How rural communities are tackling a suicide and depression crisis among farmers

John Yang:

Last year, more than 50,000 Americans took their own lives the nation's highest yearly rate of suicide on record. What leads to someone suicide can be a mystery to loved ones because they were reluctant to talk about their struggles. Special correspondent Megan Thompson reports from Wisconsin on the burdens farmers often have to deal with and what's being done to help them.

Brenda Statz:

Oh my that Buffy tan they're so pretty. I hear you.

Megan Thompson:

Days start early for Brenda Statz.

Brenda Statz:

Usually 4-4:30 a.m. wide awake so I get up, get chores done usually do chores in the dark.

Megan Thompson:

Statz runs this 300 acre farm in southwest Wisconsin with her two sons and her daughter in law. The farms been in the family for 50 years. Brenda's husband Leon inherited it from his parents.

Brenda Statz:

We met in 1981. My senior year of high school. He just loved the kids, love the farm, showing them how to farm.

Megan Thompson:

But farming is a hard way to earn a living. Brenda works a second full time job in town to give the family health insurance and extra income. After the birth of her second son in 1989, Brenda left her job for a while to care for the kids. Leon and the farm became their only source of income.

Brenda Statz:

He told me that one day he says if I fail, we all fail. And that's when his first bout with depression started. He couldn't function, couldn't get up in the morning couldn't get down to the barn.

Megan Thompson:

Leon struggled on and off with depression for years the weight of running a farm at times overwhelming. In 2017, the Statz's sold their dairy herd and started raising beef cattle. But Leon came to regret it.

Brenda Statz He said I should have kept my cows. I'm a failure. I wasn't good at farming even though we were financially we were fine. But his mind would not let him see that.

Megan Thompson:

In October of 2018, Leon Statz took his own life.

Brenda Statz:

Whether he's here or not, somebody still had to get up the next day and feed the cows. Somebody had to get up and do the chores. The crops still had to be harvested that year. There's so much that has to do you didn't have time to just stop —

Megan Thompson:

Enough time to grieve really.

Brenda Statz:

No.

Megan Thompson:

Farmers are three and a half times more likely to die by suicide than the general population according to the National Rural Health Association.

Karen Endres, Farmer Wellness Program Coordinator:

Farmers face really unique stressors in their businesses.

Megan Thompson:

Karen Andres coordinates Wellness Programs at the Wisconsin Farm Center, a state agency.

Karen Endres:

They are working in very complex markets. They are often dealing with things like weather that are out of their control.

Megan Thompson:

Endres says most farms are run by families which can cause conflict and stress at home. Farmers are also operating in isolated rural areas.

Karen Endres:

They can feel very alone like they are on an island and they also have access to a lot of things like large equipment, firearms, things that can cause self-harm.

Randy Roecker, Wisconsin Dairy Farmer:

Everybody thinks farming is the red barns you know and the white fences and things like that. But what goes on behind the scenes is it's constantly the stress you know of the markets, animals get sick things happen. Come on.

Megan Thompson:

Randy Roker runs his family's dairy farm just a few miles from Brenda Statz. He says things are tough right now for dairy farmers. We're dealing with drought and sky high costs for feed and fertilizer will being paid a low price for their milk.

Randy Roecker:

There we go all in. We do such a good job producing a wholesome product for everybody. And yet, we aren't even making enough money to cover our cost of operating.

Megan Thompson:

Roecker's grandparents started the farm in the 1930s when Roecker took over, he invested millions of dollars in a new barn and state of the art milking parlor.

Randy Roecker:

So we completed that just in time for 2008 when the worldwide financial crisis yet.

Megan Thompson:

Milk prices tanked, and Roecker couldn't pay his bills.

Randy Roecker:

I would get in the truck, and I would drive out on our back 40 acre field and sit in the truck and just cry. I never thought depression would happen to me. But this financial struggle and feeling that you're losing this legacy that your grandfather started and it just really played a lot with my mind.

Megan Thompson:

Roecker saw several therapists but none were farmers themselves.

Randy Roecker:

I went to so many different ones and that one understood what I was going through.

