Farmer Well-Being

The power of peer support in farming

“Peer support encompasses a range of activities and interactions between people who share similar experiences of being diagnosed with mental health conditions, substance abuse disorders, or both. This mutuality, often called ‘peer-ness’…promotes connection and inspires hope. Peer support offers a level of acceptance, understanding and validation not found in many other professional relationships.” – U.S. Federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Agency

The unique lived experience of farming makes peer support a powerful tool for addressing mental health. The Growing Wellness group agreed: Certified Peer Specialists could help meet the need for support, especially in rural communities where the cost is high for mental health services and the availability is low. Even with subsidized services, long waitlists mean that accessing care can be extremely difficult.

Mental Health First Aid Trainings

This evidence-based, early-intervention course, administered by the National Council for Mental Wellbeing, is available virtually and in-person and uses farmer-specific scenarios, activities and videos to teach the skills needed to recognize and respond to signs and symptoms of mental health and substance use challenges as well as how to provide initial support until they are connected with appropriate professional help. (Text adapted from: thenationalcouncil.org/our-work/mental-health-first-aid/ )

What the Training Covers

• Common signs and symptoms of mental health challenges.
• Common signs and symptoms of substance use challenges.
• How to interact with a person in crisis.
• How to connect a person with help.
• Expanded content on trauma, substance use and self-care.

Growing Wellness

With ongoing support and interactions on the Ag Solidarity Network , this group was founded through Marbleseed's Mental Health Peer Support program which exists to meet the need in rural communities where mental health services may be difficult to access. This group contains sensitive topics and discussions dealing with mental health, trauma, and recovery. Please honor each other's privacy, courage, and vulnerability. 

Certified Peer Specialists are trained to use their personal experiences dealing with and overcoming personal problems, such as depression or substance abuse, to provide support to peers and demonstrate that recovery is possible. Farmers who receive training in peer support techniques will provide support and counseling to fellow farmers around the state at no cost.

These trained farmers will become a support network across the state so that all upper Midwest farmers can gain the support they need to overcome life’s challenges and stressors in a constructive way, with support and skill building offered by fellow farmers that shared a similar lived experience.

Farmer Allyship

In response to experiences of racism, discrimination, and lack of safety from farmers of color in our community, Marbleseed is engaging farmers and folks in rural places who recognize that creating a culture of welcome that embraces diversity makes communities vibrant and viable. 

Welcoming Communities: Farmer Allyship is an ongoing initiative geared to small to mid-scale producers that want to access land/facilities enabling them to fulfill their hopes and feed communities by utilizing a tool kit to organically grow healthy relationships among existing localities.

This initiative aims to serve the upper mid-west, focusing on 2 states covering 10 counties now. Self-identified allies started with an in-person training then transitioned onto a social media platform, the Ag Solidarity Network . This platform allows for continued connections, resources, and ongoing support. This is a supportive space for allies and farmers to train, connect, and change our rural landscape.

Honoring Our Elders

As steps toward addressing some of the inequities along with mental health challenges of aging and diverse farmers, this project focuses on professional development efforts to reach ag professionals and family members that can ensure that diverse elders, who are disproportionately affected by health and cognitive conditions, and often underrepresented in other efforts to address mental health, are safe, cared for and valued.

As Marbleseed has had increased engagement with farmers of color and elders in many of these communities, there has been an identified need for such resources. General mental health messages and toolkits have not presented culturally competent information or acknowledge the difficulty in addressing these issues in diverse communities. Intergenerational trauma, refugee experiences of violence and displacement, along with current racism and discrimination are not discussed openly, but the effects are evident in health disparities experienced in these communities.

Many HMoob and Native American elders in the upper Midwest have deep connections in farming and growing food for subsistence. In addition to providing themselves and their communities with healthy, culturally relevant food, farming and gardening provide a sense of purpose and community. These elders are often keepers of unique knowledge of seeds and growing practices.

In response to the challenges of elders, ag service providers, and caretakers trying to balance the delicate transitions of aging, self-identity through growing, and life, Marbleseed is engaging community members to share experiences and have conversations.

These training are to honor our elders’ knowledge, their identities as producers, and to uplift caretakers and ag service providers to build skills, confidence, and gain insights from the stress of this role.

Learn more about our upcoming events and trainings under these grants.

Contact

For questions about these programs or information on how to get involved, contact Nou Thao, Land Access and Farmer Wellness Specialist, nou.thao@marbleseed.org,888-906-6737 x723