 Great, good afternoon. Thank you for joining us today at the NDSU Extension Agriculture Challenges webinar today We are going to be talking with some of our resources about connecting with resources for real stress and health our speaker today is Lisa Peterson the livestock of the livestock specialist at the Central Grasslands Research Extension Center in Streeter, North Dakota, and she's going to be sharing about some of her personal experiences handling rural stress Hold on here. So good afternoon or good morning if you're in the Mountain time zone so Thank you Miranda and Some of you are probably wondering why Specialists is about farm stress is I get my sides up here everything good see him or no now good Yes, okay, and I have been as a part of a team at NDSU Extension looking at at Rural stress or farm and ranch stress and I was asked to share some of the things that our family went through in the dirty 80s And some things that I see Resilient producers the the traits that they have today So first of all a disclaimer is that I am not a trained mental health professional very broad shoulders and I like to hear from producers and learn from them and help them when I can I Am sharing my family my and my family's experiences of surviving the dirty 80s I have a video here and all's I'll say about this video is it's going to leave a mark It's a cow actually kicking a lady who is trying to help her and so this lady is Trying to help this cow have a calf actually and she just nails her right in the face And that is how my dad would tell you that going through the dirty 80s in agriculture was for him It was a kick in the face almost every day I will give you the view that I have through my rose colored glasses that I'm going to share my observations of what I see Resilient ag operations have in terms of some traits and some things that my father and I just Discussed that helped us Get through the dirty 80s. And so here on the right. I love this little meme or Picture if you will and it says how deep is the mud it depends on who you ask and we all go through the same stuff differently and so my dad is the big guy's about six six and even if he was five foot tall He would still go through things like this big dog on the right and I know a lot of other people who Really don't shoulder things the same way my dad does and so one of the things that I think I Would help us all get through tough times Even if it's not dealing with harm or rural stress is a positive attitude and misery loves company I All I know producers that I really like I think they're great producers But I know when I talk to them that it's going to be a downer discussion and so even if things are going great It's a bad day to them and I know that winners have winners attitudes And while I was doing some research for this presentation. I found a pretty new research project from Stanford Where a researcher had spent a winter in the most northern part of Norway and they they call this report the Norwegian secret to a long winter And they have one of the lowest Depression rates in the world there even though they never see the sunshine and really what it came out of it was that the the people in that community in that area embrace and happily take on their long winter and Have decided that it's a great thing instead of a bad thing. I Would say to always have try. I have a picture up here of secretariat My family raises and races race horses and it is really really hard to Duplicate try and I know that in people as well It's that don't quit attitude in a quote from Michael Jordan is don't be afraid to fail But be afraid not to try and as long as you're always giving your best and trying I think it's really really hard to actually fail My dad always says to me when I'm in a tough situation He always says well, you know how to eat an elephant, right and the answer is one bite of at a time And so eventually we will work through those challenging times One of the things that I think is really important is to remain or become active in your community in person And I have in in person here highlighted Get off your device get off your phone and enter get interact with people people to people I was talking to some people who had survived the dirty 80s in agriculture in our community at a Church event this past weekend and all of them talked about how the kids basketball games in the community Helped them survive and the same set of people were all talking about that they were sad Their kids had all grad their grandkids and all graduated from high school Because they hadn't been out and as active as they had in previous years going to games And so, you know find whatever that social event is but get off your phone And I'm bad, you know, I interact with the world through Facebook But get off the phone and interact with people in person And my bottom quote here says don't be so busy being busy that you don't take time for yourself And anybody who knows me knows that I'm preaching to the choir there and myself But the reality is is that we need to take time for ourselves and Even if it's that hour going to the game and getting out of the tractor, that's important Volunteer so my dad would tell you that he thinks one of the things that kept him going through the dirty 80s was volunteering he Set that on the colorado cattleman's Associations board during that period of time and the things that he will tell you is that it allowed him to learn from others and to Remain relevant. It was something that he could do to give back even when things were really bad at home And he thought we were going to lose everything He was still relevant in a part of something bigger and he learned a lot from His fellow board members and other cattle producers and industry professionals on how to make our operation better I think one of the most important things that we'll talk about and it's probably the hardest to talk about is that your farming operation and and the the financial sides of that and the goals that need to be a team With your your