Rooted Resilience - Train-the-trainer cohort for facilitating ecological stress and grief gatherings for farmers and ranchers - Sep 2026

📅 16 September 2026

Dates: Sept. 16, 23, 30 (Wednesdays) 3-session series

Facilitators: Maud Powell, OSU Extension Professor and Zoe Rossing, Clinical Social Worker

From wildfire and floods to shifting growing seasons and rising costs, producers are not only facing financial and operational challenges — they’re also carrying immense grief, anxiety, and uncertainty.

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.Who This Is For:

We invite anyone with a connection to rural communities and food systems who is passionate about supporting the emotional resilience of producers—this includes farmers, ranchers, extension agents, cooperative members, rural mental health therapists, conservationists, and others who work alongside land stewards.

If you have not yet taken the training to be able to deliver the 30-minute ecological stress and grief presentation, you will need to attend that training on Tuesday, Aug. 12 from 9:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. PT. Register in advance for this meeting.

Apply by Aug. 15.

We will be selecting approximately 25 people to participate in this first cohort. Please use the application form to provide your name, contact information, and answer some short questions. We will schedule brief phone or Zoom interviews with all applicants.