Slowly turning off the main paved highway, as gravel crunches under the van’s tires during the four-mile drive into the countryside, one is surrounded by hundreds of acres of farmland. Dust from a massive green combine that harvests corn floats against the horizon, as farmhands patiently wait in semitrailers to take the crop to the rural town’s co-op for sale. Finally starting to relax, after driving over the bridge of a quiet trickling creek, peer-support team members arrive at a safe haven where first responders can escape temporarily from their own thoughts. Exiting the vehicle and walking toward the long wooden steps that lead to the front door of the massive log cabin home, the Morgan Farms staff is waiting to welcome them with a hot cup of coffee and a friendly handshake.
Holistic wellness
While standing on the porch overlooking the 40-acre property, wind rustles the leaves of a nearby white oak tree. Across the way, in the fenced pen that’s attached to the lean-to barn, public safety volunteers help black-and-white Holstein baby steers suck on bottles.
Next to the tack house, the top half of the doors are open to the stables that house the horses and mules that participants will meet in the round pen to help with personal communication and leadership skills.
A bonfire burns to take the bite out of the crisp fall day. Over the fire hangs an enormous cast-iron Dutch oven that’s filled with cowboy chili, awaiting the participants and volunteers when they finish the work that they came to do.
Morgan Farms’ Shannon Klepac says, “We do this because research says that fire and food are raw human survival instincts and, when provided, calm brain function.”
Morgan Farms’ staff takes the peer-support team members on a brief walking tour of the land. A white Pygmy goat follows. They cross over a wooden bridge that a first responder colleague made to the fishing pond on the other side. Their boots hike down the narrow muddy path that’s covered in colorful autumn leaves. Upon reaching a creek, they jump on a flat rock to get to the other side. They meet Zena, a chocolate brown cow, and her two-month-old baby standing in the grassy valley. A Morgan Farms staff member notices a fallen tree branch that caused a break in the wiring of the fence. The staff remove the branch and take out leather gloves, bailing wire and pliers, and with gentle directions, encourage the participants to repair the fence.
When everyone returns to the barn, Thunder, which is the 1,000-lb. Amish-trained mule, stands in the round pen and looks each participant directly in the eyes, quietly summing up energy levels. He might be wondering what they secretly need from him today.
Is he going to “mule up” and not move, going into self-preservation mode, or will his increased stress level cause him to start running anxious circles in the pen, or will he walk over to the group because their energy is welcoming?
Jason Klepac, who is Morgan Farms’ owner and founder, opens the gate and invites one participant inside to the middle of the round ring. The assignment is to get the mule (or a horse) to move without saying anything. Jason instructs the individual to walk confidently, tall and with shoulders back, to the mule, then stay in the front-leg area, point in the direction that the mule is desired to go, whip the air with the lunge whip once in the rear area of the mule and start to walk in the pointed direction.
It’s interesting to watch different leadership styles from several different people. Some repeatedly whip the air with the lunge whip and don’t give the mule the chance to follow the prompt to change directions before providing the next order, indicating a micromanaging style. Others give the first order, let the mule follow directions and then praise the mule after it does what it was asked to do, which indicates excellent leadership skills. Watching others gave them a chance to recognize their style and get advice from Jason Klepac on improving.
The final exercise in the round pen is to put the reins on the mule’s neck and walk toward the gate. If the mule follows, trust is built. If it doesn’t follow, trust wasn’t built, and more coaching is done until the mule does follow.
Taking off the blinders
Although the holistic wellness experience is different for everyone, there are several hands-on activities on a working farm. This could range from learning about livestock auctions and cutting hay on a tractor, to talking about fertilizers and pulling tree stumps.
To help further explain the mission, Jason Klepac asks, “Do you know what those big patches of leather on the mule-pulling harness are called? They are called blinders and are used to keep the mules’ focus on what’s in front of it.
“We tend to live our lives with blinders on,” he continues, “but when we take them off, we can see the big picture.” This might involve working on one’s own mental health and wellness in a nonjudgmental environment.