employees and maybe other co-owners, but also your family and When I look back on things so when people were really struggling and when I did some adult farm business management work the Family living expenses oftentimes did not match up with the income coming off of a farm and As my other presenters know several years ago I was called early in the morning by a young producer in the state And his first question to me his first statement to me was Lisa if I kill myself will my life insurance policy pay out and I didn't know the answer and I don't know the answer today But what the the real take-home message was is that he was in a relationship with a lady Who her? Expectations of him financially were not feasible with the amount of money he was gaining off of his operation and That really bothered him and he was trying to to provide what her expectations were But the operation could not do that and so for this to happen leadership has to be open and transparent and You need to to talk to each other about what the operation can provide You know, I will tell you straight out that my mom she could Probably make our family live for a month off of what I wasted in the day today And it was because she was on on board was saving our family's ranching operation Versifier operations Health they're more integrated and holistic and they're more sustainable And what it does is it allows you to ride the highs sometimes of two or three different enterprises And you can do that by adding a diversity of agronomic crops and and or diversity of livestock in in our operation We added a fairer to finish hog operation and we're a buying station for hogs And so it allowed us to continually have income coming in rather than only getting income once a year off of a set of cows It's important to be flexible and have a willingness to change In my eyes and I've told Sean this and he'll talk about some things going on in new zealand The integrated resource management program the colorado state university offered saved our family's operation in the long term And what that allowed us to do was we were calving in February in a place that gets over 100 inches of snow a year A place that you feed cows legitimately for a good 10 months out of the year And so they suggested us that we consider moving our cows to a more desert operation Where are those cows with graze all winter? Well, it meant that my dad wasn't going to weigh every calf when they were born They might not all get tagged It was going to be a way for us a way that we would have to change the way we did things But at the end it has allowed us to Remain more financially stable and feasible and at the bottom here I have a quote from steven covey And it says one things for sure if we keep doing what we're doing We're going to keep getting the same results Or we're going to keep getting what we're getting one definition of insanity is to keep doing the same thing and expect different results And so when you can be flexible and bringing in a group of people to look at your operation Maybe do what we would call a 360 review It's your whole farms health not only the financial health, but the mental health and the Soil health and the livestock health and the crop health. I think you can help your operation And then use them on on the farm or ranch income Don't be too proud to find another job In my in those four or five years that we were really going through tough times in colorado my dad managed an auction He Hype he worked in the oil field He did a lot of different stuff to keep the boat afloat and the young man that I have a picture of here on the right Is a young man in South Dakota that supplements their Ranch income by preg checking and AI and cows And so that has brought in a lot of money To their operation and my final slide is says when you're going through hell keep on going That's uh in a pretty popular song here in the last couple years and I've seen that quote attributed to Winston Churchill I don't know if he really said that or not, but I would just tell you keep on going We'll get through this and we're here to help Thank you, Lisa Our next speaker is Becky Dunham and she is a social worker and farm stress therapist with Lutheran social services and she's going to talk about some about depression and some of the support services available Hello, um, let me get my power point working the way I need it to here Um Going to be stubborn on me and not want to switch over to presenter mode Here we go Um, are you guys seeing things the way you need to see? You need to switch your display settings again Thank you for that reminder. And of course, it's not going to let me do that. There we go We'll get there eventually So I am Becky cop Dunham and I am a therapist that contracts with Lutheran social services and I have taken a special interest in reaching out to the farm and ranch community my husband and I farm and so We have an in-depth I guess understanding of what it's been like to manage in Especially this most recent year and because this is as I tell everybody this is a population That's near and dear to my heart. These are my people and so it it hurts me to see people struggle and knowing that I can That I can reach out and offer some support to people is something that means a lot to me and so I'm going to take some time everything that lisa and Sean are going to talk about today are things that that I would echo as well that are great I'm going to stick to the mental health piece here a little bit and talk about What you see here is this wearing out your bootstraps. It's a collaboration between multiple agencies and dsu extension being one of them To just reach out and educate people on the accessibility of mental services. You're going to hear me talk about farm to farm therapy and I Am a therapist that when I do if you're logging on right now This is how we do telemedicine. We call it telemedicine or online therapy if you're able to do this you're able to do Telemedicine with me you'll see it in the same way that you are