Farm Family Harmony Podcast

In this episode, I sit down with Shawna Percy, suicide prevention specialist and founder of Ag Care Connect, to explore why small conversations can make such a big difference in farm families.
Drawing on 15 years of experience in mental health and suicide prevention, Shawna shares how meaningful connections often begin with simple, everyday conversations. On the farm, where family relationships, emotions, and expectations are closely intertwined, finding the right words isn't always easy.
Together, we explore how building the habit of talking and listening can create a stronger foundation for navigating difficult conversations, from family relationships to farm transition and mental well-being.
If you've been struggling to start an important conversation with someone in your farm family, this episode offers a valuable reminder that you don't have to tackle everything at once. Sometimes, the smallest conversations are where meaningful change begins.
"Sometimes in hindsight we see things looking back, but sometimes our loved ones and others can be really good at masking and hiding things from us." - Shawna Percy
Resources Mentioned During This Episode
Free Conversation and Legacy Guide Practical conversation starters to help farm families build connections and navigate difficult discussions.

Protective Planning Tool A free, anonymous tool to help individuals prepare for challenging moments and support their mental well-being.

Ag Care Connect Resource Hub Mental health and wellness resources designed to support farmers and agricultural communities.

Ag Care Connect Foodbelt Campaign Learn more about Ag Care Connect's Foodbelt Campaign.

Ag Care Connect Speaker Page Information about speaking engagements, presentations, and links to books.

Non Violent Communication by Dr. Marshall Rosenberg Life-Changing Tools for Healthy Relationships.

About Our Guest
 
Shawna Percy is an Ontario farmer, suicide prevention and intervention specialist, author, TEDxUW speaker, and founder of Ag Care Connect, a national initiative supporting the mental wellbeing of Canadian farmers and agricultural communities.
Widowed by suicide, Shawna brings both professional expertise and deeply personal lived experience to conversations about grief, loss, mental health, and suicide prevention. With more than a decade of experience and over 100 suicide intervention workshops facilitated, she has trained nearly 2,000 people in suicide intervention.
Through Ag Care Connect, Shawna develops free, practical resources that help farmers and farm families navigate life's pressures, including difficult conversations about farm succession, changing family roles, grief, and legacy. Her work recognizes that succession planning is about far more than transferring land and assets. It's also about identity, relationships, belonging, and the emotional weight of letting go.
Shawna is passionate about helping farm families have the conversations that matter before a crisis forces them to.
Contact Shawna
Follow Shawna on Facebook
Follow Shawna on Instagram
Follow Shawna on YouTube
Visit Ag Care Connect
Elaine Froese Resources:
Watch this episode on YouTube.
Visit the podcast website
SPEAKING - book Elaine for your next event
COACHING - explore Farm Transition Coaching
MEMBERSHIP - become a Farm Family Transition Member
FREE STUFF - downloadable tools for your farm transition
CONTACT - take the next steps in your transition
BURNING QUESTION? Submit it here
Farm Family Coach Social Media Links
Facebook
Instagram
LinkedIn
X
YouTube
TikTok
Timestamps:
00:30 - Why upstream, small conversations matter before big ones
03:38 - Learning to ask directly about suicide
04:35 - The Toronto moment that proved the power of one question
06:24 - What Ag Care Connect is building for farm families
06:50 - Suicide prevention as life promotion, not just crisis avoidance
09:42 - Why producers need producer-only conversations
11:02 - The Conversation and Legacy Guide as an entry point
11:30 - Starting with farm history, family story, and generational context
13:19 - Questions across generations and between siblings
14:46 - How the Protective Planning Tool works
15:58 - Anonymous, free, and built for use in the moment
17:49 - Why the worst time to plan for crisis is during a crisis
18:45 - Shauna's current work, recovery, and limits after the car accident
20:08 - Built by producers for producers, inside agriculture
20:38 - Why succession conversations are really identity conversations
21:36 - Getting more comfortable with feelings through practice
23:01 - Choosing better settings for hard conversations
23:54 - Curiosity and respect as the tone for farm family communication
24:49 - How to reach Ag Care Connect and follow what's happening
26:11 - Finding ag-informed therapists through the National Farmers Mental Health Alliance
27:34 - Favorite conversation starters for people who do not know each other well
28:59 - Why curiosity prevents harmful power dynamics
29:56 - Nonviolent Communication and asking for needs clearly
31:21 - Suicide, unmet needs, and why practical tools matter now
32:41 - Pressure, change, and why people must be gentle with themselves
33:55 - Resilience as a system issue, not just an individual trait
34:51 - Prayer, outlet, and hope during hard seasons
36:47 - Reaching out by phone, in person, and with intention instead of doomscrolling
37:45 - Community response after suicide and after the car accident
40:03 - Grace, Scripture, and the myth that suicide automatically means hell
41:23 - Family support, house support, and rehab after the accident
42:52 - Asking for help clearly instead of expecting people to guess
43:50 - Anonymous peer support through Do More Ag
44:47 - Why one question can plant a seed for change
46:36 - What listeners can control: response, choices, and reaching out for help

