Mental Health Resources for Farmers
Thursday Feb 4th, 2021
News Reporter With California Ag Today, I’m Tim Hammerich.
Yesterday, we reported on the significant toll the pandemic has taken on the mental health of farmers and farmworkers. One challenge unique to rural communities is a lack of local resources and places to go to get help. To address this challenge, the American Farm Bureau has compiled resources on a website, www.FarmStateofMind.org. Here’s director of communications, Ray Atkinson.
Atkinson… “Anybody that s having any kind of emotional concerns or feeling a lot of stress, I d recommend they go to a www.FarmStateOfMind.org. And we have a great website there that has crisis hotlines, treatment locators, tips for helping someone in emotional pain, ways to start conversations, and resources for managing stress, anxiety, or depression. I think particularly helpful that you ll find there is sort of some of the warning signs for stress. And things li
Pandemic Impact on Farmers Mental Health
Wednesday Feb 3rd, 2021
News Reporter With California Ag Today, I’m Tim Hammerich.
The pandemic has had an effect on all of our lives, and our farmers and ranchers are no different. The American Farm Bureau recently did a survey on the causes of stress and mental health issues in farmers and other rural adults. This was a follow up to a similar survey conducted in 2019 to determine what changes may have occurred as a result of the pandemic. Here’s American Farm Bureau director of communications Ray Atkinson.
Atkinson… “A very strong majority said that farmer business problems and fear of losing the farm were impacting farmers’ mental health. Fast forward to December when we did this survey, we wanted to look at how things have changed since 2019. And then we also asked some specific questions about the impact of COVID.”
The Sebago Lake area has a drug problem as the second major drug seizure in the past few weeks happened early Sunday morning.
According to the Cumberland County Sheriff s Department Facebook page, three people were arrested when a Deputy pulled over a vehicle on Route 302 in Naples for a suspended registration. When the Deputy searched the vehicle, they found 253 grams of fentanyl, 177 grams of cocaine and 4.8 grams of crack cocaine and that was just the drugs. In addition there was a firearm and about $1700 in cash, which we re pretty sure they hadn t just taken out an ATM.
37-year-old Ray Atkinson Jr. of Norway was driving the car and he received a whole bunch of charges including operating with a suspended license, operating a motor vehicle with a suspended registration, and trafficking of three different types of narcotics. Jared McClure of Bath, and Molly Farrington of Norway were charges with drug trafficking as well.