Farmers, ranchers and farm workers are three-and-a-half times more likely to die by suicide compared to the general population.
It’s a problem rancher Ashley Menges aims to solve.
Menges and her family ranch in southeastern Arizona. She also works with the University of Arizona's Cooperative Extension. She says agriculture producers often face unique stressors. And they may have little to no control over certain circumstances.
"So maybe that's commodity prices, weather, obviously here in Arizona, we just went through a very extreme drought in our part of this state. And then you're dealing with living organisms — so death or diseases," said Menges.
And many of these farms and ranchers are also family operations.
"Their entire livelihood depends on it because not only do they work on these bad operations, their families live there. They have homes, they have roots," Menges said.
Menges says there aren’t a lot of mental health resources out there. So the UA and others secured funding to create the AgriStress Helpline this year. — a 24-7 call-text helpline. And they hope to get more data on its efficacy early next year.
"But the next thing that Cooperative Extension is really going to start is we have secured funding for what is called the GROW Project. And it is going to study ag-related stress for mental health in women producers in Arizona," Menges said,
The goal is to develop programs that foster resilience and promote healthy stress management
About the AgriStress Helpline
In Arizona, a crisis helpline dedicated to serving Arizona’s agricultural and forestry communities is now available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The AgriStress Helpline is free and confidential and can be reached by calling or texting 833-897-AGRI (2474). Phone call interpretation is available in 160 languages, and text message services are available in English, Spanish, and Vietnamese.
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