Oklahoma Farm Bureau members and guests continued their mental wellbeing journey with the second Cultivating Healthy Minds session Friday, Sept. 6.
The session, focused on managing relationships, featured Monica McConkey, founder of Eyes on the Horizon Consulting.
McConkey was raised on a farm and now has served 25 years working in the rural behavioral health field. She created Eyes on the Horizon Consulting in 2016 where she has been serving rural families in Minnesota.
During the session, McConkey defined many relationships in the lives of farmers and ranchers and explained the factors that could make them unhealthy, including frequent disrespect, lack of trust, poor communication, negativity, manipulation and lack of support.
She explained how unhealthy relationships can impact our lives, whether it be mentally, emotionally, physically or spiritually.
McConkey also emphasized how boundaries can play an important role in all relationships, whether they are healthy or unhealthy.
She explained why setting boundaries may be difficult for some people, including fearing coming off mean or rude, being a people pleaser, being anxious about future interactions after the boundary has been set, or simply having no idea where to start.
Much like the impacts of an unhealthy relationship, setting boundaries can have a similar impact, but for the better.
McConkey gave examples of what setting boundaries could look like with example words to use and explained the differences between an emotional, mental, physical or spiritual boundary.
At the end of the webinar, she gave an analogy of a school bus to illustrate healthy boundaries. McConkey encouraged Farm Bureau members, the bus drivers, to keep their close, healthy relationships in the front of the bus, their just-okay relationships in the middle, and their unhealthy relationships in the back.
In addition to the keynote speaker, the second session also featured a testimonial speaker, Gaye Pfeiffer, a Logan County Farm Bureau member.
She spoke about her family’s tragic automobile accident in the early ’90s and how community support can make a difference in a person’s mental wellbeing.
Pfeiffer mentioned the extraordinary amount of care and help her family received after the accident from family, friends and neighbors in their small community. She also spoke about the importance of leaning on your community and support system in times of tragedy.
To watch a recording of the webinar, view the resources McConkey provided, and learn more about OKFB’s Cultivating Healthy Minds program, visit okfb.news/chm24.
