Rural Mental Health – News
News stories from the past 60 days.
Nov 19, 2025 - Describes a program embedding social workers in a rural North Carolina police department to address the increase in non-crime related calls to the police. Notes that similar programs have operated in urban areas. Discusses how successes have led to expanding the program, connecting people to services in under-resourced areas, and other alternative responder programs in the state.
Source: North Carolina Health News
Nov 18, 2025 - A rural Vermont mental health urgent care facility has expanded services to offer overnight beds. It is the first 24/7 walk-in mental health urgent care facility in the state and is intended to relieve area emergency rooms as well as offer care close to home. Describes the facility's place in the mental healthcare intervention space, how the program has been funded, outcomes for prior patients, services offered, and sustainability.
Source: VT Digger
Nov 10, 2025 - Discusses the high suicide rates for older adult men in the mountain west. Notes that terminal illness, finances, and access to firearms combined with stigma related to mental health are factors in the high rates. Describes Donna's Law as a policy measure to reduce rates of suicide with a firearm.
Source: KUNC
Oct 30, 2025 - Describes community-wide efforts to combat an increase in suicides in rural Colorado. Highlights a mental health response team comprised of police and a mental health professional. Discusses rural specific drivers of suicide rates.
Source: The Colorado Sun
Oct 17, 2025 - Discusses higher suicide rates for rural residents compared to urban residents and a Louisiana university's online therapy program to address those higher rates. Discusses the program's shift to focus on engaging communities, successes after year 1, and work to address broadband challenges.
Source: WAFB
Oct 12, 2025 - Discusses the experience of rural school counselors as often the only access to mental healthcare for their students. Notes the importance of accounting for rural culture in mental healthcare and the limited representation of rural school counselors in research. Profiles a rural Tennessee school counselor.
Source: Clarksville Online
Oct 7, 2025 - Recently-opened mental health center Sukapi Lodge near Browning, Montana is rooted in Blackfeet culture and unique experiences of Native people. Treatment combines Western therapeutic practices with Blackfeet traditional values.
Source: KRTV
Sep 25, 2025 - Highlights a group of resource-constrained colleges using innovation and collaboration to improve wellness and mental health for their students. Discusses scaling programs designed for larger universities, the strengths and challenges of rural mental health, and collaborating with similar institutions. Notes the early educational successes seen by the program.
Source: The Daily Yonder
Last Updated: 11/19/2025