Project Type: Professional Development Program
Funds awarded in 2023: $119,032.00
Projected End Date: 10/02/2026
Grant Recipient:
Michigan Integrated Food and Farming Systems (MIFFS)
Region: North Central
State: Michigan
Project Coordinator:
Dr. Adam Ingrao
Michigan Food and Farming Systems
Description:
We hosted a two day virtual beekeeping education conference Sept. 4-5, 2025. Day one of the conference was a 6 hour facilitator training course for the Bee Calm Bee Well program which was attended by 74 individuals comprised of VA medical, mental health, and social work professionals, as well as private practice health care providers, and bee keeping educators. Day two of the conference offered topics on general and advanced beekeeping as well as apitherapy and Bee Calm Bee Well practices (attended by 278 individuals).
Evaluations of the Bee Calm Bee Calm Bee Well Facilitator training resulted in the following (N=14):
1. What best describes you? 71% VA Healthcare professional - 7% Beekeeping educator - 7% Heroes to Hives student/alumni - 14% other
2. Are you a US Military Service member or spouse? 29% Veteran - 7% Military spouse - 64% no military background
3. Are you currently enrolled in the VA Healthcare System? 36% Yes - 29% No - 36% N/A
4. Do you or have you engaged in mindfulness activities? 100% Yes
5. Do you or have you engaged in mindfulness activities? 21% Yes - 79% No
6. Have you ever participated in mindfulness practices in the apiary prior to this training? 29% Yes - 71% No
7. How would you rate your experience with the Bee Calm Bee Well training overall? 79% Excellent - 14% Good - 7% Neutral - 0% Fair - 0% Poor
8. What was your FAVORITE practice you learned from Bee Calm Bee Well training? 14% Breathing - 7% Guided imagery - 7% Sensory exploration - 7% Yoga for beekeepers - 29% Bee bathing - 29% Communing with bees - 7% Active meditation with bees
9. What was your LEAST FAVORITE practice you learned from Bee Calm Bee Well training? 21% Breathing - 14% Guided imagery - 7% Creating and crossing a threshold - 29% Yoga for beekeepers - 14% Bee bathing - 14% Active meditation with bees
10. What was the most impactful aspect of this professional development training for you (selected comments from open ended responses)? - Learning about the best practices, especially trauma informed care strategies to eliminate potential triggers and vetting community partners. - All the info and demonstrations were very helpful. The discussion of evidence-based practice gave meaning to what we were learning and how it affects our Veterans. All of it is very beneficial to my own practices too! - Learning another method to help treat our Vets (and others, actually) who have PTSD and high anxiety--ways to connect them to others, and treat their symptoms. - The presenters were very informative and showed great respect for individuals and the bees. They also did a fantastic job of presenting both the research and practice-based aspects of beekeeping activities.
11. What ways can we improve this training (selected comments from open ended responses)? - Overview of what comes with creating program with equipment etc. - handouts or slides prior - Hold it in an apiary - No suggestions for improvement for the actual training. However, please consider changing the response option to "multi-select" for the questions "What was your FAVORITE practice you learned..." and "What was your LEAST FAVORITE practice you learned...". Also, please consider adding "N/A" as a response option. I personally had several "favorites" and no "least favorite".
We have taken the suggestions from this conference and made adjustments to future trainings based on this feedback.
Evaluations of the Bee Calm Bee Calm Bee Well Facilitator training resulted in the following (N=14):
1. What best describes you? 71% VA Healthcare professional - 7% Beekeeping educator - 7% Heroes to Hives student/alumni - 14% other
2. Are you a US Military Service member or spouse? 29% Veteran - 7% Military spouse - 64% no military background
3. Are you currently enrolled in the VA Healthcare System? 36% Yes - 29% No - 36% N/A
4. Do you or have you engaged in mindfulness activities? 100% Yes
5. Do you or have you engaged in mindfulness activities? 21% Yes - 79% No
6. Have you ever participated in mindfulness practices in the apiary prior to this training? 29% Yes - 71% No
7. How would you rate your experience with the Bee Calm Bee Well training overall? 79% Excellent - 14% Good - 7% Neutral - 0% Fair - 0% Poor
8. What was your FAVORITE practice you learned from Bee Calm Bee Well training? 14% Breathing - 7% Guided imagery - 7% Sensory exploration - 7% Yoga for beekeepers - 29% Bee bathing - 29% Communing with bees - 7% Active meditation with bees
9. What was your LEAST FAVORITE practice you learned from Bee Calm Bee Well training? 21% Breathing - 14% Guided imagery - 7% Creating and crossing a threshold - 29% Yoga for beekeepers - 14% Bee bathing - 14% Active meditation with bees
10. What was the most impactful aspect of this professional development training for you (selected comments from open ended responses)? - Learning about the best practices, especially trauma informed care strategies to eliminate potential triggers and vetting community partners. - All the info and demonstrations were very helpful. The discussion of evidence-based practice gave meaning to what we were learning and how it affects our Veterans. All of it is very beneficial to my own practices too! - Learning another method to help treat our Vets (and others, actually) who have PTSD and high anxiety--ways to connect them to others, and treat their symptoms. - The presenters were very informative and showed great respect for individuals and the bees. They also did a fantastic job of presenting both the research and practice-based aspects of beekeeping activities.
11. What ways can we improve this training (selected comments from open ended responses)? - Overview of what comes with creating program with equipment etc. - handouts or slides prior - Hold it in an apiary - No suggestions for improvement for the actual training. However, please consider changing the response option to "multi-select" for the questions "What was your FAVORITE practice you learned..." and "What was your LEAST FAVORITE practice you learned...". Also, please consider adding "N/A" as a response option. I personally had several "favorites" and no "least favorite".
We have taken the suggestions from this conference and made adjustments to future trainings based on this feedback.
Type:
Conference/Presentation Material
File:
Download file (PDF)
Target audiences:
Farmers/Ranchers; Educators; Researchers
This product is associated with the project "Training agriculture professionals and educators to support beginning farmer veterans’ mental health."
Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and should not be construed to represent any official USDA or U.S. Government determination or policy.