Rural Mental Health – Resources

Practical Guide for Expanding the Community-Based Behavioral Health Workforce
Explores the role of community-initiated care (CIC) and behavioral health support specialists (BHSS) in filling gaps in behavioral healthcare services and supporting community wellness. Provides guidance, strategies, and best practices for addressing behavioral health disparities in underserved communities and expanding the BHSS and CIC workforce.
Date: 2024
Sponsoring organization: Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration
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Recommendations for Local Suicide Prevention Infrastructure
Presents a report detailing local infrastructure recommendations for suicide prevention. Discusses suicide prevention strategies, makes recommendations for partnerships, and implementation guidance for programs at the local level. Highlights considerations for rural communities and explores the role of culture in suicide prevention.
Date: 2024
Sponsoring organization: Suicide Prevention Resource Center
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The Dialogue: Rural and Remote Disaster Behavioral Health
Journal issue discusses the behavioral health needs and challenges during disasters in rural and remote communities. Highlights the mental health challenges that co-occur with disasters such as extreme heat, floods, droughts and other disasters in rural communities and details strategies for addressing them.
Citation: The Dialogue, 19(4)
Date: 2024
Sponsoring organization: SAMHSA Disaster Technical Assistance Center
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Expanding Behavioral Health Care Workforce Participation in Medicare, Medicaid, and Marketplace Plans
Report highlights barriers to obtaining behavioral health treatment on Medicare, Medicaid, and Marketplace plans. Discusses barriers specific to rural and tribal communities. Details behavioral workforce needs and makes policy recommendations.
Additional links: Full Report
Author(s): Board on Health Care Services
Date: 2024
Sponsoring organization: Health and Medicine Division (HMD), National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine
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Rural Mental Health in the United States 2006–2022: An Overview and Annotated Bibliography
Provides a comprehensive overview of mental health in the rural United States. Includes chapters focused on a rural perspective of mental health, the demographic profile of rural areas by race/ethnicity, substance abuse, mental health service delivery, workforce challenges and opportunities, comparative information about rural mental health outside the U.S., and the future of rural mental health in the U.S.
Author(s): Jasmine R. Davis, David Lambert, Sree Sinha, et al.
Date: 2024
Sponsoring organization: Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education
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The Task Force on Maternal Mental Health's Report to Congress
A report from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services on maternal mental health including barriers to care, federal programs doing relevant work, identifying best practices, and offering suggestions to improve federal infrastructure. Topics discussed include substance use, mortality, social determinants of health, data gathering, community engagement, telehealth, screening, violence, policy, access to care, stigma, and more. Highlights programs across the country addressing maternal mental health issues including some in rural areas. Discusses rural throughout.
Date: 2024
Sponsoring organizations: Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
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Women Veterans: The Journey to Mental Wellness
Report discussing mental health for female veterans. Discusses topics including suicide prevention with a focus on rural issues, abuse and violence, substance use, eating disorders, social connectedness, maternity, and care coordination. Offers policy and research recommendations to the Veterans Health Administration.
Additional links: Quick Glance
Date: 2024
Sponsoring organization: Disabled American Veterans
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Policy Solutions Addressing Psychiatric Boarding of Rural Youth
Policy position paper regarding psychiatric boarding - holding patients in an emergency department after the decision to admit or transfer has been made, but no beds are available - of rural children and adolescents. Describes recent trends in pediatric psychiatric boarding in rural areas. Offers policy recommendations to reduce boarding times and improve mental health outcomes in rural communities.
Author(s): Amah Riley, Jonathan Updike, Lauren Wood
Date: 12/2023
Sponsoring organization: National Rural Health Association
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State Actions to Build the Behavioral Health Crisis Continuum
Toolkit features a continuum of behavioral health crisis services and supports and discusses the strategies for program planning and development for state officials and agencies. Highlights models and resources for core components such as regional call centers, mobile crisis teams, and stabilization facilities, among others. Also includes crisis care principles, such as peer supports, law enforcement partnerships, and rural and frontier delivery challenges.
Author(s): Rebekah Falkner, Laura Galbreath, Sandra Wilkniss
Date: 12/2023
Sponsoring organization: National Academy for State Health Policy
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Geographic Variations in Driving Time to U.S. Mental Health Care, Digital Access to Technology, & Household Crowdedness
Evaluated distance to mental health services, household crowdedness, and access to technology and broadband alongside rurality to determine barriers to mental healthcare for both rural and urban residents in 31,924 ZIP Code Tabulation Areas (ZCTAs). Discusses implications for telehealth and policy measures addressing the digital divide.
Author(s): Sophia N. D. Negaro, Rachel M. Hantman, Janice C. Probst, et al.
Citation: Health Affairs Scholar, 1(6)
Date: 12/2023
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