From left, Wall Street Dairy and Rural Minds team members Greg Wolcott, Jeff Winton, Jim Modica and Erma Wolcott, pictured the day of the “Roadtrip Nation” filming at Mayville, NY, in August, 2025.
Submitted photo
The documentary aired at the beginning of May, which was also mental health awareness month, and Winton said that it meant a lot to him that even with PBS’s ongoing problems with funding from the government that it was seen as important enough to still air. He added that thanks to sponsors some of that funding has been restored, and that with PBS’s wide platform the documentary has already been seen in 82 million households since it first aired last month. The documentary has also aired on a few other public broadcasting stations as well, and Winton said it overall helps Rural Minds’s visibility as they continue to advocate and highlight mental health needs in rural America.
“May was Mental Health Awareness Month, and it was the perfect time to have our documentary episode air, during the month set aside for mental health,” Winton said. “I think we should focus on mental health every day of the year, but it was the perfect time to have it air in the historically set aside month.”
It was important to have it air during May for farmers as well, Winton said, as May is usually a busy time with them trying to get hay in and crops planted. The documentary is one that Winton said should not just be of interest to farmers, but to everyone.
“Everyone is impacted by mental illness, whether you are on the journey personally or you know someone that is,” Winton said. “Mental illness impacts everyone. We represent Rural America, but we also focus on the farming community, those who help to raise our food, fiber and ethanol, especially as ethanol continues to become more important with the rising fuel costs.”
Rural Minds Founder and Chairman Jeff Winton (center) and participants in the “Roadtrip Nation” documentary, “Where Wellbeing Grows.”
Submitted photo
People that live on farms make up less than two percent of the population, Winton said, but they are the ones feeding, clothing and fueling the world. Therefore, he added, it is important for everyone to understand the troubles they face. The farming community and rural America also have a diverse population across America.
“Rural America is a rich tapestry of humanity, and they are currently feeling great stress with the trade war, fertilizer costs, immigration issues, and this documentary helps us bring understanding to the public who may not know that,” Winton said.
The Roadtrip Nation documentary was filmed at Wall Street Dairy in August. Winton said three college students came in a big, green RV, and that all of them were considering going into careers in mental health. Rural Minds was the only rural area featured in the documentary, with the students also traveling to Los Angeles, Boston, New York City, Washington and Atlanta, all to talk about the ongoing mental health crisis. While the focus of the documentary was in typically urban settings, Winton said the students all had farming backgrounds of some sort as well, and they all felt showing rural America was important. The students were also able to experience farm work, see baby calves and goats, and see what overall life is like on a working farm. Winton said he hopes that seeing the rural side in contrast to the urban side will also help to spark some interest in that for them in their future careers as well.
Roadtrip Nation explores many topics, and the documentary focusing on mental health was split into two episodes; “Part One: Our Shared Healing” — which is the episode featuring Rural Minds — and “Part Two: Fostering Compassion”, with the overall title of the documentary being “Where Wellbeing Grows”. The documentary will have aired 231 times across PBS stations between when it first aired on May 1, and the final air date of June 10, also reaching 135 cities, 32 states, and 82 million households.
“It’s gaining a lot of attention, and helping us shine a light on the mental health issues in Rural America,” Winton said. “We do have obstacles when it comes to mental health services in Rural America, but there is help and there is hope available for anyone in need. First, you have to admit you need help, and then seek help.”
The Roadtrip Nation crew with a cow.
Submitted photo
Living with a mental illness is similar to living with cancer, or heart disease, or other physical illnesses, Winton said. Only, when someone has a physical illness they will seek the help they need, but with the stigma surrounding mental health, that becomes less likely in the case of mental illness.
“With all of the stigma surrounding mental illness, people will not consider it an actual illness, but it is the same as any physical illness,” Winton said. “We need to look at it just like physical illness, and not be ashamed to get the help you need. This stigma is there in all of society, but especially in Rural America.”
In Rural America, Winton said, people will become concerned about what admitting they need help means, and that it will make them look weak. This is something he said people need to get beyond, because only after they get beyond that will they get the help they need. Rural Minds exists to help people get that help, and connect them with services that could be life-changing.
Other services out there include the 988 number, a 24/7 hotline that people can call or text for help. Family members of someone who needs help can call too, and be connected to a live, trained professional who can help them in that moment and connect them with services for later. Rural Minds’s website, ruralminds.org, also has helpful information to connect people to services, including a link to the PBS documentary and to their recently introduced program, the Farmer Resilience Program.
Winton said their section of the PBS documentary was filmed in Chautauqua County and focused on the county, also being the first time many of the Roadtrip Nation team had ever been in the area. These mental health issues seen in Rural America are also seen in Chautauqua County, Winton said.
The Roadtrip Nation RV pulls into Wall Street Dairy for filming.
Submitted photo
“There is help and there is hope, but it has to start with you,” Winton said. “You have to reach out to someone and talk about what is bothering you. It starts with the individual.”
People that make up the communities of Rural America can help by being the eyes and ears of the community, Winton added, and that if they see something out of character they need to say something. People suffering from mental health issues will usually have a change in routine or behavior, Winton said, giving examples such as someone stopping showing up for church, or a farm that is usually well-kept falling into disarray.
“It takes all of us to be the eyes and ears of the community,” Winton said. “We need to notice things and be vigilant, and not be afraid of asking the difficult questions. It’s the responsibility of family and community members to notice, and it shows that person that someone cares. It will take all of us to turn this train around.”
MAYVILLE – The Chautauqua County Board of Health is going on record, as it first did back in 2019, offering …
MAYVILLE – While County Executive PJ Wendel believes Chautauqua County is in a good place with a strong …