Tessa Domingus found purpose on the back deck of a Lincoln rehabilitation home, conversing with a man who didn’t want to spend his next paycheck on alcohol.

Sunlight shone through the leaves of a large tree in the backyard as they talked. It was the sort of day where, just a few years earlier, Domingus would have been out searching for a house party, a chance to use.

Karissa Denae Johnson can still remember the indignity of it all — the day her life fell to pieces.

As farmers face historic headwinds and market hardships, calls to the national Farm Aid hotline and the Iowa Concern hotline — where farmers can get support in times of mental health crisis or need — are increasing.

This fall, the Iowa Concern hotline saw four to five times the number of calls it had in the same months last year, said Tammy Jacobs, the hotline’s manager.