seen and hearing me now and I very often do it from my farm in minnesota and I can reach out to anybody throughout north dakota and If you have an internet connection, you have the ability to do that or obviously in person therapy as well so the the first Slide that I want to talk about is that we There's the saying right that you you we lift ourselves up by our bootstraps. Well, that that's expecting a lot a lot out of us and especially in years where Farmers and ranchers are historically and I say this with love a bit stubborn And I say that with love, but they're they're known for being a bit stubborn when it comes to even physical health services or mental health services and This is a time where we need to do something different It it is been an exceptional season and It is time that we we that we reach out and the greatest asset to your farm and ranch Is your mental and physical well-being? If you're not Mentally and physically well, you're unable to complete what you need to do Around your farm that is actually going to be what what can generate some income. And so this is a way um, I use this this analogy, I guess that You know the the tractors we have the duels on right to get through the mud this season therapy is like that and so It isn't just powering through and you don't have to power through there's people like me and a multitude of other providers who are here More than willing to offer that support with some farm understanding and people often wonder, you know, well, what am I going to talk about? I'll guide you through every bit of it. There's no need. You don't need to worry about that So talking a little bit about sadness versus depression Um, I'm not going to go through. I know you can see it on your slide I'm not going to go through every symptom But I want to just pull out a few points that are relevant to the farmers and ranchers that at least I've had experience with It's getting into that hopeless mindset and you heard lisa speak to maintaining that positive mindset or that winning mindset and That really does have a lot to do with it and and it doesn't minimize the struggle that we're all going through this year It doesn't make the harvest easy. It doesn't, you know Our wheat had disease in it too because it was wet I mean, it doesn't minimize any of that But for many people and I know not everybody and I'm speaking about ranchers here That how many harvests have you been unable to get any crop off your field? Not how hard was it or how difficult breakdowns whether How many times have you been unable to get any any crop off your field? Well, all the farmers I've spoken to were like, well, no We've always been able to get some harvest off So you've had a hundred percent success rate then In getting some crop off your field and again not to minimize what what we're all going through in this season But there is a lot to be said about mindset and that's what depression is Is it really pulls you into that hopeless? Helpless mindset that there's no way out of this And that is what crosses over from just being stressed into depression And so I just wanted to speak to that. I know you have the the symptoms in front of you, but also In general men tend to Filter all feelings as anger And or tend to withdraw and so just because people are withdrawing or angry doesn't mean they're not depressed very often That's how men Show those feelings because that's become what is more culturally acceptable And so just to also keep in mind with that also if if chores aren't getting done The farmers and ranchers I know take a lot of pride In and their equipment and their farms and and their livestock And so if that isn't getting done and that's unusual for them, that's something to be paying attention to So again the next Slide it says even if you you feel alone in this you aren't and I think that lisa said something That was really important and it's about reaching out to people and I know we all have the technology that We can reach out to people virtually But there's a lot to be said about being in the same room with someone right and like, you know I love our local cafe You'll see a group of farmers at the table drinking their coffee talking about the weather There's a lot to be said about that personal connection and and I think Having that connection with the therapist is just another way to do that and especially A therapist that has that farming connection where you can I understand some of that language and I'm not a family member You know a lot of farmers are at risk of losing their farms and I'm not Grandpa, I'm not a spouse. I'm not anybody who Has a very deep personal interest in that farm where you can speak the way you need to speak about what is going on And I'm a neutral person that can that can share that with you Some of the things that you can do If you're worried about someone absolutely ask if they're okay And there's a lot of people that are afraid to do that that oh, I'm going to upset them Or I'm going to make them think about If I ask them if they're thinking about hurting themselves I'm going to give them that idea and that research doesn't support that actually You're not going to give anyone the idea and oftentimes there's a lot of relief in being asked If a person is okay, and so I absolutely encourage you to reach out if you want to If you are a spouse or A family member a neighbor And you are worried about someone offer to help them schedule the appointment offer to go with them to the appointment Not even necessarily to sit in but just to go with And offer that support we can make lots of different things work. And so don't hesitate to reach out To someone you're not going to you're not going to plant any ideas and there oftentimes is going to be relieved about that Depression is absolutely treatable and One of the things again that Lisa spoke to our thoughts and our feelings and behavior are connected and that's what therapy does is I I help keep your I help your thoughts and feelings of behavior being on a path that offers you some