In this episode, I sit down with Julie Matthews, fraud investigator and former investigative journalist, for an important conversation about fraud and the impact it can have on farm and rural families.
Julie brings years of experience working with scam victims and seeing firsthand how the effects can reach far beyond the money lost. Together, we explore why farm families can be particularly vulnerable and how quickly trust can be taken advantage of.
We also talk about what can happen when fraud enters a family, why it can be so difficult to talk about, and what farm families need to be paying closer attention to.
If you want to better protect your farm and the people you care about, this episode is for you.
"The scammers will try to isolate that person further from any family or friends they do have. So for family and friends, watch for isolation... try to keep the lines of communication open." - Julie Matthews
Resources Mentioned During This Episode
www.juliematthews.ca Scam prevention resources, fraud awareness, and support for individuals, families, and rural communities.

About Our Guest

Julie Matthews has dedicated her career to stopping scam artists and protecting Canadians. She spent 19 years as an investigative TV reporter. Her passion for helping others led her to trade her microphone for a badge, becoming a peace officer and senior investigator with the Government of Alberta's Consumer Investigations Unit.
Recognizing the need for fraud prevention education, especially in rural areas, she turned her focus to empowering others. Julie now travels across Canada delivering engaging presentations to seniors, businesses, and community groups about the latest scams. She focuses in depth on fraud impacting rural and farming communities and families. 
She is the national spokesperson for the Canadian Anti-Scam Coalition's Stand Against Scams campaign. She is a strong victim's advocate and volunteers her time speaking to victims and their families across North America about how to get through to loved ones trapped in one of these heartbreaking scams.
Contact Julie
Follow Julie on Facebook
Follow Julie on Instagram
Follow Julie on TikTok 
Elaine Froese Resources:
Watch this episode on YouTube.
Visit the podcast website
SPEAKING - book Elaine for your next event
COACHING - explore Farm Transition Coaching
MEMBERSHIP - become a Farm Family Transition Member
FREE STUFF - downloadable tools for your farm transition
CONTACT - take the next steps in your transition
BURNING QUESTION? Submit it here
Farm Family Coach Social Media Links
Facebook
Instagram
LinkedIn
X
YouTube
TikTok
Timestamps:
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In this episode, I sit down with Chad Reznicek, Behavioral Health State Specialist with the Colorado AgrAbility Project, to talk about something that affects all of us: the way we think about the challenges in front of us.
Chad spent 20 years as a licensed therapist before bringing his experience to agriculture and helping develop the Land Logic Model, a practical approach designed for farmers and ranchers.
Together, we explore what Chad calls "barbed wire thinking": thought patterns that can leave us feeling stuck, overwhelmed, or convinced things are worse than they really are. We talk about how assumptions, comparison, blame, and all-or-nothing thinking can show up on the farm, and why it's important to pay attention to the stories we're telling ourselves.
Chad also shares why asking for help matters, especially in a culture where working harder and pushing through can feel like the only option.
If you've ever caught yourself assuming the worst, carrying everything on your shoulders, or wondering how to look at a difficult situation differently, this episode is for you.
"If we don't like the current consequences we are dealing with in life, we may not be able to change the things that are happening to us, but we can change and question whether our belief is working in our favor." - Chad Reznicek, MA, LPC
Resources Mentioned During This Episode
COMET 

90-minute training to help community members recognize and respond to signs of behavioral health distress

