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Introducing Rhode Island’s New Program for FFF Professionals:

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Introducing Rhode Island’s New Program for FFF Professionals:

Welcome!

Land & Sea Together is a collaborative network of services and opportunities, aimed at reducing stress and building mental and financial resilience in the fisheries, forestry, and farming communities in Rhode Island. These professionals tend our land and sea, and are the core of our natural resources sector here in the state. But workers in these fields often face challenging and unpredictable conditions with limited support. From labor shortages to family conflict, from price fluctuations to severe weather conditions, these jobs can be devastatingly hard. And folks are feeling the stress across the nation. Farmers and fishermen are among the professions most likely to commit suicide each year, and many more folks suffer silently as they tend their crops, equipment, and vessels. You are not alone in feeling this way, and we want to connect you with help.

Are you in crisis? Call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline now at 1-800-273-8255. As of July 16, 2022, you can also call or text 988.

We’ve been awarded a $500,000 grant from the USDA, and are part of a network of states across the Northeast working to support mental health and resilience across the agricultural sector. We aim to offer services in the languages you speak, and seek out providers who understand the inherent challenges of the natural resource sector and reflect the diverse cultural backgrounds of the farming, fisheries, and forestry communities.

We are partnering with Coastline EAP, a Rhode Island-based Employee Assistance Program, to provide confidential support and the following services for you and your family. Coastline provides:

  1. 24/7 Resource Hotline, at 1-800-445-1195
  2. Consultation for legal, financial, eldercare, childcare, nutrition, career, and other resources.
  3. Qualified referrals to the most effective resources in terms of expertise, location, cost and availability.
  4. Access to up to twelve free counseling sessions with a licensed, Master’s level clinician based in Rhode Island.

To access these resources, rest assured that you:
– Do not have to own a business, as long as you work in agriculture, forestry, or the fisheries industries.
– Do not have to share any information about your immigration status.
– Do not have to speak or read English- Services are available in English, Spanish, and Portuguese, and services
with an interpreter are available in many more languages.

We also offer free mediation services to agricultural producers in the state, in partnership with the USDA. Mediators can aid with issues related to succession planning, land and water leases, farmer-neighbor disputes and more. And please visit our website, follow us on social media, and join our mailing list for upcoming events and trainings, and information about relief funds! Please give us a call with any questions or for more information. We’d love to talk with you!

Please reach out any time by emailing Program Director Laurel Witri, at laurel@cmcri.org

USDA/NIFA Farm and Ranch Stress Assistance Network Project Award No. 2021-70035-35721 in partnership with the RI Department of Environmental Management Division of Agriculture and the Center for Mediation and Collaboration RI and USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture, Farm and Ranch Stress Assistance Network (FRSAN) project 2019-70028-30464 and 2020-70028 through the National Young Farmers Coalition, in partnership with the RI Department of Environmental Management Division of Agriculture and the Center for Mediation and Collaboration RI