success These are some options here of where to get help Again, lss of north dakota has a website and a phone number there also india see extension. You can also reach out there This is my contact information. If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to reach out becky k at lss nd dot org And that is my work cell phone number 715 5214 and i'm Always willing to to ask to answer any questions you might have That is everything Thank you becky Yeah, our next speaker is Sean brother brotherson and he is a family science specialist here at ndsu with extension And he's going to talk about some of the resources available to our farmers and producers going through these tough times right now Hi, this is Sean brotherson with ndsu extension and Good to be with you today. I'm just going to share a little bit about Some resources that you might access that are designed to help promote health and wellness Particularly for farm and ranch populations and then Just two or three takeaway coping strategies that are important to consider when you're dealing with times of stress in agriculture Miranda i'll ask can you see my presentation? Okay Yes, everything looks good. All right. Thank you um So the first thing maybe to think about is um, what kind of priority do we place on managing our our health uh On a regular basis when we're operating in agriculture and this um particular little graphic ask the question which matters more to us equipment maintenance or farmer maintenance And um, all of us know that um when it's time To use equipment get out on the field and work that we really rely on the functionality Of the equipment that we use in our farm and ranch operations The same thing is true when there's critical times Where you need to be a peak functionality in your physical and mental health and uh when there are stressful times in agriculture then you need to Really pay attention to your own physical and mental well-being because you depend on that as a critical resource to get you through those tough times As uh, becky mentioned sometimes we can be a little bit stubborn about that This is a quote from a farmer down in australia on farmers and mental health And he said often they maintain their tractors. They maintain their pumps and everything but they don't maintain themselves So that kind of leads me to my next point Maybe think about is when you think about Uh listing of your tangible assets on a farmer ranch operation you optimal think about land livestock seed equipment things like that But we don't typically list our health or well-being and yet It is your health that actually allows you to function every day on that operation to make decisions to keep things moving forward and so really If you think about it your health is actually your most important asset as a farmer rancher or agricultural worker It allows you to do all of those things and it's it's the resource that is most important to your resilience in tough times And so if it is truly That important of an asset that you can't really do all of the other things in your operation without having sound physical and mental health Then we need to make it a priority in the way we manage our operations and In the type of activities we engage in on a daily basis. So I'd encourage you to think about placing Health and safety is the most important priority in managing your farm operation And that means you need some resources and strategies that will help you to do that So i'm going to go through quickly five resources that are designed to to get you started down this path and then maybe three just um coping Practices that that can be useful to you So the first is think about starting your wellness toolbox all of us When we are working in agriculture It's useful to have a toolbox of things available to us that we might we might need For a repair and doing a particular job And so this little graphic just says start your wellness toolbox Select three or four things for your wellness toolbox of things that you can start today This little graphic you can get from ndsu extension. Just go to the ndsu farm stress webpage You can search that find it really easy. It's called 12 tools for your wellness toolbox There's a link to it in this in this graphic, but whether it's exercising for 20 minutes or more a day Whether it's taking 10 minutes to plan your day and your activities ways you can be positive and productive that day Going in for a Medical checkup with your health care provider. So you're getting us a baseline assessment of your current physical and mental health Doing a gratitude journal where you try to Cultivate a positive mindset like lisa talked talked about right down at least three things every day that you're Grateful for despite the challenges that you're going through all of these things are simple wellness strategies You take a few minutes a day And you can pick three or four to put in your wellness toolbox and begin So that would be the first thing that I would encourage it to to do the second is It's helpful to connect with others via their stories and and both lisa And becky mentioned the importance of connecting with others Maintaining those social connections those really help you to be really resilient and to rebound when you're going through some challenges Um one resource for this is the transformation podcast series It's put on by the minnesota department of agriculture and the red river valley farm network um Just search transformation Um, so that's a little play on words with the word transformation And they have a whole series of podcast episodes where they are in conversations with people who have dealt with various aspects of Tough times in agriculture farm stress. They have a lot of good strategies of what they've done. What's been helpful for them? so, you know Go ahead and access that connect with others through their stories and that podcast series is a really good way to do that Um another is i'm going to give your permission to slow down and watch a movie or two But there's some