Behavioral health center works to improve the lives of rural Americans
A collaborative effort between the College of Health Professions and the UF Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (IFAS) is aimed at improving the quality of life of rural Americans.
The National Rural Behavioral Health Center, under the direction of Garret Evans, Psy.D., focuses on rural disaster and trauma, violence prevention, occupational health and health-service delivery — four components of rural behavioral health.
Evans, an associate professor in the College of Health Professions’ department of clinical and health psychology and in IFAS’ department of family, youth and community science, leads a team of behavioral health scientists, educators, scholars and practitioners dedicated to improving the behavioral health status of rural Americans. Through research, service delivery, and training of health-care professionals and community educators, the center is designed to increase access to and use of behavioral health services.
The center was established by the Center for Mental Health Services, a component of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, through a $1 million grant awarded to clinical and health psychology Chairman Ronald H. Rozensky, Ph.D., as principal investigator. The center also receives ongoing funding from the Suwannee River Area Health Education Center.
“The center’s designation by Congress as the National Rural Behavioral Health Center not only brings recognition to the University of Florida for our leadership role in rural behavioral health but also affords us the opportunity to take our clinical, educational and research programs to other states to help a wide range of rural Americans,” Rozensky said.
A lack of services is just one reason for the poor status of rural behavioral health. These deficits often become most apparent in the event of large-scale disasters, such as hurricanes, floods and drought conditions in rural communities.
“There are very few specially trained professionals who can conduct behavioral health programs for specific situations, such as disasters,” Evans said. “There are a lot of professionals and community leaders who want to help during a tragedy, but they don’t have a framework for dealing with a disaster and identifying those in trouble. There needs to be a communitywide approach, and we need to give them a playbook for dealing with mental health stressors.”
Geographic isolation and stigma associated with seeking behavioral health services also contribute to the overall problem of providing behavioral health services to rural communities. Evans said many rural Americans are unaware of how these services may help them. “We’re trying to develop innovative models for reaching these people,” Evans said. “In the area of occupational health, for example, we’re providing educational programs in their place of work because many won’t come to specialty clinics.”
One of the center’s current projects is a joint program with the Columbia County (Fla.) school district to integrate and evaluate violence and substance abuse prevention strategies for children in that county.
Project CATCH (Columbia Acting Together for Children’s Health) is funded by a three-year, $3 million grant through the Safe Schools/Healthy Students Initiative funded by the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, and the Center for Mental Health Services.
By coordinating community agencies and existing violence and drug use prevention programs, the project’s researchers are developing a master plan to promote safe schools and environments, lower juvenile violent crime rates, and reduce alcohol and drug use among children in Columbia County.
“Project CATCH is a perfect example of how the center can reach out to help rural communities solve local needs,” Evans said. “Columbia County has a great need for preventive and behavioral health services, particularly when considering that the juvenile violent crime arrest rate consistently ranks among the top three counties in Florida, a high crime state.”
With a $1.1 million portion of the grant, the National Rural Behavioral Health Center will expand prevention and mental health services offered to Columbia County school children by the UF Psychology Center Family Support Service, a program initiated by the department of clinical and health psychology, and will evaluate the impact of Project CATCH’s components and services.