Charlie Griffin

Project Director for the Kansas Rural Family Helpline is just one of many tasks Charlie Griffin performs every day. Charlie grew up on a diversified family farm in Rice County near Lyons, Kansas. He has a background in rural mental health, chemical dependency counseling and biofeedback training, as well as stress management and crisis intervention. Before beginning his work with farm crisis assistance in 1985, he maintained a private practice as a marriage and family therapist and consulted with a rural hospital in developing a rural wellness program.

Currently he is an Assistant Professor in the School of Family Studies and Human Services in the College of Human Ecology at Kansas State University. In addition to his role at the Kansas Rural Family Helpline he serves as the director of a training grant which provides dispute resolution and mediation skills across Kansas as well as providing consultation in integration of community health care services and many other areas of human service delivery. Charlie continues to appreciate living in the country near Manhattan and dabbling with small-scale agriculture while pursuing his professional career.


Melissa Sandmann

 Melissa has worked for the Helpline since the spring of 2003. She started as an intern helping with phone coverage and client interaction and has since been hired on as a Family Resource Specialist. Melissa helps clients by offering emotional support, crisis relief and intervention. She has a bachelor’s degree in Family Life and Community Service from Kansas State University. Melissa also works for a Dispute Resolution contract through Kansas State.

Melissa was born in Pekin, Illinois and has lived in Kansas for a total of 10 years. She has become more familiar with farming through her husband, who is a farmer. She hopes to be able to help farmers through her knowledge of family relationships and dynamics and a strong desire to assist anyone willing to ask for help.

 
 
Kristy Archuleta

Kristy is a Family Resource Specialist for the Helpline. She assists in answering the phone, providing crisis intervention and emotional support, and locating resources for client families throughout the state. Her other responsibilities include networking with federal, state, and community organizations to locate valuable resources for rural families, advocating for the rural populations’ needs, values, and lifestyles, and serving on the AgrAbility Advisory Council.

Kristy is a native of Burlington, Oklahoma, where she grew up on a farm. She has a Bachelor of Science Degree in Family Relations and Child Development and a business management minor from Oklahoma State University. Kristy is currently pursuing a Master of Science Degree in Marriage and Family Therapy. She is actively involved in the Trauma, Research, Education, and Consultation at K-State (TRECK) team. Her interests involve integrating personal financial planning and marriage and family therapy.

Fedra Zamphiropolos

Fedra is a member of the Helpline staff. She is from Paraguay, South America. She assists in answering the phone, providing crisis intervention and emotional support, and locating resources for client families throughout the state. Her other responsibilities include networking with federal, state, and community organizations to locate valuable resources for rural families as well as advocating for the rural populations' needs, values, and lifestyle. Furthermore, she interviewed the Kansas rural Latino population over the phone about their health status. This constituted her work for the Kansas Department of Health and Environment on a Farmworker Health Program, which helps the Latino population with medical care.

Fedra became interested in this job because of her background in the rural atmosphere and counseling. Growing up in a country, mainly rural, she gained an appreciation for the interconnectedness of rural communities, the value placed on hard work, and the love of the land and nature. She believes community involvement is vital in helping marriages, families, and rural neighborhoods stay healthy and thrive.

She graduated from a Catholic University in Paraguay in Psychology within the Clinical Tract. She also graduated with a Masters of Science degree in Marriage and Family Therapy.