Mental health is the state of emotional and psychological well-being in which an individual is able to use his or her cognitive and emotional capabilities, function in society, and meet the ordinary demands of everyday life (USDHHS, 2001). The environmental, cultural and geographic characteristics of populations affect all aspects of mental health and influence the stressors, mechanisms of coping and social supports utilized by the individual. The purpose of this study was to describe the lived experience of mental health in a sample of ethnic minority individuals, many of whom are Hispanic, in a rural Wyoming community, which is exposed to significant environmental stressors utilizing a triangulated, phenomenological descriptive design. Mental health was described in the context of community identified strengthening and diminishing factors. Action of ownership, inter-connectedness, autonomy, the ability to see the future and make the future were correlated with strong mental health whereas disenfranchisement, disconnectedness, dependence, and the inability to see the future were correlated with diminished mental health.