Wellness in Tough Times

Wellness in Tough Times

Rushville Community Garden; photo credit: Julien Hoffman

Wellness in Tough Times Toolkit

By Soni Cochran, Kerry Elsen, Susan Harris, Kayla Hinrichs, Julien Hoffman, Michelle Krehbiel, Brandy VanDeWalle; funded by: Nebraska Extension, Peter Kiewit Foundation, Center for Disaster Philanthropy Midwest Early Recovery Fund, Extension Foundation

1

A T T R I B U T I ON

Wellness in Tough Times Toolkit Copyright © Cochran S., Elsen, K., Harris, S., Hinrichs, K., Hoffman, J., Krehbiel, M., and VanDeWalle, B. 2021, Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0). Published by Extension Foundation.

e-pub: 978-1-955687-07-2

Publish Date: November 4, 2021

Citations for this publication may be made using the following: Cochran S., Elsen, K., Harris, S. Hinrichs, K., Hoffman, J., Krehbiel, M., and VanDeWalle, B. (2021). Wellness in Tough Times Toolkit eFieldbook (1 st ed). Kansas City: Extension Foundation. ISBN: number Producer: Ashley S. Griffin Peer Review Coordinator: Rose Hayden-Smith Editorial Assistant: Heather Martin Technical Implementer: Heather Martin and Rose Hayden-Smith Welcome to the Wellness in Tough Times Toolkit eFieldbook, a resource created for the Cooperative Extension Service and published by the Extension Foundation. We welcome feedback and suggested resources for this publication, which could be included in any subsequent versions. This work is supported by New Technologies for Agriculture Extension grant no. 2020-41595-30123 from the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the view of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. For more information please contact: Extension Foundation c/o Bryan Cave LLP One Kansas City Place

1200 Main Street, Suite 3800 Kansas City, MO 64105-2122 https://impact.extension.org/

2

T A B L E O F CO N T E N T S

ATTRIBUTION....................................................................................................................................... 2 MEET THE TEAM .................................................................................................................................. 5 Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................................. 7 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................................... 8 Outreach Highlights .................................................................................................................................................................................9 Part One: Collaborating With Communities ........................................................................... 13 Choosing Pilot Locations for the Wellness in Tough Times Project ......................................................................................13 Community Advocates Are the Key to Success ............................................................................................................................14 Part Two: Needs Assessment and Evaluation......................................................................... 15 Husker Harvest Days Survey ...............................................................................................................................................................15 Community-Informed Research for Improving the Delivery of Virtual Resources Promoting Wellness and Stress Management .............................................................17 Extension Foundation Health and Wellness Survey ...................................................................................................................20 Assessing Mental and Physical Health-Related Quality of Life Issues in Rural Communities Following a Natural Disaster .............................................................................................................21 Internal Assessment—Nebraska Extension ..................................................................................................................................26 Connect Extension Chat .......................................................................................................................................................................27 Part Three: Programming ...................................................................................................... 29 “Communicating With Farmers Under Stress” ............................................................................................................................29 Neighbor-to-Neighbor Initiative ........................................................................................................................................................31 Wellness in Tough Times Inspires Outreach Projects in Australia ........................................................................................35 Part Four: Community Projects .............................................................................................. 42 Community-led Projects Supported by Wellness in Tough Times ........................................................................................42 Read for Resilience: Books for Young Children ............................................................................................................................44 Little Free Libraries for Communities ..............................................................................................................................................44 “Start the Conversation” Bingo .........................................................................................................................................................45 Neighbor-to-Neighbor Quarterly Newsletter ...............................................................................................................................52 Part Five: Media and Storytelling .......................................................................................... 53 “Start the Conversation” Bulletins ...................................................................................................................................................53 “Nebraska Extension Cares” Resource Cards ...............................................................................................................................54 Public Service Announcements .........................................................................................................................................................56 Podcasts .....................................................................................................................................................................................................57 Videos .........................................................................................................................................................................................................58

3

Press Releases .........................................................................................................................................................................................59 The Importance of Storytelling ..........................................................................................................................................................59 Part Six: Conclusion ............................................................................................................... 60 Part Seven: Wellness in Tough Times Project Rationale Statement........................................ 63

4

M E E T T H E T E AM

Susan Harris

Soni Cochran

Susan is the Rural Health, Wellness, and Safety Educator for Nebraska Extension with a 15-year history of education, liaison, and administrative work in health promotion. She leads the Rural Family Stress and Wellness Collaborative Group and offers programs for all ages, promoting optimal mental and physical quality of life. Susan Harris, MLS, Team Lead go.unl.edu/s-harris

