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The Purdue Extension Farm Stress Team will be holding Winter Workshops around the state over the next several weeks to discuss mental health.
“All of these meetings will feature agronomic speakers, PARP credits, and a meal all for no charge thanks to the Indiana Corn Marketing Council and Indiana Soybean Alliance,” says Abby Heidenreich with the Purdue Extension Farm Stress Team.
She says when people hear “mental health discussion”, they immediately think of sitting in a circle, holding hands, and singing “Kumbaya”. That’s not what’s happening here.
“So, what we will be doing is just discussing the basics and the science behind mental health- how your mental health affects your body, how it affects the work that you do and your bottom line as a business. There’s a lot of really great information. It’s NOT going to be a therapy session. It’s more just like all the agronomy topics. It’s information for you to make decisions for your farming operation.”
And Heidenreich says make no mistake, if your mind and body are not performing at peak levels due to stress, your farm operation will see the impacts of that.
“Whether that comes from loss of focus, inability to make solid, sound decisions, increase in farm accidents, or just overall ability to handle the stress load that comes with running a farm.”
The first workshop is Wednesday in DeKalb County. Upcoming workshops will be Feb. 4 in Jackson County, Feb. 24 in Gibson County, and March 13 in Boone County. More information and RSVP details can be found on the flyer below or at extension.purdue.edu/farmstress.
