Initiative offers free mental health resources

CARBONDALE, Ill. — A confidential helpline service is available for all Illinois farm families offering specialized assistance, including mental health resources and ag-related support.

The Farm Family Resource Initiative Helpline is a 24/7 service. By calling 1-833-FARM-SOS — 1-833-327-6767 — or emailing FarmFamilyResourceHelpline@mhsil.com, individuals can receive comprehensive support at no cost from trained professionals who understand the unique challenges faced by those in the agricultural sector.

In addition to the helpline, the initiative, led by the Southern Illinois University School of Medicine Center for Rural Health and Social Services Development, provides tele-health counseling services with SIU Medicine counselors, offering up to six sessions for individuals, couples, or groups.

Karen Leavitt Stallman is FFRI project coordinator. She also farms with her husband in Randolph County.

“I would encourage people to reach out, not wait until you enter a crisis situation, but know that there are resources there for you,” she said.

“I like to tell people that it’s OK not to be OK. Farmers do a real good job of working on their equipment and keeping their equipment in good shape, checking their crops, keeping an eye on our livestock, but oftentimes we don’t take good care of ourselves, and the farmer is the most important asset on that farm.

“Without that farmer, that farm does not exist, or doesn’t function very well. So, we’ve got to understand that we have to take care of ourselves.”

Confidential

The free services are available seven days a week, 24 hours a day.

“I could be disking on Saturday night and decide that I need somebody to talk to, and I could call there. It’s totally confidential,” Stallman said.

“The only time you have to give your name is that the mental health professional that you’re talking to on the other end of the line is going to ask if you’d like some additional help, some additional counseling, through our SIU School of Medicine counselors.

“We offer up to six tele-health counseling sessions for individuals or groups or couples. That is also at no charge, but of course you’d have to give your name to be able to connect with the counselor. But otherwise you can remain totally anonymous.

“It’s very, very difficult for anybody to pick up the phone and call a stranger, but it’s particularly difficult for a farmer to pick up the phone and call somebody. We purposely named it a helpline and not a hotline because we really encourage people that you don’t have to be in a crisis situation to call.

“If you are in a crisis situation, the professionals at the helpline can certainly handle that, but sometimes we just need somebody to talk to, maybe a different perspective, maybe some advice on a problem that we’re having. So, that’s why we named it and call it a helpline.

“We contract with Memorial Behavioral Health in Springfield, who answers the calls to its Suicide Lifeline 988. So, when a call comes in on that FFRI number, then they know that it’s in some kind of an agriculture-related phone call.”

Drip, Drip

Being a farmer herself, Stallman knows the ag-related stresses that go along with it.

“We think about those prices every day and, as farmers, we have so many things that we can’t control. Where I live, we’re now considered in a severe drought. We had very, very little rain. Our yields aren’t where they need to be,” she said.

“So, we’ve got input costs that are so expensive. We’ve got weather that we can’t control. We’ve got commodity prices that we can’t control. I call that the chronic drip, drip, drip of stress. We have all these kinds of things that we can’t control.

“And when you have those things that you can’t control over a period of time, they can cause things like anxiety and depression. Eventually, that could lead to suicide, in some cases.

“So, the program is so important to have some resources available for farmers online, anonymous, at no charge, the helpline, the counseling opportunities. I don’t have to drive in town and have my truck parked at the local counselor where somebody might see me, if that’s an additional stigma.

“We try to make it as convenient as possible. They can get online at any time on the website and maybe want to see a video, look at a webinar. But it’s very important because we need to have people and resources that we can reach out to, so we feel like we can have some control and then learn how to deal with those stressors that we can’t control.”

Statewide Program

The initiative started in 2019 through legislation introduced by the late state Sen. Scott Bennett, D-Champaign.

The joint pilot program through the SIU School of Medicine and Illinois Department of Agriculture initially started with six Illinois counties. It has since been expanded to all 102 counties.

“Sen. Bennett was a strong advocate for agriculture. He recognized the need to do some outreach for Illinois farm families. Another strong advocate is Illinois Department of Agriculture Director Jerry Costello II,” Stallman noted.

Program funding is provided through the Illinois General Assembly.