Suicide Prevention

Suicide Prevention

David Sparks Ph.D.
David Sparks Ph.D.
I saw this headline on one of our News feeds and thought, what?... but it might be good information. Suicide is a hard subject to discuss. Becky Kopp-Dunham (Cope-Dun-ham) is a Licensed Independent Clinical Social Worker with Lutheran Social Services. Lutheran Social Services has developed a way to help producers in rural areas deal with stress with Farm to Farm Therapy. “There was a distinct rise in suicide in North Dakota, 57%, the fastest rising portion of that was farmers.” She says there are a number of factors involved. “increasing irritability, increasing feelings of hopelessness, helplessness, sleeping more, it affects their eating, not taking pleasure in things that they used to enjoy, having to push themselves to do what they previously loved and sadly feelings of death, just not wanting to do this anymore.”

Kopp-Dunham says a simple phone call can be a big help: “It is called Tele-medicine. It is through their computer or through their phone, HIPPA compliant application so it is totally private. They can access it from anywhere. I do a lot of the work from my own farm. We call it farm to farm therapy. You have an appointment with me from your farm to my farm.

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