Addressing Mental Health in the Cowboy Community

Mental health, depression and addiction are stigmatized in Western culture. They are topics seldom discussed within groups of cowboys, but the Outside Circle Show and other groups of working cowboys are banding together to encourage vulnerability and recovery through connection.

Justin Reichert and Nicole Grady have been hosting The Outside Circle Show since 2014. Held inside the historic Star Hotel in Elko, Nevada, the live music event was born from Reichert and Grady’s love for authentic cowboy culture. It’s grown to include events in other locations, yet at its core remains the dedication to highlight and support those authentically working within the Western and cowboy industry.

That’s the same vision that led Reichert and Grady to once again redefine a community for those underrepresented in cowboy culture. Together, they’ve paved a trail for authentic cowboy connection at The Outside Circle Show, by addressing the mental health crisis in the cowboy community. The cowboy music and poetry show, which features cowboys who live the lifestyle, included a mental health panel beginning in 2023.

“I’ve seen too many friends die,” Reichert says. “Too many guys have either drank themselves to death, shot themselves or ran their truck off a cliff.”

Inside the atrium at the Stockmen’s Casino and Hotel in Elko, Nevada, cowboys gathered to speak with their peers in a sobering but honest plea for conversation about depression, addiction and suicide within the community. It was a candid discussion about mental health and addiction in the lives of cowboys.

That first year was met with equal skepticism as it was with encouragement and support. Yet, Reichert and Grady won’t let outside perspectives slow their resolve and dedication to bring awareness to a community that is largely underrepresented.  

“In the cowboy community, it’s not cool to talk about your feelings,” Reichert says. “I’ve realized that none of us have really learned how to process anger or sadness or grief, and all that manifests into something. Watching so many people in the community die, or even they’re not dead, but they’re not living. In the cowboy community, there’s a lot of unhealed little boys hiding behind buckles and hats and our egos. I’m learning I’m one of those boys, and it’s time to try to process some of those emotions positively.”

Grady and Reichert led the movement by gathering a panel of men and women who live the Western lifestyle to discuss the challenges of mental health within the cowboy community. The panel has included cowboys and day-workers who have personally dealt with addiction and mental health struggles.

To Reichert and Grady, it’s a movement born from necessity — a call to their peers to set aside the pride and ego, to break the stigma and to give cowboys permission to begin the conversation.

“We have each had our own struggles with mental health and there are many people around us struggling with their mental health,” Grady says. “We decided that it didn’t matter if we didn’t have a model for it we were just going to do it — enough was enough.”

Cowboy Mental Health — By the Numbers

While Reichert and Grady have each personally seen friends in the cowboy community struggle, those circumstances aren’t isolated. In fact, it’s a crisis much more prevalent than realized by many.

Research on mental health specific to the cowboy community is all but nonexistent. Data within rural, farming and ranching communities is far more scarce compared to other parts of the world. Still, in the last 10 years there have been a few studies on the topic.

In a 2019 study by Rudolphi et al. on depression, anxiety and stress among young farmers and ranchers, personal finances and time pressures were identified as the greatest concern. The study concluded that the prevalence of depression and anxiety were much higher among young farmers and ranchers compared to the general population, citing 71% of their respondents met the criteria for a Generalized Anxiety Disorder diagnosis and 53% met the criteria for a depressive disorder.

National averages are much lower. An average of 18.1% of adults live with an anxiety disorder. Only around 6.7% of adults annually experience at least one depressive episode, defined as a period of two or more weeks during which there is either depressed mood or loss of interest or pleasure, and at least four other symptoms, such as problems with sleep, eating, energy, concentration, self-image, or recurrent thoughts of death or suicide.

In simple terms, the study found that depression, suicide and substance abuse are much more common among agricultural populations than in the general public. It also reported that the rural West has the lowest availability of primary care providers of any region in the country. More than 90% of all psychologists and psychiatrists, and 80% of social workers, are located exclusively in metropolitan areas. Couple these facts with studies proving that men are far less likely to seek behavioral health support and four times more likely to commit suicide than others, and it’s a recipe for disaster. 

Generationally speaking, the world is changing. There are less than 2 million farmers and ranchers in the United States, and yet they produce 80 to 90% of the nation’s food and fiber. This pressure combines with factors like geographical access to resources, financial disparities and societal reluctance to seek help and contributes to the cowboy and ranching outlook on mental health.

While pushback is inevitable in any new venture, and especially one of controversy, those who feel called to this cause won’t be halted by negativity.

“Hearing pushback, that’s always a little discouraging,” Grady says. “Then to find out [someone in the community died by suicide] that’s a reminder that I don’t [care] what anyone thinks. This is more important than what anybody’s opinion is.”

Learn more about The Outside Circle Show here.Learn more about The Outside Circle Show here.