Regular Program Offerings

Cultivating Resilience for Ecological Distress: An Introduction (30 minutes) 🌿

This short, 30-minute presentation introduces the fundamentals of climate grief and stress, focusing on how these emotional challenges affect farmers and agricultural professionals. We will also share basic coping strategies to help manage the emotional toll of climate-related changes.

• Perfect for: Adding to an existing workshop or class as a supplemental session.

Cultivating Resilience for Ecological Distress: An Interactive Workshop (75 minutes) 🌱

This 75-minute workshop provides a deeper exploration of climate grief and stress. We’ll dive into practical strategies for resilience, engage in group discussions, and participate in hands-on exercises to better understand and cope with these emotional challenges.

• Includes: Group discussions and interactive exercises to enhance learning and emotional resilience.

Cultivating Resilience for Ecological Distress - Train-the-trainer🌿 (3 hours)

During this 3-hour training, will introduce participants to strategies for increasing resiliency in the face of extreme weather events and a rapidly changing environment and learn how to deliver a 30-minute presentation on ecological stress and grief.

• Participants will receive a PowerPoint presentation along with notes and other resources on how to implement the presentation.

Rooted Resilience: Train the trainer cohort for facilitating ecological stress and grief gatherings for farmers and ranchers 🌱

This unique cohort-based training is designed for individuals who want to support producers by facilitating gatherings that provide space for education, processing ecological-related stress and grief, creating connection, and building resilience. Whether you are an agricultural advisor, extension professional, mental health provider, rural community leader, or producer yourself, this training will prepare you to lead supportive, culturally sensitive, and grounded conversations that honor the emotional toll of ecological changes and extreme weather on land-based livelihoods.

• Participants will:
  • Learn accessible activities to help producers process their emotions related to ecological stress and grief and extreme weather.
  • Strengthen peer listening skills rooted in empathy.
  • Increase comfort and confidence in facilitating group discussions.
  • Gain tools to respond and refer appropriately when more urgent or complex mental health needs arise.
  • Explore personal reactions and feelings about mental health challenges.
  • Build a supportive community with others who are passionate about the emotional and mental health impacts of ecological change and extreme weather.
  • Contribute to cutting-edge research at the intersection of climate resilience, mental health, and agriculture.
  • Receive a facilitation toolkit with Powerpoint presentations, speaker notes, links to producer videos and a mental health resource guide.
  • Attend quarterly post-training support and check-in sessions.

Future Developments: 🚜

Thanks to a USDA-Western SARE professional development grant, we are excited to announce that we are developing longer, more intensive workshops for participants. Additionally, we are working on a train-the-trainer program designed for agricultural professionals and educators, equipping them to deliver climate stress and resilience training to their own communities.

Stay tuned for more updates on these exciting new programs!