Megan Thompson:

But after about six years, Roecker recovered, then came the death of his neighbor, Leon Statz. In his obituary, Leon's family was clear about what happened writing he passed away after a long fought battle with depression.

Brenda Statz:

And my kids and I, when we wrote the obituary, we all met at the funeral home and they says, No, we need to put this in here. Because people need the reality check this happens. We need to own it. And now where are we going from here.

Megan Thompson:

Randy Roecker who's known Brenda since high school was asking the same question.

Randy Roecker:

They overheard some people talking about Leon. And I said, you just don't have any idea. You don't know what we're going through out there.

Megan Thompson:

Roecker and Statz felt they needed to do something. So they started a group called the Farmer Angel Network.

Randy Roecker:

We're bringing mental awareness into the light and we're making it okay to talk about it.

Brenda Statz:

Farmers can tell a story about getting hurt, or you know, whatever else is going on, but to say that they're just in a really bad place. They're really blue. They just can't get going. They'll never admit that.

Megan Thompson:

Why can't they admit that?

Brenda Statz:

Because it just like Leon it was weakness. And it was fear of other people knowing.

Megan Thompson:

To counter that stigma, Statz, Roecker and their volunteers set up a booth and hand out pamphlets at events around the community and give talks to spread the word about suicide prevention programs.

Brenda Statz:

988 is there as a support.

Megan Thompson:

And the national suicide and crisis lifeline.

Brenda Statz:

We are not mental health people. But we are bringing resources to the forefront because when I went through everything with Leon, I didn't know of any resources at the time.

Man:

Welcome to Mental Health First Aid.

Megan Thompson:

Other groups like the Sock Perry Health Care Foundation in Wisconsin are teaching people who interact with farmers to recognize signs of distress and intervene anyone from a neighbor to veterinarians who visit the farm.

Man:

What you can do is say Bob, I'm still concerned about what I've noticed. And I want you to know that I'm available to talk to you anytime.

Megan Thompson:

And at the Wisconsin Farm Center, Karen Endres helps get farmers vouchers to cover the cost of counseling, and help locating therapists to like Megan Wolf.

Megan Wolf, Therapist:

Karen will call me and she'll ask hey, do you have room for and then she'll give me a general situation.

Megan Thompson:

Wolf also grew up on a hog farm.

Megan Wolf:

I definitely think having a farming background helps build rapport immediately. Right? You don't have to explain it to me, because I get it.

Megan Thompson:

Wolf understands a farmer's schedule and stays flexible.

Megan Wolf:

If they have a go day like their crop is ready, that means their cancellation is happening. And you have to be okay with that as a therapist. A rainy day like today it's a great day for me to connect with some of my farmers, especially if you have telehealth.

One of the things that I know that you've struggled with lately.

Megan Thompson:

Wolf says telehealth is not just convenient. It's also more private, especially in small towns where everyone seems to know everybody.

Megan Wolf:

A lot of times we find also that telehealth reduces the stigma and the shame of maybe walking into a building where people know that oh, that's the therapist. A lot of my farmers I see are not even in southwest Wisconsin. I don't know them. I don't know their family. They don't know me.

Megan Thompson:

And with the vouchers the state of Wisconsin offers an appointment with Wolf is free of charge.

Karen Endres:

The demand for vouchers has grown tremendously. Last year, we had a record high. We paid for 217 appointments.

Megan Thompson:

What do you think explains that increasing demand?

Karen Endres:

I think awareness.

Megan Thompson:

Brenda Statz, Randy Roecker and their volunteers would like to think they've played a small part in that.

Brenda Statz:

I don't want Leon's death and his life to be meaningless. What we went through together has taught me so much that if I can pass that on to someone else who's struggling and trying to find their way, maybe it'll give them hope that there is help out there. You don't have to go it alone.

Megan Thompson:

For PBS News Weekend, I'm Megan Thompson in Logan Ville, Wisconsin.

John Yang:

If you or someone you know is having thoughts of suicide, call or text the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 988 or go online to 988lifeline.org.