Ted Mathews, who works for the Minnesota Department of Agriculture and serves as the director of Minnesota Rural Mental Health, has become a well-known expert who farmers call with a question about mental health or suicide. He says that the first thing he learned when working with farmers is that they don’t call psychologists when there is a problem.
“I know that is a shocker,” he told the World Dairy Expo crowd who listened either in person or virtually to his talk on the importance of mental health in agriculture.
Mathews shared that when he started working with farmers more than three decades ago, the divorce rate on farms was much lower than in town.
“Now it’s the same,” he says, explaining that women’s role has changed over the years, playing into that statistic.
“Women on the farm have a different role than they used to have,” he says, sharing that many women now have off-the-farm jobs to help support health insurance and help pay down family debt.
Mathews shares that when the farmer comes home, the focus turns to the farmer and the farm.
“What about her? What about the stresses she has? What about the things that she goes through? And so on,” Mathews states.
Mathews underscores that communication is an incredibly important part of all family life.
“And now it’s far more important and yet we have far less time,” he says. “So how do we communicate? How do we listen?”
Deal with Your Life Stressors
Mathews says that it’s important to deal with stressors before they get to the point that impacts your mental health.
“You have to remember when people say they have a family farm and sometimes they haven’t spoken to other family members in days,” Mathews shares. “You must make time for family.”
Mathews also notes that talking about the burdens that farmers endure is essential. For example, when it snows and farmers are already overworked, they know more work is on deck.
“Sometimes being able to talk about it out loud is a good thing,” he says. “Stop holding it in. Especially men, men are horrible about holding it in. The stress just builds and builds and that is never a good thing.”
While many think sharing stressors or being vulnerable is a weakness, Mathews states it is just the opposite. “People see you as being much stronger if you can open up and share,” he reports.
To listen to Matthews’s entire mental health session from World Dairy Expo, go to (550) Mendota Noon 10-6-23 - YouTube
