Author: Laura Weddle
Major Program: Substance Use and Mental Health - FCS
In 2023, Laura Weddle, Extension Specialist for Farm Stress and Rural Mental Health recorded five episodes for the Farm and Home Show in collaboration with the Warren County Extension Office. The target audience for the Farm and Home show is South Central Kentucky. Specifically, the WBKO network encompasses sixteen counties in the southern region of Kentucky with approximately 15,000 households reached per episode. The Farm and Home Show airs at 5:15 AM and
Farmers and farmworkers consistently report high levels of stress associated with commodity production and rural living. The culmination of rural living, farm work, and stress is associated with elevated rates of suicide in farming occupations. A mutual partnership was created between the UK Cooperative Extension Service and the UK College of Nursing to develop the BARN Farm Workshop and Dinner Theater on mental wellness and suicide prevention in response to farmer stress and suicide. UK Coopera
Author: Paul Norrod
UK Extension, in partnership with UK College of Nursing, developed the BARN program to increase awareness of rural mental health and wellbeing, and to offer tools and resources to reduce mental health challenges, farm stress, and suicide among farmers. BARN is a two-part community intervention designed to normalize talking about mental health challenges and suicide, improve recognition of mental health challenges and suicide behaviors, and provide skills to handle mental health challenges and su
Author: Kate Thompson
Mental health is a vital part of children’s overall health and well-being; it includes children’s mental, emotional, and behavioral wellness. According to the American Psychological Association, recent studies have shown that children’s mental health has been negatively affected over the past few years from social media and the Covid-19 pandemic. Learning to be mindful has had a positive effect on children’s mental health. In order to help children improve their men
Author: Misty Wilmoth
The LaRue County Cooperative Extension Service partnered with the LaRue County High School Family Resource Youth Service Center to offer the Truth and Consequences program to all 210 LaRue County High School ninth graders in November 2023. District Court Judge Derek Reed spoke to the entire freshman class about issues related to drug use. Each student then drew for a scenario which took them to various stops in the high school gym. A "parent" volunteer accompanied the
Author: Brooke Hogancamp
The river counties of Ballard, Carlisle, Hickman and Fulton are situated along the far western boarder of Kentucky. These counties consist mostly of rural farmlands and wildlife reserves, leaving limited access to many resources available to residents of more populated areas. The number one industry in the area is agriculture, with many residents having ties to farming in one way or another. FCS & ANR Extension Agents in the four river counties saw a unique opportunity to collaborate to prov
Author: Elizabeth Evans
Stress is something that affects all of us at some point in our lives and if left unchecked can contribute to many health complications including high blood pressure, heart disease, diabetes, and obesity to name a few. According to the American Psychiatric Association, the number of Americans that rated their mental health as fair to poor increased from 31% to 37% at the end of 2022 and stated “More than one in four (26%) reported they anticipated experiencing more stress at the start of 2
Author: Sara Jenkins
Kentucky consistently ranks among the most challenged states in the United States in terms of drug and alcohol use. Compared to the national average, Kentucky has a higher rate of tobacco use, prescription drug misuse, and substance use disorder (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, 2020). Kentucky is also one of the leading states in terms of drug overdose, with an overdose death rate that is 71.4% higher than the national average (Kentucky Injury Prevention and Research C
Author: Laken Campbell
Botvin LifeskillsThe Lee County Extension Office has implemented a new program for their county. The Botvin Lifeskills program is a program that covers a wide range of topics from substance abuse to social skills. The Agents and staff involved taught this program to help focus on substance prevention and middle schoolers are such a vulnerable audience. In 2022 Lee County was featured on LEX18 for six deaths and 21 overdoses in just three weeks have been reported.Substance use prevention programm
Author: Kayla Lunsford
Increasing Knowledge on Mental Health Topics in a Fun WayMental Health is a topic which is increasingly becoming more talked about, and for good reason. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, more Americans than ever are reporting problems with their mental health. According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, “In February 2021, 43.6% of adults in Kentucky reported symptoms of anxiety or depression. 22.8% were unable to get needed counseling or therapy.” To help address this need, the
Author: Kristi Shive
According to the American Institute of Stress, increased levels of job stress and other demands of life have been associated with increased rates of heart attack, hypertension, and other disorders. Stress can also weaken the immune system, affect mental health, and increase chances of developing anxiety, depression, or insomnia. When workers have a poor work-life balance, their stress levels tend to rise. Stress lowers employee productivity and makes it more difficult to concentrate.
Last summer, the Warren County Extension Office conducted the BARN dinner theater to Bring Awareness Right Now to Mental Health in the rural community. It was such a successful event; the Warren County Extension Council initiated a follow-up program dedicated to mental health awareness called Harvest Festival. Agents, council members, and community partners worked together to host an event filled with educational information and health screenings for participants.Sixty people attende
Author: Amanda Hardy
According to the CDC Mental health is an important part of overall health and well-being. Mental health includes our emotional, psychological, and social well-being. It affects how we think, feel, and act. It also helps determine how we handle stress, relate to others, and make healthy choices. Mental health is important at every stage of life, from childhood and adolescence through adulthood.When starting the craft and app class this past year, the FCS agent was not thinking about it being more
Author: Tiffany Bolinger
1 in 5 adults in the United States lives with a mental illness. Mental Health First Aid teaches participants how to identify, understand and respond to signs of mental health and substance use challenges among adults. The curriculum includes; common signs and symptoms of mental health challenges, common signs and symptoms of substance use challenges, how to interact with a person in crisis, how to connect a person with help, and expanded content on trauma, substance use and self-car
Author: Alethea Price
One in 7 Americans reports experiencing a substance use disorder. There is not one single driving factor that leads to addiction. Some people may use drugs to help cope with stress, trauma, or to help with mental health issues.Mindfulness is a technique that can be used to ease the effects of stress. Mindfulness is paying purposeful attention to the present moment. Mindfulness researcher Jon Kabat-Zinn defines mindfulness as “the awareness that emerges through paying attention on purpose,
Author: Shelley Meyer
Farmers and farmworkers consistently report high levels of stress associated with commodity production and rural living. The culmination of rural living, farm work, and stress is associated with elevated rates of suicide in farming occupations. The BARN (Bringing Awareness Right Now): Farm Dinner Theater was developed as a strategy to address and explore the difficult topics of mental health and suicide within a rural community. University of Kentucky Cooperative Extension agents from Harri
Author: Sarah Drysdale
On the average 76 % of all the land in the four river counties is in crop production. Three of the four counties Ballard, Carlisle, and Fulton County have over 33 million in average crop sales. Hickman County sells over 56 million in crop sales. In all four counties, there is an average of 24.75% female farm operators. Our program this year for the Women in Ag Seminar was to concentrate on handling farm stress and its impact on the family farm. Dr. Paul Norrod presented H
The Power of FlowersThere is just something about having fresh cut flowers in the home or spending the day outside in nature that can leave individuals feeling a little happier and refreshed. Research has shown that spending time in nature, even for just 20 minutes, can significantly reduce stress hormones. Time in nature has also been shown to decrease inflammation, lower heart rate and blood pressure, reduce anxiety, decrease depression, and decrease fatigue. In addition, Rutgers University co
