Rural suicide awareness and prevention webinar Sept. 13

Rates for depression are higher in rural America than in urban areas, and suicide rates among people living in rural counties are 25% higher than those in major metropolitan areas. In response to this mental health emergency in rural communities across this country, the need exists to confront rural suicide with a program focused on suicide awareness and prevention.

Rural Minds (www.RuralMinds.org) is a new 501c3 nonprofit addressing mental health challenges in rural America by providing information and resources through strategic partnerships that include collaboration with the National Grange. Rural Minds was founded by Jeff Winton. Growing up on his family’s multi-generational dairy farm in upstate New York, Winton was aware of local residents who were struggling with mental illness in silence. But it did not hit home until his 28-year-old nephew, Brooks, died by suicide.

A recent survey commissioned by the National Grange and conducted by Morning Consult polled 1,000 rural voters and found that 85% of respondents “Strongly Support” or “Somewhat Support” providing educational programs and materials for rural youth and residents to access resources and services available that address rural mental health challenges.

Responding to this unmet need, National Grange has partnered with Rural Minds and will launch the Rural Suicide Awareness and Prevention program in September — National Suicide Prevention Month. Inspired by a request from Stevenson Grange No. 121 (located in Stevenson), Rural Minds is co-presenting a free webinar on Tuesday, Sept. 13 at 4:30 p.m. featuring:

• Presenters discussing the importance of confronting the higher risk of suicide in rural communities

• Information to help prevent suicide

• Free resources for rural mental health and suicide awareness and prevention

Speakers will include rural mental health counselor Monica Kramer McConkey and Nathan Lawson, a Kentucky farmer and rural suicide prevention advocate. Attendees can register for the FREE webinar at bit.ly/3vXqdVS. All recorded video and audio content will be archived and available on the program webpage. To help promote the webinar, an event flyer with all the details can be found at bit.ly/3plWTEE.

This webinar is one piece of the Rural Suicide Awareness and Prevention educational program to be housed on an expanding webpage to empower rural Americans with information and resources.

Stevenson Grange No. 121 grangers support this life saving program and want to be part of the solution to help prevent suicide in rural America by bringing this webinar, and other resources, to our community.

The Community Resiliency programs are co-sponsored by Stevenson Grange No. 121 and the Stevenson Community Library. All Community Resiliency Programs are free and open to the public.

For program information, call Mary Repar at 360-726-7052 or e-mail repar@saw.net.

Call Stevenson Community Library at 509-427-5471 for directions or information.