{"id":223735,"date":"2025-10-15T09:57:37","date_gmt":"2025-10-15T19:57:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/?p=223735"},"modified":"2025-10-15T09:57:37","modified_gmt":"2025-10-15T19:57:37","slug":"farmers-first-responders","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2025\/10\/15\/farmers-first-responders\/","title":{"rendered":"Building connections to prevent suicide for Hawai\u02bbi\u2019s farmers, first responders"},"content":{"rendered":"Reading time: <\/span> 2<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>
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Farmers and first responders participated in forest restoration at Hawaiʻi<\/span> Volcanoes National Park.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Community connections, cultural healing practices and emotional well-being are at the center of a University of Hawaiʻi<\/span> at Mānoa program that is building a peer support network for farmers, farmworkers, and paramedics and emergency medical technicians. The main goal—prevent suicide.<\/p>\n

Strengthening essential workers<\/h2>\n

The Culturally-based Community Connections for Resilience<\/a> (CCCR<\/abbr>) project, led by Professor Thao Le of the Department of Family and Consumer Sciences at the College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resilience<\/a> (CTAHR<\/abbr>), has already trained 34 peer mentors in its first year. The project is gearing up to recruit more peer mentors in its second year with $598,906 funding from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.<\/p>\n

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Working in the loʻi<\/span> (taro field) is another Native Hawaiian cultural healing practice for CCCR<\/abbr> participants.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Farmers and first responders often experience high-stress and uncertainty. Farmers face unpredictable markets and weather conditions, while first responders care for patients in traumatic situations.<\/p>\n

“It may seem suicide is a lone event—it is not,” said Le, the principal investigator. “Disconnection and loneliness are salient factors. We need a course correction and can only do this when we create conditions for care and connections in our communities.”<\/p>\n

Two recent articles from Le and her colleagues provided a potential tool to screen Hawaiʻi<\/span> farmers for anxiety and depression<\/a>, and highlighted the language and cultural gaps<\/a> that prevent some local agriculture workers from getting mental health care.<\/p>\n

Healing with nature<\/h2>\n

CCCR<\/abbr>\u2019s contribution lies in its attention to community and culture as modality for preventing suicide. Its culturally infused aims include:<\/p>\n