Colorado Agricultural Mental Health Program

Mental health voucher program for Colorado's agricultural community

About Our Guest

Chad Reznicek is the Behavioral Health State Specialist with Colorado State University Extension and Co-Director of the Colorado AgrAbility Project, committed to helping expand and improve behavioral health support and resources in rural communities.
Before joining the AgrAbility Team, Chad spent 20 years as a licensed therapist, providing behavioral health services in diverse settings with special focus areas in suicide prevention, trauma, mood disorders, and substance abuse. Both of Chad's parents were raised on farms, and he grew up in a small town in central Nebraska with a deep respect for agriculture as the heart of our rural communities. 
Contact Chad
Visit LandLogic's Website
Visit the Colorado AgrAbility Project Website
Elaine Froese Resources:
Watch this episode on YouTube.
Visit the podcast website
SPEAKING - book Elaine for your next event
COACHING - explore Farm Transition Coaching
MEMBERSHIP - become a Farm Family Transition Member
FREE STUFF - downloadable tools for your farm transition
CONTACT - take the next steps in your transition
BURNING QUESTION? Submit it here
Farm Family Coach Social Media Links
Facebook
Instagram
LinkedIn
X
YouTube
TikTok
Timestamps:
0:30 — Welcome and episode introduction
2:17 — Chad's background: rural Nebraska, therapy work, and moving into agricultural mental health
5:18 — What the Land Logic model is and how it supports producers
8:01 — The "agrarian imperative": why land, purpose, and farming identity run so deep
10:53 — Using a farm map and a typical day to help producers feel understood
12:32 — Introducing "barbed wire thinking" and how thought patterns affect wellbeing
14:47 — Catastrophizing: expecting the worst-case outcome
17:37 — All-or-nothing thinking and making room for the gray area
19:49 — Mind reading: assuming you know what others are thinking
22:56 — Overgeneralizing from one setback
25:19 — Blaming, agency, and focusing on what you can influence
30:55 — Personalization: carrying too much responsibility alone
35:42 — Comparing yourself to neighbors and measuring self-worth through appearances
38:29 — The fairness trap: dwelling on what feels unfair
41:42 — "Heaven's reward": using work to avoid hard family conversations
45:13 — Toxic grit, asking for help, and challenging the "do it alone" mindset
48:34 — Land Logic training, resources, and how listeners can connect
50:40 — Closing invitation to the Farm Family Transition membership

In this episode, I'm talking about something many farm families wrestle with: how to have better conversations with your siblings about farm transition.
Farm siblings and non-farm siblings can look at the same farm and see things very differently. You may have different expectations, different concerns, and even different ideas about what the future should look like. So how do you talk about it without the conversation going sideways?
I share some practical talking tips and questions to help you come from a place of curiosity, get clearer about what matters to each person, and keep the conversation moving forward.
If conversations with your farm or non-farm siblings have been difficult, avoided, or long overdue, this episode is for you.
"Respect doesn't mean that everyone agrees, but it means that everybody gets to speak without being labeled entitled or greedy or ungrateful or impossible." - Elaine Froese
 
Elaine Froese (pronounced 'phrase'), CSP, is a certified professional speaker, certified coach, and author. She's a go-to expert for farm families who want better communication and conflict resolution to secure a successful farm transition.
As a farmer and mother to the successor of their farm, she understands the culture of agriculture intimately.
Her superpower is helping families find harmony through understanding.
Her expertise is to discuss what she calls the Undiscussabull™ – the bull in the middle of the farm family that no one wants to talk about.
She is an award-winning author who's written 5 books over the past 25 years.
Faith Today magazine has dubbed her "Canada's Farm Whisperer". She was awarded the Farm Management Canada Wilson Loree award for excellence in Farm Business Management, the 4-H Canada First Most Distinguished Alumna award from a pool of 350,000 alumni, as well as the Manitoba 150 Women Trailblazers award.
Elaine's passion is to share simple, practical and actionable tools with farm families so they can talk about tough issues and get traction in their farm transition. Her topics are a catalyst to courageous conversations and conflict resolution. Expect her to WOW your audience by bringing clarity with workable and practical tools.
She's on a mission to guide farm families, across North America, to get unstuck, communicate better, find harmony through understanding, and secure a profitable farm legacy. Elaine's goal is for everyone to be rich in relationships.
Elaine Froese Resources:
Watch this episode on YouTube.
Visit the podcast website
SPEAKING - book Elaine for your next event
COACHING - explore Farm Transition Coaching
MEMBERSHIP - become a Farm Family Transition Member
FREE STUFF - downloadable tools for your farm transition
CONTACT - take the next steps in your transition
BURNING QUESTION? Submit it here
Farm Family Coach Social Media Links
Facebook
Instagram
LinkedIn
X
YouTube
TikTok
Timestamps
00:30 - Why sibling conversations matter during farm transition
01:30 - Farm siblings vs. non-farm siblings
02:57 - Expectations, assumptions, and the roots of conflict
04:51 - Three questions to start the conversation
06:21 - Why parents' wills and intentions should not be kept secret
07:51 - Writing down commitments and next steps
08:48 - Speaking up before small irritations become big problems
09:46 - Using time tracking and data instead of emotion alone
11:23 - What non-farm heirs may still want from the farm
13:16 - Land as inheritance, equity, and long-term planning
15:10 - Warm-hand succession and transferring assets early
16:38 - What is underneath "I'm fine"
17:38 - Planning for vulnerable family members and caregiving
19:35 - When mediation or facilitation is needed
21:09 - Self-awareness and the conflict dynamic profile
24:17 - Personality differences and how they affect farm teamwork
25:28 - Why quick repair matters in sibling relationships
26:39 - Clarifying expectations, timelines, and roles
28:54 - Why Elaine does this work and the role of lived experience
29:54 - The power of thank-you notes and written conversations
34:16 - Celebrating the good together as a family
36:16 - Avoiding estrangement and choosing repair
37:56 - Why facilitators help families have safer, shorter, more productive conversations