Peer-support teams
The Mid-America Regional Council’s (MARC) Peer Support Teams are specific to 9-1-1 and commander-level public safety professionals. The roving 9-1-1 team consists of 26 members and has been active since 2017. The 66-member commander-level team has been active since 2018 and is the only one in the United States that we are aware of that is cross-disciplined with police, fire, EMS and dispatch commanders, some retired. Each team is led by the peer-support program planner, two co-chairs (one each from Missouri and Kansas), with oversight from public safety-specific clinical psychologist Dr. Jennifer Prohaska of Insight Public Safety & Forensic Consulting.
Both teams partner with First Responders Support Team-Midwest, which provides peer support and a 40-hour peer-support training to front-line staff, including 9-1-1 team members. The organization helps to coordinate and to hold formal debriefings when there are critical incidents in the Kansas City metropolitan area. Additionally, both teams frequently provide phone call peer support to individual public safety personnel from all over the world.
MARC’s commander-level and 9-1-1-specific peer-support teams use Morgan Farms as a resource for the hands-on training in the round pen, after the initial classroom training is completed. The classroom portion of peer-support training for commanders is conducted exclusively by Prohaska. The subjects in her customized curriculum include suicide, toxic leadership, alcohol and drug misuse, confidentiality, boundaries, ethics, active listening, psychological disorders, burnout, resiliency, family effects and critical incident stress management. Prohaska has years of experience helping individuals and response professionals to cope with trauma.
“It’s a common misperception that once men and women take on more administrative roles and leave the field, they become immune to major traumatic stress, and that simply isn’t true,” Prohaska says. “By the time commanders reach that point in their career they could have 20-plus years of accumulated stress and trauma from working on the front lines plus the added burden of chronic stress that comes with command responsibilities.”
Peer support fills a need that can’t be met by typical employee assistance programs or department psychologists or chaplains. We are proud to announce our new resource of Morgan Farms, which is doing something a little different for holistic mental health and wellness.
“Having peer-support resources is crucial within our first responder network,” Fire Chief Gordon Fowlston of the Riverside, MO, Fire Department, says. “Each day, we lose part of our family to suicide as a result of depression and post-traumatic stress. For many, our careers in public safety and our military careers get combined into the demons that we are fighting. We need to talk to those who understand what we have been through, so it is crucial for us to do a debriefing after a critical incident. This is the start to continued wellness.
“By being part of the commander-level peer-support team, I can repay those who have helped me by helping others,” Fowlston says.
Fire Chief Mark Lopez of the Pleasant Hill, MO, Fire Protection District, says, “Being in this business for over 24 years sometimes triggers emotions and bad thoughts, but knowing how I can use those experiences to help others offers me the ability to craft my responses. As a commander, I have the responsibility to remain professional and sensitive regarding powerful information that will have long-term effects, not only to my employees but to the community.”
Lopez adds that commanders have a major influence on the internal effects of others. “I’ve literally talked people off bridges and had them put the gun down. It’s very humbling to have the training that gives me the right words to lead them down a different path. Internal struggles and death are mysteries, and we can’t fully understand what goes on in the hearts and minds of others, but you do have control over yourself and your emotions. Public trust is not just the equipment on the fire truck. It’s our words.”
Lopez says that being a commander comes with baggage. “Sometimes, I wake up in the middle of the night with nightmares about bad calls. It could even be triggers from smells or as simple as driving through an intersection where a bad MVA occurred. Sometimes seeing smoke in the distance can be a trigger but metaphorically it’s just smoke. That’s a huge part of peer support. Emergency responders need to recognize smoke when it’s smoke and fire when it’s fire. It can burn you if it’s not handled correctly. The recent shift to mental health awareness and providing tools, knowledge and ability is powerful.”
Need help?
Call the MARC Peer Support line at 816-701-8212 to speak confidentially to a commander-level or 9-1-1-specific peer supporter who understands your unique job duties. The people who are on these teams stand ready to help in time of personal or professional crisis.
For information on Morgan Farms, contact Jason Klepac at [email protected].
Pam Opoka
Pam Opoka, ENP, is the public safety training coordinator and peer-support program planner at Mid-America Regional Council (MARC). She has 26 years of experience in public safety and a master’s degree in public administration. Opoka is the co-chair of National Emergency Number Association's (NENA) wellness committee peer-support work group and is on NENA’s education advisory board. She also is on the state of Missouri’s 9-1-1 service board training committee and on the state of Kansas' 9-1-1 coordinating council training committee.
