WESA – This is a free conversation about mental health in rural spaces, featuring people with lived experience and experts on stress, burnout, and available resources.

Our panelists include:

Seeking a way to get involved in the community after graduating college, Espenshade joined the Grange in 1995. His local subordinate chapter, Elizabethtown Area Grange #2076, had always been very active in the local community, and had presented him a scholarship as a high school senior. Joining Grange also offered Espenshade the chance to become involved in the organization’s Youth Program where he developed many friendships, as well as a deep appreciation for the history of the Grange. While attending a state youth conference in Hershey, he met his future wife, Charlene, a Grange member from a dairy farm in Wyoming County.

Since joining Grange, Espenshade has been active on the local, state and national level. Over the years he has testified numerous times before state level hearings, advocating for agricultural and rural issues. In 2019, Espenshade was recognized as the Pennsylvania Granger of the Year. In October 2022, Matt was elected to serve as the 26th President in the 153-year history of the Pennsylvania State Grange. In May of 2025, he was elected to the Penn State University Board of Trustees.

Espenshade is a seventh-generation dairy farmer on a Lancaster County farm that has been part of his family since 1867. His family milks 70 cows and manages 250 acres of crops, raising mainly corn and hay to feed their cows. Espenshade’s wife, Charlene, is the Executive Director of the PA Friends of Agriculture Foundation, the charitable wing of the Pennsylvania Farm Bureau. They have two sons, Evan and Alan. As a family, they exhibit dairy cows at shows and fairs on the local, state and national level.

Dr. Ana Barkley – WVU Medicine Uniontown Hospital

Ariana “Ana” Barkley, MD is a dual board-certified emergency medicine and addiction medicine physician at WVU Medicine Uniontown Hospital, where she provides frontline care in the Emergency Department and helps lead efforts to expand access to addiction treatment in rural Fayette County. A native of Westmoreland County, Dr. Barkley has dedicated her career to caring for patients facing substance use disorders and mental health challenges across Appalachia. As a lead strategist for outpatient addiction treatment initiatives, she works to improve access to evidence-based care, reduce stigma, and strengthen recovery resources in underserved rural communities.

Dr. Barkley earned her Doctor of Medicine from Sidney Kimmel Medical College (SKMC) at Thomas Jefferson University before completing her Emergency Medicine residency and Addiction Medicine fellowship at the West Virginia University School of Medicine. In her presentation, she will share her lived experience as a physician caring for patients in rural emergency medicine and discuss the unique challenges and opportunities surrounding mental health and addiction care in communities like Fayette County.

Jonna Murphy – St. Oscar Romero Mental Health Ministry

Jonna Murphy is a retired professional, and volunteer lay ministry leader at St. Oscar Romero Parish in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania. Together with her husband, John “Murph” Murphy and her sister Jeanie Schohn she co-founded and co-leads the parish’s Mental Health Ministry, which was launched in August 2022. The ministry meets weekly and provides education, encouragement, and peer support for individuals and families affected by mental health challenges.

Murphy’s commitment to mental health advocacy is deeply personal. Through her experience as a caregiver for two sons living with serious mental illness, as well as supporting relatives, friends, and colleagues facing similar challenges, she has gained extensive practical knowledge of navigating mental health systems and promoting recovery and well-being. During her career as a contractor supporting the National Nuclear Security Administration, she mentored colleagues in the United States and abroad on coping with mental health concerns and accessing appropriate resources.

Her diverse professional background spans education, nuclear safeguards and security, policy analysis, technical writing, and international nonproliferation programs. These experiences enabled her to engage with people from all walks of life and advocate openly the importance of mental health awareness and compassionate support.

Learn more and register here.