specific ones that may be useful If you are concerned about okay, I need to know a little bit more about How to handle some of these stressful conditions in agriculture, maybe with a spouse maybe with Employees or other family members. Maybe how how do I deal with depression hearing other people talk about it? There's two really good short video series one. There's a series of 10 videos at farms.com They have a youtube playlist and there's 10 videos there each two or three minutes and dr. Val farmer who For over 30 years has been a specialist in in rural stress Um has 10 very short two to three minute videos that you can view on various topics related to this The other is the national institute for mental health as what's called the real man real depression video series These are men who are in in farming law enforcement agriculture Firefighting all sorts of areas who have they're very open about hey, I dealt with depression Uh, you know, I'm a man who goes to work every day. I take pride in what I do, but I experience depression It's not something that's shameful Let me explain to you what I dealt with and how I dealt with it and some Resources and perspectives that might be useful to you So I would encourage you to maybe access those resources third is that the country of new zealand has perhaps the most comprehensive wellness initiative for those working in agriculture of any place in the world it's called the new zealand farm strong initiative And it just has a focus on living well in agriculture how to stay healthy In good times and tough times They have a wealth of resources on there and ideas Just go to the farm strong new zealand website And uh, that's a a place to begin and think about okay. How can I Start pursuing this idea of resilience in my own life in agriculture. They have a lot of really good ideas Finally, um, there seems to be an app for everything So take time to download the common the storm mobile stress app It's an app you can download to your phone Helps gives you very practical right to your phone easy ideas every day things that you can do to pursue wellness, right? Whether it's taking, you know, have you taken a break for a few minutes today? Do you need to do a little mindfulness and breathing? Things like that. So um, download that app very easy to find online the common the storm stress app um As far as coping priorities, um, just just three strategies to think about one is That you do need to take time to rest and renew yourself You can't be going 24 seven last night. I was driving in cast county And I get it people are trying to get the harvest in and people were out very late in the fields It was dark. They were working out there. It was cold. I understand that But in the midst of those challenging hard working times Also, take, you know, take those needed breaks that you need for a few minutes And if you're not taking care of yourself, it's really hard to maintain your health and take care of your family and your farm operation And so for sources of personal renewal that work for you. It might be a hobby. It might be exercise It might be faith practice, but whatever is meaningful take time for that and again Take time for some of those connections with others who help you laugh talk Get a sense of support The second one I'd encourage you to think about is make healthy communication a priority as Becky mentioned It's easy, particularly for men To become angry irritable or to withdraw into themselves These are not healthy patterns of communication when you're trying to manage these particular difficulties So be open to sharing your concerns with others But part of what Lisa was talking about as you as you're out in the community volunteering or connecting with others It'll just give you a chance to have those positive healthy talks with other people So avoid those patterns of withdrawal or anger as your primary mode of communication Finally, the last thing Is remember to focus on your relationships the farm operation kind of becomes a member of the family And so sometimes during tough times you spend all your time taking care of that member of the family but All your family relationships are important and and if you focus on them They can help sustain you during times that are challenging. So That might mean working through a conflict. It might mean giving reassurance to children It might be just having regular family routines that that things just don't go by the wayside that you still have some family routines You can depend on on a regular basis So I'd encourage you to to think about those three coping priorities For more information on our farm stress resources again, you can just Search online and issue and farm stress those resources will come up Happy to take any questions that you have now you can contact Me Sean brothers and an issue extension anytime by phone by email And happy to visit with you as well through your local county office. So thank you Thank you Sean And I want to thank every all our speakers today for joining us to share about this very important topic Well, I'll open it up for any questions I mean, you can either ask them out loud or type them in the chat box and either way we'll make sure they are addressed couple reminders while we wait to see if people have questions is That all of these are all of the webinars have been recorded and are available I put the link in the chat box They're on the NDSU extension Page and if you go to the livestock management tab There is a topic that has all of the webinars on and they will also be on our agriculture disasters Page which is in development right now We also have one more webinar left tomorrow We will be talking about weaning strategies given some of the challenges and the later than typical weaning dates that Are being implemented this year as a result of Of the weather and other challenges That are facing our farmers and ranchers So thank you for joining us And I'll give you one last Um opportunity to ask questions if there are any questions All right. Thank you