Colorado

The Western Region Agricultural Stress Assistance Program (WRASAP) small grant program seeks to fund projects that educate agricultural support personnel and reduce farm stress or suicidality among farmers and ranchers. Dr. James Craig, rural rehabilitation specialist with the Colorado AgrAbility Project (CAP), has parlayed this opportunity into creating the Colorado AgrAbility College of Agricultural Sciences (AGSCI) website. Currently in development, the site will provide agricultural producers real-time access to a wealth of support for all topics germane to the CAP, including farm stress and behavioral health. While much content will be informational, Craig hopes to incorporate more interactive, dynamic features over time, such as workshops, peer group postings, client success stories, podcasts, polls, and surveys. It will also serve as a vehicle for behavioral health referrals through involvement from CAP's behavioral health specialist, Chad Reznicek. Finally, the platform will serve as an additional space for WRASAP partners to contribute applicable materials and event announcements.

Craig credits CAP's lineage of building relationships throughout the state as a springboard for the website's potential impact. Dr. Robert Fetsch's studies correlating assistive technology services for disabled farmers and ranchers with higher levels of hopefulness also informed Craig's philosophy. He noted, "What we found when taking quality of life surveys was that this whole thing of hope really worked very well to alleviate a lot of problems. So, our approach to mental health was to take care of physical needs first to alleviate immediate stress, then focus on mental health issues." WRASAP's baseline survey results also confirmed farmers' preference for virtual engagement. Given many farmers' and ranchers' stoicism and concern about stigma, Craig stressed the value of a mechanism that they "can feel safe on, they can trust, can maintain confidentiality, and work on their own time schedule."

While Craig will manage the content and framework, a website developer has been enlisted to ensure professional presentation, intuitive accessibility, and optimum exposure. Once it goes live, the website's existence will be conveyed through CAP's listserv of approximately 700 subscribers, newsletters, and email blasts.

Submitted by Jim Craig