Award-winning video spotlights rural youth mental health crisis

Closing the Mental Health Gap Among Rural Youth in the US, which won three Telly Awards for outstanding branded content highlighting rural youth’s critical mental health concerns. Produced by Rural Minds in collaboration with Pfizer, National Grange, and USA TODAY, the video touches on issues of stigma, isolation, and shortages of providers. It features the story of Asheton Medlin, whose own personal experience of a peer suicide as a small-town college student underscores the unique stresses rural youth face in adjusting to new circumstances.

Rural youths between the ages of 15 and 19 have a 54 percent higher suicide rate compared to urban residents, with a 74 percent increase over the past 12 years, according to the Centers for Disease Control. These rising rates are tied to cultural beliefs regarding self-sufficiency, stigma of mental illness, and limited access to treatment. Rural Minds founder Jeff Winton, whose nephew committed suicide, feels the awards help bring these urgent issues to the national forefront. “The awards for this video are especially gratifying because they validate the importance of the content and provide the platform to present these difficult truths about rural mental health inequity to a broader audience,” said Winton. “

The video is part of a broader public education campaign and touches on both obstacles to mental health care as well as rural resilience. Rural Minds is specifically the only national nonprofit working solely on rural mental health, advocating for the 46 million Americans who live in agriculture and small-town communities. With rural mental health problems continuing to rise, initiatives like this aim to initiate policy change, increase access to resources, and establish a culture whereby assistance is seen as a sign of strength, not a sign of weakness.