Self Care During Summit

Tough conversations can be emotionally draining. It’s crucial to take care of yourself to keep a difficult conversation from turning into an argument. Take stock of when you need a break.

During the Summit, a quiet space for self-reflection, calming, and re-grounding was provided. Rural Mental Health Practitioners were also available at no charge to participants of the summit.

Rural Mental Health Practitioners

Monica Kramer McConkey has 25 years of experience in the behavioral health field as a counselor, program supervisor and administrator. She has a Masters Degree in Counseling and is a Licensed Professional Counselor in the state of Minnesota. Her focus throughout her career has been to increase access to, and remove the stigma often attached to mental health services in rural underserved areas. Monica grew up on a farm in northwestern Minnesota and has an intimate understanding of the dynamics leading to farm stress and its impact on farm families. She currently works as one of two Ag Mental Health Specialists in Minnesota providing support to farmers/ranchers and their families. Monica also travels throughout the country educating and speaking on rural mental health and resilience through her business Eyes on the Horizon Consulting, LLC.

Ted Matthews is a mental health practitioner with over 30 years of experience in counseling in rural areas. His focus for the past 2 decades has been farmer mental health support. He has been the director of mental health services during 5 natural disasters. Matthews provides outreach training and public speaking related to farm stressors, nationwide. He also has extensive counseling experience in the areas of PTSD, crisis intervention, family issues, suicidology, and domestic abuse. Featured on the Huffington Post, MPRNews, CNN, AgriNews, Successful Farming, Prairie Farmer and many others, Ted offers his expertise to help the generation population to better understand the farming culture.