Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Virtual Mentorship Network To Address The Rural Shortage Of Mental Health Providers, Heidi Keeler, Tara Sjuts, Kosuke Niitsu, Shinobu Watanabe-Galloway, Paul Force-Emery Mackie, Howard Liu

Social Work Department Publications

Introduction: The process of identifying effective responses to the challenges of placing and retaining a rural behavioral health workforce remains elusive. The Virtual Mentorship Network was developed to test the feasibility of using distance technology to connect rural students interested in mental health careers with mentors.

Methods: In Year 1, college and high school students were virtually mentored using a near-peer approach both live and asynchronously as a cohort over 7 months. In Year 2, college students only were virtually intensely mentored live over 1 month. High school students were asynchronously provided with informational videos produced by mentors. Program benefits …

Jails Are Not Treatment Centers, Michael Henning, Rachel Mattick, Cali Turbes

Master of Social Work Student Policy Advocacy Briefs

Currently, in Minnesota alone, there are more individuals with severe mental illness being incarcerated than hospitalized. Blue Earth County's Yellow Line Project (YLP) reported that 83.7% of individuals screened positive for mental illness prior to being booked into jail . Not only does incarcerating individuals with mental illness fill our jails, it prolongs mental illness and time spent away from treatment. Jail diversion programs divert individuals with mental health disorders from the criminal justice system and into appropriate treatment when applicable. For those individuals ineligible for diversion from the criminal justice system, care coordination would be ideal to assist in …

Invisible No More: Bringing Awareness To Mental Health In Older Adults Living In Rural Minnesota, Abigail Schaper, Carley Ledoux, Kristry Danielson

Master of Social Work Student Policy Advocacy Briefs

Approximately 8 million Americans 65 years of age and older have mental health disorders. It is estimated that these numbers could reach 14.4 million by 2030. Minnesotans turning 65 in this decade (about 285,000) will be greater than the past four decades combined (Aging: MN State Demographic Center, 2018). Anxiety and depression are two of the more common mental health disorders in older adults and are associated with severe consequences, including life dissatisfaction, illness, and mortality. With this growth comes many barriers. The rural mental health system is not equipped to address this growth. The system is underfunded, largely uncoordinated, …