In 2017, Roberta incorporated the Medical Family Therapy & Consulting business to serve NC’s agricultural populations. She has provided “on the farm” services to the North Carolina Growers Association, Inc., since 2015. She contracts with agricultural entities, such as the North Carolina Agromedicine Institute and the Veterans Farm of North Carolina, to provide behavioral health services to North Carolina family farms across the state. She collaborates with, and provides support to, farm health outreach programs. Contracted work has included agricultural behavioral health model development, program development, student training, presentations, and “on the ground” support to farms. She works with farm families, farmworkers, and the entities that serve and support the agricultural population, to help farms manage and reduce stress.
Background
Roberta grew up on a small, multi-generational family farm in Kittrell, NC. During the turbulent farming years of the early 80’s, her father was hospitalized with a stress-induced, psychotic breakdown, and her family’s life of farming ended. As an adult, she set her professional goals toward becoming a therapist for farming families. Since 2015, she has worked collaboratively with agricultural and health care entities to provide behavioral health services to North Carolina family farms across the state. She works with farm families, farmworkers, and the entities that serve and support the agricultural population, to help farms manage and reduce stress. Roberta’s vision is to highlight the role for a family & community systems theoretical perspective in agricultural programs, and to emphasize a biopsychosocial-spiritual approach in farm stress management.
Roberta received her PhD in Medical Family Therapy from East Carolina University in 2015. She is a board-licensed marriage and family therapist in the state of North Carolina, and operates a small private practice in Kinston, NC. She lives with her husband on the family farm homeplace in Kittrell, NC. They have 3 adult children, and 6 grandchildren.
