Trying Times: Tools to Understand and Alleviate Farm Stress

Key individuals at our collaborator, AgCentric Minnesota State Agricultural Center of Excellence at Central Lakes College, worked on turning the Down on the Farm: Supporting Farmers in Stressful Times into a replicable program, drawing on the original workshop and informed by other approaches and materials from Michigan State University Extension and North Dakota State University Extension, for example.  AgCentric produced drafts of both a PowerPoint slide set and a facilitator's guide.

The MDA continued work on the draft, incorporating suggestions from the workshop originators.  Initially, there was a tacit assumption that we were creating materials for use in Minnesota, but as the project evolved, we realized that people in other parts of the United States might find it helpful, so we added tips and encouragement to adapt the materials for their audiences. We also suggested ways to update information like financial data so that the materials can naturally evolve without having to be re-written.

After the pandemic hit in March, we hit "pause" for  long time, knowing that nobody would use our materials for an the in-person workshops we had in mind, even if they wanted to. As the year wore on, it became more and more clear that distance learning is likely to have a permanent place in our culture, even after the United States someday goes back to "normal."

After an online adaptation of the Navigating Conflict and Difficult Conversations in Agriculture workshop (see below) was extremely attended and received, we felt more optimistic about DOTF's immediate future.  We decided to turn the workshop into an either/or hybrid, and included delivery suggestions for offering it online as well as in-person.

The slide set and facilitator's guide package has been through accessibility review and is ready for distribution. We ran into an unanticipated challenge about how to make the materials easily available for anyone to download and use. The files are enormous and can't be e-mailed. Plus, we think people will be more likely to pick them up and look them over, as it were, if they don't have to request access via a file sharing program. We are working with our information technology gatekeepers on how to offer the materials conveniently. In the meantime, we will encourage colleagues in Virginia and Illinois to review and test the materials. We are committed to making these materials available for free and to permitting (and even encouraging) users to modify them so the workshop is most appropriate and meaningful for their audiences.

After safeTALK, 98% of respondents said they would probably or definitely recommend the workshop to colleagues and coworkers.

About 85%  identified at least one action they planned to take as a result of attending, most neatly tied to learning objectives for the course. The most frequently mentioned was encouraging encourage others to learn about suicide alertness. Other common responses included paying attention to warning signs and being  more direct and forthright when talking to someone at risk, as well as compiling, keeping handy, and sharing contact information for local crisis resources. More than one person has told us that since the training they have done a suicide intervention.  In fact, one person did and intervention between the training and the time they filled out the online evaluation.

In light of the fact that there was such strong interest in more training, Glen Bloomstorm and the MDH taught more than five additional safeTALK  trainers to deliver the agricultural adaptation we created as part of our SARE grant. In early 2020, we offered $500 sponsorships to encourage organizations that want to coordinate a safeTALK: Preventing Suicide in Agricultural Communities session for farmers, farm family members, and professionals who work with or support them. Due to how rapidly the pandemic portcullis slammed shut, making training impossible, we only sponsored one event. However, the MDA intends to continue sponsor community-based trainings as funds are available.

The response to Bereavement was overwhelming: 99% of evaluation respondents said they would recommend this workshop to others. (99%!)

On the evaluation survey, many people told us they had never considered the difference between reactions to suicide in rural areas, where everyone knows everyone else, compared to urban areas, where people be relatively anonymous. Many had never considered the fact that since farm suicides often take place on the farm property, some families have to pass the place of death every day. Some commented that the workshop taught them how important language is in talking to the bereaved, and many said they learned new ways they could (helpfully) support people grieving a suicide. 

After the 2019 workshops, Denise said,  "As the instructor, I felt that many of the participants did not expect the focus to be on them and how they can prepare themselves for conflict and difficult conversations. That being said, the participants were engaged in the content and activities and the energy was positive, which was important for such a somber topic."

During the online course, she encouraged participation using different interactive tools like Padlet, Mentimeter, and  Chatterfall She had several Extension colleagues working unobtrusively behind the scenes ; they ensured that the technologies all worked together elegantly and effectively.

Evaluations indicated a high levels of satisfaction with both content and delivery and that both the in-person and online workshiops were

After the online course, some people reported they had difficulties with the technology, didn’t like the format, or didn’t find this workshop’s focus on the self – rather than the situation – helpful. However, many respondents were enthusiastic about the content, the bite-sized daily format, and the interactive activities Denise embedded so participants could express themselves and not just listen.  

Several people commented that they wish they’d learned some of the techniques and approaches earlier in their careers:

 I feel as though… professionals required to do compliance work typically do not have the background to appropriately handle conflict and deescalate situations and believe that programs like these are extremely beneficial.  […]  Also the safety tips on the last day were also great, I never would have thought to just meet with local police to get to know them better and establish a working relationship.  Again, I wish I would have been offered a training like this years ago, but will still be able to take away many useful things.  Thank you for offering this program!

But maybe the greatest satisfaction comes from people who say talk about sharing what they learned with colleagues or co-workers, like this:

I shared this webinar with my entire local health department and our entire food policy council. Invaluable resource with great practical tips and wonderful exercises. Cannot say enough good things. Although a lot of the information is "common sense" in retrospect, it's a topic we don't break down and think about. This webinar series was so well done and easy to understand and I feel like I have some GREAT new skills to hone. Thank you!

We received several comments from people who were disappointed at the lack of the online course presenters' racial and other diversity. Both  Denise  and the deputy sheriff who presented the safety session are White women (or appear to be, anyway). These were constructive and understandable comments, particularly from regions and cultures where farmers may be ethnically and racially very substantially different. 

After both courses, survey respondents overwhelmingly said they would recommend the workshop to their peers. 

Constructive feedback from in-person respondents was that the workshop felt rushed, while many of the online participants were frustrated about technology problems we all encountered using a WebEx platform. (The host and presenters have been even more upset about the problems.)

We used slightly different questions to assess how well the workshop had met its educational objectives:

The in-person participants most frequently intended to invest in relationships with adolescents as a result of the workshop. Others said they planned to listen more, and to both talk about stress and menntal health with students and/or share information with collagues. The QPR training, which was the last hour of the inperosn course, pompted many to say they planned to research crisis resources and have them at the ready,

From the first two in-person workshops, we also learned that participants comprised two basic groups, and it was  a little challenging to meet their differing needs simultaneously. One basic group consisted of adults familiar with farming issues who wanted to know about mental health and adolescent development. The other consisted of mental health and social service providers who wanted to know more about the types of farm and agriculture issues and challenges that youth experience. Monica altered the workshop slightly with each training to be as relevant and useful as possible, and this information was very helpful to us in framing the online workshop for participants.

Answers to our "What is one action you plan to take or  one thing you plan to do as a result of this course?" question elicited very similar response from online particpants.  Some variation of "reach out to farm youth" was the most common response, followed by considering stress when developing programs and adding mental health information and education to existing efforts.  The online course also elicited introspective comments from some participants about the stress they carry with them even now that had its roots in growing up on a farm, which has prompted us to think about about what we could do for "adult survivors of farm stress and trauma."