Giving Compass' Take:

• An educator from Nebraska shares the barriers for students and teachers in addressing the mental health of students in rural communities. 

• Some integrated programs that involve medical professionals seem to help solve this issue. How can donors help school districts gain access to these professionals?

• Learn why mental health is critical to boosting academic success. 

While local 4-H groups are known for summer programming, educator Julie Kreikemeier works with hundreds of students year-round across Colfax and Cuming counties in eastern Nebraska, designing lessons and projects that draw on what students are learning in school.

And when floods ravaged homes in both areas this spring, she tried to make 4-H a space of stability for students and their families.

“It’s … very much just trying to maintain a sense of normalcy. What do they remember as a normal fair experience? What did they remember as a normal end of school year experience?”

And when their “new normal” became too glaring to ignore, creating a web of support was a group effort. Some days, parents volunteered to take home kids whose homes were flooded for playdates.

“Just so they could get away from it all for an afternoon,” Kreikemeier said.

It’s hard to look past the challenges families in agriculture have faced this year. Between floods, late planting, and trade turmoil, many families are operating under an extra layer of stress. But addressing the culture of mental health in rural schools and communities is proving more complicated than increasing resources.

Kreikemeier has noticed many students don’t understand what phrases like mental health or depression mean, and aren’t comfortable using them. Having grown up in Dodge, Nebraska, a town of 531, that attitude hasn’t surprised her.

“You can come out right out loud and say, ‘Today, we're talking about suicide prevention’, and what's going to happen? Most people are going to shut down. They're not going to listen,” she said.

Jackie Meyer, a counselor who practices across northeastern Nebraska, thinks the stigma ag communities live with is partly tied to their work. She hears the same lines all the time.

Read the full article about mental health in rural communities by Christina Stella at Harvest Public Media.