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“Stigma lies. You’re not alone.” That was in big, bold letters in the Expo Hall at last week’s National FFA Convention at the Purdue Extension Farm Stress Team booth for thousands of FFA students to see. Abby Heidenreich, Purdue Extension Educator and member of the Farm Stress Team, spoke with us last week about their goals at the FFA Convention.
“We want to talk to as many kids as we can and just open up that conversation about their mental health, what their family life looks like, either on the farm or in a rural community, and what kind of things they could do to make a difference in their community, in their family, and in the world.”
Something new this year for the Purdue Extension Farm Stress Team was new material for FFA advisors. Heidenreich says they’ve developed a lesson that can be taught in ag classrooms that specifically speaks to youth in agriculture.
“A lot of times, the school wide mental health programming may not speak to everybody in the ag classroom. So, what we want to do is really target that and bring in some of those niche examples that will help them understand their mental health.”
Heidenreich says the conversations around mental health are getting easier in some cases, but some people are still a bit hesitant to open up.
“I always like to say in the programs that I do, I’m not asking you to sit in a circle and sing ‘Kumbaya’. I just want you to recognize that we all struggle from time to time. I’m not asking you to raise your hand. I’m just asking you to point out that some people have issues, and I may be some people. Even if you come to a program and you don’t think that you need the mental health information or the resources that we present, you may know someone, we all know someone, who could benefit from those resources.”
You can find mental health resources at extension.purdue.edu/farmstress.