Soni is a Community Engagement and Wellness Extension Associate for Nebraska Extension. Soni is a member of the leadership team for the Nebraska Extension Disaster Education Network (EDEN) and Heartland EDEN representing Missouri, Iowa, Nebraska, and Kansas. Her work focuses on disaster education and rural family stress and wellness programming, including suicide awareness and prevention. Soni Cochran, MS, NTAE Project Fellow go.unl.edu/s-cochran

Kerry Elsen

Kayla Hinrichs

Kerry is a 4-H, Youth Development Educator, with a focus on Agricultural Literacy Education. She is also involved in her family’s cattle operation, making rural wellness an additional focus area. Kerry Elsen, go.unl.edu/k-elsen

Kayla is a Food Nutrition and Health Extension Educator for Nebraska Extension. Her main office is in Ord, Nebraska. Kayla Hinrichs, go.unl.edu/k-hinrichs

5

Julien Hoffman

Michelle Krehbiel, Ph.D.

Julien is the Disaster Education Community Engagement and Wellness AmeriCorps VISTA with Nebraska Extension. During her service term in Nebraska, she is handling writing and media for the “Wellness in Tough Times” project in a variety of capacities. She is documenting the progress of each community through photography and interviews, while writing promotional materials. Julien Hoffman, AmeriCorps VISTA

Michelle is a youth development specialist and associate professor at the University of Nebraska- Lincoln Extension 4-H Youth Development. Her work focuses on creating positive youth development environments and youth mental health. She provides professional development training to 4-H Youth Development professionals, after-school workers, and 4-H volunteers throughout Nebraska and the nation. Michelle Krehbiel, Ph.D., CFLE go.unl.edu/m-krehbiel

Brandy VanDeWalle

Brandy is a Nebraska Extension Educator who focuses on 4-H and Youth Development. She works to engage youth in agriculture-related areas in addition to working with Nebraska farmers and ranchers. Brandy VanDeWalle, go.unl.edu/b-vandewalle

6

A C K NOWL E D G E M E N T S

Holly Hatton-Bowers, Ph.D., Assistant Professor and Early Childhood Extension Specialist, Nebraska Extension Lisa Franzen-Castle, Ph.D., Associate Dean, College of Education and Human Sciences, University of Nebraska-Lincoln

Megan Hanefeldt, Extension Educator, 4-H Youth Development, Nebraska

Chandra Plate, Extension Educator, 4-H Youth Development, Nebraska

Ashley Mueller, Extension Educator, Disaster Education Coordinator, Nebraska Extension

Jason Weigle, Extension Educator, Rural Prosperity Nebraska, Nebraska Extension

Robert Tigner, Extension Educator (Retired), Agricultural Systems Economist, Nebraska Extension

Jessie Reed, Graduate Student, University of Nebraska-Lincoln

Stephanie Cole, Business Manager, Nebraska Extension

Pat Neben, Finance/Grants Specialist, Nebraska Extension

7

I N T ROD U C T I O N

By Soni Cochran

Welcome to “Wellness in Tough Times Toolkit.” Join us in “Starting the Conversation” around mental well-being! This eFieldbook is a toolkit of resources, stories, and lessons learned as our team and partners navigated the Wellness in Tough Times (WTT) project supporting Nebraskans affected by multiple stressors: The continuing downturn in the agricultural economy, a year of record-breaking disasters that impacted Nebraskans from border-to-border, and a global pandemic created challenges that took us all into uncharted waters as we worked to achieve project outcomes.

Throughout this project, we tapped into creative thinkers, we adjusted, and we used the assessments and community survey >Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8 Page 9 Page 10 Page 11 Page 12 Page 13 Page 14 Page 15 Page 16 Page 17 Page 18 Page 19 Page 20 Page 21 Page 22 Page 23 Page 24 Page 25 Page 26 Page 27 Page 28 Page 29 Page 30 Page 31 Page 32 Page 33 Page 34 Page 35 Page 36 Page 37 Page 38 Page 39 Page 40 Page 41 Page 42 Page 43 Page 44 Page 45 Page 46 Page 47 Page 48 Page 49 Page 50 Page 51 Page 52 Page 53 Page 54 Page 55 Page 56 Page 57 Page 58 Page 59 Page 60 Page 61 Page 62 Page 63 Page 64

impact.extension.org

Made with FlippingBook flipbook maker