Maine adopts $600K mental health safety net for people affected by PFAS
Maine has approved a $600,000 program to offer free clinical therapy, peer support and community health services to farmers and residents dealing with the repercussions of forever chemical contamination.
The money comes from the state’s $65 million PFAS relief fund.
“In addition to being a financial and health issue, PFAS is an emotional issue that affects the whole family,” said Beth Valentine, executive director of the fund. “We hope to offer people the support needed to navigate through their crisis.”
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The PFAS Fund Advisory Committee unanimously approved the program design Thursday.
Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, are called forever chemicals because they don’t break down in nature and build up in the human body over time. Exposure can cause serious health conditions, including liver dysfunction, thyroid disease and kidney cancer.
In Maine, the toxic compounds spread across farmland through decades of state-sanctioned application of industrial sewage and paper mill sludge as fertilizer. State testing has revealed dangerous chemical levels in the soil and drinking water of almost 100 Maine farms.
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As a profession, agriculture has a suicide rate three and a half times higher than the general population, according to the National Rural Health Association. State health studies show forever chemicals compound that job stress with acute anxiety, financial ruin and social stigma.
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The new program was designed to lower the financial and social barriers to mental health treatment.
Digital campaigns will deploy micro-targeted “Can’t sleep?” ads during late-night web searches, directing residents to trained operators at state helplines 211 and 988. Out in the fields, facilitators will hold farmer-to-farmer talk sessions.
The program will assemble a roster of agriculturally trained social workers. To break through rural isolation and stigma, the state will enlist everyday figures — including milk truck drivers, feed store clerks and large-animal veterinarians — to make warm referrals.
The program operates as a payer of last resort, covering remaining costs for about four to six sessions after private insurance or MaineCare. If needed, the therapists could recommend a longer-term care plan.
The mental health initiative complements the Maine PFAS Fund’s broader mitigation efforts, which already provide financial relief and technical assistance to farms, land purchases, blood testing for affected residents and an array of PFAS research projects.
Individuals will qualify if their soil or water exceeds state screening thresholds or if their farm products were put under a stop-sale order. Non-farm residents qualify if their well water tests above the state’s interim safety threshold of 4 parts per trillion for PFOS or PFAS.
Program leaders will start recruiting clinicians and conducting farmer training early next year, with referrals and funds for therapy sessions projected to be available to those who qualify by next summer.
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Tagged: environment, farming, forever chemicals, PFAS, public health, rural life
Penny is excited to be the Portland Press Herald’s first climate reporter. Since joining the paper in 2016, she has written about Maine’s lobster and cannabis industries, covered state politics and. More by Penelope Overton
