ESPN host John Anderson promotes The Production Farm for mental health – Green Bay Press Gazette

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The Production Farm uses creativity to foster mental health

The Production Farm in Whitelaw, Wis. goal is to guide youths using creativity to improve their mental health.

Gary C. Klein, Green Bay Press-Gazette

Before John Anderson was a household name on ESPN's SportsCenter, he was a Green Bay native whose childhood was marked by great tragedy: Hisfatherdied in a car crash at age 25.

By the time Anderson himself reached 25,he felt lost, disoriented and worried about the path his life would take.

That period of timereturned to him when he reflected on the work being done byThe Production Farm, a youth mental health facilityin Manitowoc County that offerstrauma-informed care through play.

Anderson first learned about the facilitywhenCorrie Campbell, a former classmate at Green Bay's Southwest High School and current developmentdirector at The Production Farm, emailed him about collaborating with the organization.

"Places that have been good to me, I try to be good back to them," Anderson said, on the need to stay connected to his hometown. "Because there's a connection and that's a person I know, I can trust them and don't have to vet as much."

Anderson referenced the many young professional athletes who havedied by suicide in recent years, including University of Wisconsin-Madison cross-country runner Sarah Schultz, who died in April at age 21.

"It's just so heartbreaking, the idea that someone would think death is better than whatever they're facing," Anderson said. "It's so hard to fathom that … it's why finding help is so important."

The Production Farm is the latest organization to reap the benefits of Anderson'snonprofit, Anderson Family Charitable Foundation, fittingly in the form of a Green Bay Rockers game Thursday at Capital Credit Union Park.

"Inside Wisconsin," the podcast Anderson co-hosts with Trevor Thomas, will be recorded during the game asRockers players wear "Inside Wisconsin" jerseys. Those jerseys, worn while facing off against the Lakeshore Chinooks,will be sold in a silent auction that raises money for The Production Farm.

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Founded as a pilot program in 2014 and nowa 10-acre facility in the small village of Whitelaw in Manitowoc County, The Production Farmfocuses on the power of play as an intervention method, according to Kathryn Heinzen, the facility's director of behavioral health.

"Everything is done through play. Engaging the kids in whatever they're interested in, whether it's cooking, fishing, playing music, making art, or playing basketball, literally anything," Heinzen said. "If they are engaged in an activity, it breaks down those walls and makes those hard conversations easier that they'd otherwise be resistant to engage in."

Four years after opening, the pandemic hit.Wyatt Kuether, the farm's CEO and president,said COVID-19 created so much need for mental health support that staff numbers jumped from five to 35 andthen to 40.

The need tracks with national data.

According to new data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, nearly 40% of high school students reported poor mental health during the pandemic and 44% said hopelessness and sadness permeated everyday thoughts.

A need for more mental health services pushed the organization to expand, locking down a former Pentecostal church in Sheboygan Falls, which it's currently renovating fora second location. The space isslated to open this fall.

The Sheboygan Falls location will also include adult programming.

Kuether said heworked with a young girl who preferred interacting with her phone rather thanher peers. Hair in her face and eyes fixated on a screen, she had a habit ofslinking away from social groups.

During one session on the farm, Kuether gave her drumsticks and had herbang on the communitydrum kit while Kuether served uppower chords on his electric guitar.

"I turned my guitar all the way up and said to her, 'Your job is to be louder.' And then she started hitting it and hitting it and hitting it," Kuether said. "Now she's in school band and has her own rock band."

Skills nurtured on the farm cantransfer to home and school activities. Heinzen said one client learned how to bake bread during a session. She had a rough relationship with her mother, but she went home and taught her mother the recipe she had learned.Tensions started to lift between them soon after.

"Everyday activities can become a very therapeutic approach," Heinzen said. "That's what makes this programso appealing, because it's real. It's bonding over an activity and not, say, a worksheet. Most kids don't want to do a worksheet with their parents."

The Production Farm also has broken down mental healthaccess barriers such as transportation and medical bills. Heinzen said providersscheduleindividuals through the Wisconsin Department of Health Services' Comprehensive Community Services, which is funded through Medicaid.

And Kuether said The Production Farm operates through "Maslow's hierarchy of needs," a system that dictatesif somebody lacks access to basic needs such as food and shelter, they likely have a harder time attaining safety, love, esteem and self-actualization.

"If somebody doesn't have clothes, if they don't have shelter, working on higher-level needs like mental health becomes exceptionally difficult," Kuether said. "We also provide transportation to and from the farm, because if you can't get somewhere, it doesn't matter how good the program is."

Six months into 2022, The Production Farm has transported about 1,600 young people to and from home to school ormental health services, according to Kuether.

Anderson, meantime, thinks much of the conversation around mental health needs to begin by simply talking about it. The father of two teenagers, Anderson reminds his kids that he is always present, he can listen.

But he knows his limits. Rather than attempt to be a "dime store psychologist," therapists like those at The Production Farm who think outside the boxcan do for struggling kids what a physical therapist can do fora shin splint, Anderson said.

He intends to talk about baseball when he sits down to record "Inside Wisconsin" with his co-host Thursday, but the hardest part still about mental health is the stigmaattached to it.

"When we put the podcast together (on Thursday), we're going to be very, very real about mental health," Anderson said. "And we need more people like Wyatt and his team out there, investing in needs."

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Natalie Eilbert covers mental health issues for USA TODAY NETWORK-CENTRAL WISCONSIN. Shewelcomes story tips and feedback. You can reach her at neilbert@gannett.com or view her Twitter profile at @natalie_eilbert. If you or someone you know is dealing with suicidal thoughts, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 800-273-8255 or text "Hopeline" to the National Crisis Text Line at 741-741.

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ESPN host John Anderson promotes The Production Farm for mental health - Green Bay Press Gazette