiality and privacy of those attending this webinar, attendees will only be able to see the webinar presenters and no one watching the webinar will be able to see the name or image of any other person who is watching the webinar.
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This webinar is presented by:
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Collaboration is key for Rural Minds in our work to confront the mental health challenges in rural America and eliminate the stigma, suffering and silence that surrounds mental illness. That’s why we’ve created this feature for our newsletter – Partners in the Spotlight – where we take a moment to recognize organizations that collaborate with us as valued members of the Rural Minds Partnership Council.
In this issue, we highlight Neurocrine Biosciences.
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Founded in 1992, Neurocrine Biosciences is a neuroscience-focused biopharmaceutical company with the purpose of relieving suffering for people with great needs, but few options. The company is dedicated to discovering and developing potential life-changing treatments for patients with under-addressed neurological, neuroendocrine, and neuropsychiatric disorders.
Neurocrine Biosciences’ diverse portfolio includes FDA-approved treatments for tardive dyskinesia, chorea associated with Huntington’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, endometriosis and uterine fibroids, as well as a robust pipeline including compounds in mid-to-late phase clinical development across the company’s core therapeutic areas. For more than three decades, Neurocrine Biosciences has applied unique insight into neuroscience and the interconnections between brain and body systems to treat complex conditions.
Motivated by people living with debilitating diseases and conditions that are without viable treatment options, Neurocrine Biosciences works relentlessly to bring hope to those who need it most.
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Rural Minds to Share Rural Mental Health Information and Resources at the National Grange Convention in November
Rural Minds will be participating at the 157th Annual National Grange Convention in Niagara Falls, NY:
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On Thursday, November 16, Rural Minds Founder and Chairman Jeff Winton, NY FarmNet Family Consultant Case Supervisor Becky Wiseman, and Travis Carlson – a writer and independent filmmaker from rural Gerry, NY – will present a session on rural mental health. Travis wrote and directed the award-winning feature film Mother’s Day based on his lived experience with his mother’s struggle with mental illness. Travis was also a presenter in the Rural Mental Health Caregiver Challenges webinar in May. This session starts at 2 pm ET and will be livestreamed on the Grange’s YouTube Channel and Facebook page.
- At 3 pm ET on November 16, the discussion about rural mental health will continue with a multi-generational panel made up of Grangers and led by the National Grange with participation from Rural Minds and NY FarmNet.
- On Saturday, November 18, Rural Minds and NY FarmNet will present a “Talk Saves Lives” Suicide Awareness and Prevention Training session.
- During the convention, Rural Minds will introduce the Rural Mental Health Resilience Program and share new rural mental health information and resources.
Click here for more information about this year’s National Grange Convention.
| | Andrea’s Journey – The Story Behind Stigma-Free Society | | | |
At 16, I was immersed in an environment that seemed to hold little hope. I wasn't attending school – instead, I was caught in a cycle of drinking, drugs, and negative influences. I realized that I was going down the wrong path and was determined to make a change. So, I decided to seek a fresh start and move from my home in Sudbury, Ontario to Vancouver Island, where my mother lived. This marked the beginning of a transformative chapter in my life.
| | Rural Minds on the Road – Raising Awareness of Rural Mental Health Challenges | | Here are some highlights of the events that featured a presentation from Rural Minds over the last few weeks to help raise awareness of rural mental health challenges and provide actionable information and resources for confronting the mental health crisis in rural America. | | During a free virtual live webinar hosted on September 11 by Healthy Blue Nebraska, Rural Minds Executive Director Chuck Strand spoke about the mental health challenges in rural communities and how Rural Minds is working to end the suffering, silence and stigma surrounding mental illness in rural America. Healthy Blue is a health plan that serves Nebraska Medicaid members. | | | | In early September, Jeff Winton was invited to speak at an all-employee meeting at Curious Plot – a marketing communications and consulting agency for the food, agriculture and companion animal care markets. During his presentation, Jeff talked about the mental health crisis in rural America and how Rural Minds is providing information and resources to help reduce suicide in rural communities. | |
On October 19, the Pennsylvania State Grange welcomed Jeff Winton to speak at the 150th Anniversary State Grange Session in Morgantown, PA. Jeff spoke about his family’s personal tragedy that led to his founding Rural Minds, the mental health emergency in rural America, and our partnership with the National Grange to provide mental health information and resources to people living in rural communities.
| | | | | The next day, Jeff Winton traveled to Swedesboro, NJ, to present at the New Jersey State Grange Annual Session on October 20. During his presentation, Jeff spoke about Rural Minds’ mission to confront the mental health crisis in rural America, our nonprofit’s ongoing collaboration with the National Grange, and the upcoming launch of the Rural Mental Health Resilience Program. | |
Help Us Help Others – A Tax-Smart Strategy for Giving
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The ability for Rural Minds to develop and distribute free educational information and training resources to improve mental health in rural America depends upon personal donations and corporate support. Please consider a donation to Rural Minds to help confront the mental health emergency in rural America and the stigma that surrounds mental illness. If you are a corporate employee, check to see if your employer provides a matching gift program, which could double your donation to Rural Minds, a 501c3 nonprofit organization.
Click here to learn more about other ways you can help Rural Minds help others.
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IN THE NEWS:
Rural Minds and Mental Health in Rural America
The following media coverage of Rural Minds helps to increase awareness about mental health challenges in rural America and the stigma surrounding mental illness:
In this article, the partnership between the National Grange and Rural Minds in confronting the mental health emergency in rural America is discussed, including Jeff Winton presenting at the Pennsylvania State Grange meeting in October.
Jeff Winton talked about his own family’s tragic experience with suicide in this article and how Rural Minds is confronting the mental health crisis in rural America.
Some of the ways the National Grange is working to improve the health of people living in rural America are discussed in this article, including partnering with Rural Minds to develop the Rural Suicide Awareness and Prevention Program that uses a grassroots, person-to-person approach in providing mental health information and resources.
This article covered Kansas U.S. Senator Roger Marshall’s speech at the Kansas State Fair about the importance of caring for neighbors with mental health issues – especially those working in agriculture – and included Rural Minds as a source for mental health information.
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