Rural Mental Health – Models and Innovations

Evidence-Based Examples

Mental Health First Aid

Updated/reviewed August 2025

• Need: Rural areas face challenges in access to mental health services, including shortages of mental health providers.
• Intervention: This 8-hour course trains rural community members to recognize mental health and substance use issues and learn how to help someone who is developing a mental health concern or experiencing a mental health crisis.
• Results: Numerous studies of this method have found that course participants are better able and more likely to help others regarding mental health issues.

Effective Examples

I Got You: Healthy Life Choices for Teens (IGU)

Updated/reviewed April 2026

• Need: To increase rural east central Mississippi 8th graders' awareness of behavioral and mental health topics.
• Intervention: With federal funding support, an intensive mental health outreach program was created for 8th graders and implemented in 2015.
• Results: Since 2015, thousands of rural Mississippi students have received education on a variety of behavioral health topics to improve their understanding of mental health issues, high risk behaviors, and skills to best manage their choices. A decade after implementation, the program continues to reach an annual average of 3,000 students.

University of Vermont Medical Center's Nursing Home Telepsychiatry Service

Updated/reviewed December 2023

• Need: To improve the health status and access for rural nursing home patients in need of mental health services.
• Intervention: The University of Vermont Medical Center provides telepsychiatry care and education to nursing homes in communities that face shortages of mental health professionals.
• Results: These telepsychiatry consultations have eased the burden on nursing home residents by saving travel time, distance, and money it takes to travel to the nearest tertiary facility.

Promising Examples

Schools That Care

Updated/reviewed September 2025

• Need: To provide mental health services to rural Kansas students and their families.
• Intervention: The Schools That Care project provides mental health treatment and case management as well as community education events.
• Results: From 2018 to 2021, 3,456 individuals participated in health education and counseling activities offered to the public, and 964 individuals and 303 families received direct services through the Family Advocate.

Cross-Walk: Integrating Behavioral Health and Primary Care

Updated/reviewed May 2024

• Need: To address and treat substance use disorder (SUD) and depression in the Upper Great Lakes region.
• Intervention: Cross-Walk, a program that integrates behavioral healthcare into primary care services, was developed in Michigan's Marquette County.
• Results: The collaborative efforts strengthened care management services in local healthcare facilities as primary care patients were referred to a behavioral health specialist.

Other Project Examples

Hope Squad

Updated/reviewed June 2026

• Need: To reduce youth suicide rates.
• Intervention: First begun in Utah, Hope Squad is a nationwide program that trains youth to identify peers' signs of distress and connect them to help. Hope Squads educate the entire student body to increase connectedness and reduce stigma.
• Results: Studies suggest that Hope Squad schools' students with suicidal thoughts are more likely than non-Hope Squad schools' students to solicit help. In addition, stigma surrounding mental illness is decreasing.

Project ACTIVATE (Advancing Coordinated and Timely InterVentions, Awareness, Training, and Education)

Updated/reviewed June 2026

• Need: To improve students' access to behavioral health services in rural North Carolina.
• Intervention: North Carolina Project ACTIVATE provides three tiers of behavioral health supports in the school setting.
• Results: The six pilot sites (Cohorts 1 and 2) have created or revised 91 mental health policies, and 53,170 school-based and related employees have received training in different topics and protocols.

Rhode Island Mental Health First Aid Training

Added June 2026

• Need: To provide rural first responders with training in Mental Health First Aid.
• Intervention: A statewide training program created by the Rhode Island State Office of Rural Health and the state Emergency Medical Services (EMS) office.
• Results: Every rural fire department in Rhode Island received training.

The Minnesota Integrative Behavioral Health Program

Updated/reviewed May 2026

• Need: Out of 79 Critical Access Hospitals (CAHs) surveyed in Minnesota in 2015, behavioral health was the most frequently cited service requested.
• Intervention: In response, Rural Health Innovations launched the Minnesota Integrative Behavioral Health Program. This initiative engaged representatives across all sectors in health integration between hospital, primary care, and community services.
• Results: Strategy sessions resulted in the creation of resource directories to improve care coordination, evaluation measurements to document results, and an overall better understanding of integrative care challenges.

Recovery Café Camden

Added March 2026

• Need: To connect people with substance use, trauma, and other challenges to community and services in rural New York.
• Intervention: The Recovery Café Camden offers shared meals, small-group discussions, hobby building, and connection to resources.
• Results: Between January 13, 2025, and November 18, 2025, the Café recorded 370 participant engagements across Recovery Circles and 128 across School of Recovery classes.

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