As another planting season has arrived for farmers in rural America, it is important to take that step back, schedule time with family and friends, and get that much needed rest amongst the long hours and hard work of life on the farm. While mental health is important for everyone each and every day, it is extremely important to keep in mind this planting season and know you do not have to deal with any challenge alone, shares Bridgeway’s Vice President of Behavior Health Services Stacy Brown:
“It is a time of rebirth, but it can be stressful. Just agriculture in general, it can be a very isolating type of field and farmers work by themselves a lot of times and when they are going through things, it is not like they are necessarily as eager to reach out to other people, like many of us are; they are used to working on their own. It is an underserved population. It is a very important population, and we want to make sure that everyone knows that we are here to serve whatever issue you may have. It doesn’t matter what you do every day or where you are at every day, everybody experiences some of these things, so everybody can use that assistance.”
Locally, Brown informs there is a very limited waiting time in seeking any of Bridgeway’s offered services at the Galesburg location, with a small waiting list in Monmouth.