BOZEMAN - There is no doubt Montana’s large fertile lands make it perfect for growing, which makes sense why agriculture is one of the leading industries in the state. Yet Montana’s biggest industry also lacks access to mental health and a new program hopes to close that gap.
“We are tough, we are tough, but even though sometimes need help,” says Christy Clark, Acting Director of the Montana Dept. of Agriculture.
The Montana Department of Agriculture recently received a $500,000 grant from the US Department of Agriculture. The goal of this grant is to provide more mental health access to farmers, ranchers, or rural Montanans.
“We are tough, we are tough, but even though sometimes need help,” says Christy Clark, Acting Director of the Montana Dept. of Agriculture.
“This has been a really humbling project to work on especially in a year where agriculture has been really impacted by drought, grasshoppers and it's been a struggle with food supply interruptions,” says Clark.
According to a study from the University of Iowa, farmers and ranchers have a suicide rate 3.5 times higher than the general population and with this program, officials hope to provide more access to a group that has the hardest time getting access.
“God bless those rural communities, but a lack of resources is an issue,” says Clark.
For Clark growing up on a ranch in rural Montana is what is helping to drive her passion to make mental health more accessible to parts of the state where mental health is virtually non-existent.
“We take such good care of our equipment operations, we take care of our animals but the most important part of an agriculture operation is the operator,” says Clark.
And now she says she is seeing a shift take place.
“We are starting to acknowledge that this is a problem,” says Clark.
With this grant those who are interested would be able to have speakers come to and talk to groups no matter how small or large about mental health, it would also provide a way for those in rural Montana to get access to mental health access via telehealth. It also provides money that they hope to spend on a new public service announcement.
“Now coming over to a side where I can help with some solutions and we can put some of these resources in front of people, I know how important that could've been for my family,” says Clark.
The Montana Dept. of Agriculture hopes that this voucher program is available to rural Montana farmers, and ranchers by the end of the year.
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