In this episode, I sit down with Jaclyn Turpin, Registered Social Worker and founder of Rural Refresh, for a conversation about grief and loss on the farm, including the losses that don't always involve a death.
With over ten years of experience as a social worker and her own connection to agriculture as a farm spouse, Jaclyn understands how deeply change and loss can affect farm families. Together, we talk about experiences like selling livestock, transitioning out of farming, losing independence, and other changes that aren't always recognized as something we need to grieve.
Jaclyn shares why naming and talking about these experiences matters, along with practical ways to navigate loss, ask for help, and better support the people around us when they're going through a difficult time.
If you or someone you know is navigating grief, change, or loss on the farm, this episode is for you.
"We don't always recognize those non-death losses and transitions as a loss experience, and they really are. This is people's identity. This is people's life. It's their livelihood. It's so much a part of them." — Jaclyn Turpin, MSW, RSW, BA
Resources Mentioned During This Episode
Rural Refresh website: https://www.ruralrefresh.ca grief, loss, and mental health support with Jaclyn Turpin

National Farmers Mental Health Alliance: https://nfmha.ca agriculture-informed mental health support for farmers and farm families

Do More Ag Foundation / AgTalk: https://www.domore.ag/agtalk confidential mental health support for the Canadian agriculture community

About Our Guest

Jaclyn Turpin is a Registered Social Worker in private practice. With both her lived experience and education, she supports farmers and their families with transitions, loss, and change. Jaclyn has years of experience working with those who are experiencing grief from both death and non-death losses. She now farms with her husband and children in Oxford County, Ontario, and is committed to supporting those who identify as the farmer and those who keep the rest of the roles filled, both on and off the farm. Jaclyn is passionate about working with rural individuals and appreciates the uniqueness of rural mental health and grief on the farm.
Contact Jaclyn
Visit Rural Refresh Website
Follow Jaclyn on Facebook
Follow Jaclyn on Instagram
Elaine Froese Resources:
Watch this episode on YouTube.
Visit the podcast website
SPEAKING - book Elaine for your next event
COACHING - explore Farm Transition Coaching
MEMBERSHIP - become a Farm Family Transition Member
FREE STUFF - downloadable tools for your farm transition
CONTACT - take the next steps in your transition
BURNING QUESTION? Submit it here
Farm Family Coach Social Media Links
Facebook
Instagram
LinkedIn
X
YouTube
TikTok
Timestamps
00:00 - Introducing grief and loss support for farm families
00:33 - Jaclyn's background growing up in Oxford County
01:19 - Why loss and grief work became personal
03:07 - Why non-death losses matter in agriculture
05:19 - Naming the actual loss in farm transitions
06:01 - Using a loss timeline to map layered grief
07:36 - Why "buck up" culture makes grief harder
08:10 - Phrases people say that are not helpful
09:30 - Replacing shallow comfort with real empathy
10:21 - Questions that open space for honest grief
11:54 - Presence matters more than perfect words
12:41 - Why "let me know if I can help" is too vague
13:04 - Practical support that actually helps farm families
14:03 - What makes agricultural grief unique
15:12 - Small losses children notice on the farm
16:50 - Slowing down after a major transition
18:50 - Understanding ambiguous loss and dementia
20:47 - How dementia affects independence and farm identity
21:45 - Caregiver grief and the challenge of supporting safely
23:18 - Practical adjustments for people in care homes
24:21 - How to contact Jaclyn and work with Rural Refresh
25:39 - Why some people resist getting help
27:12 - Why it is never too early to seek support
28:38 - Making stress conversations normal in farming
30:05 - Choosing not to bottle everything up
31:39 - Why busyness is not the antidote to grief
32:16 - Expanding what community support can look like
33:57 - Frozen meals, expectations, and practical care
35:35 - Why follow-up matters long after the funeral
36:39 - Helping children understand death and loss
37:10 - Jaclyn's virtual support group for spouses of farmers
38:47 - Building community across Ontario and beyond
39:36 - Final encouragement for farm families and listeners