Main description:

This book provides a comprehensive overview of mental health in rural America, with the goal of fostering urgently needed research and honest conversations about providing accessible, culturally competent mental health care to rural populations. Grounding the work is an explanation of the history and structure of rural mental health care, the culture of rural living among diverse groups, and the crucial "A's" and "S": accountability, accessibility, acceptability, affordability, and stigma. The book then examines poverty, disaster mental health, ethics in rural mental health, and school counseling. It ends with practical information and treatments for two of the most common problems, suicide and substance abuse, and a brief exploration of collaborative possibilities in rural mental health care.

Contents:

About the Author Acknowledgments Preface Introduction 1. What Defines Rural and Frontier, and Why Are They Important? 2. Rural Mental Health Policy and Parity 3. Obstacles to Treatment - The Four "A's" and an "S": Accessibility, Availability, Acceptability, Affordability, and Stigma 4. The Structure of Rural Mental Health Care: State, County, Town, Village. 5. Understanding the Culture of Rural Living 6. Agricultural Roots of Rurality 7. Disaster Mental Health 8. Poverty 9. Types of Mental Health Practitioners and Their Scopes of Practice 10. Treatment Philosophies and Models 11. Issues in Rural Practice 12. The 3 "R's" of Schools in Rural Areas: Reassurance, Responsibility, and Resolution 13. Substance Abuse in Rural Areas 14. Suicide in Rural Areas 15. A Day in the Life of a Rural Mental Health Practitioner 16. The Rural Economy in Transition 17. Technological Innovations in Rural Mental Health Services 18. Looking Forward: Collaborative Possibilities Mental Health Organizations Recommended Reading Index