Overcoming barriers to rural children’s mental health: an interconnected systems public health model

Abstract

A large, Midwestern county implemented a four-tiered public health model of children’s mental health with an interconnected systems approach involving education, health care, juvenile justice and community mental health sectors. The community sought to promote protective factors in the lives of all youth, while improving the capacity, accessibility and coordination of the continuum of care available to children and families. This article describes efforts to improve services for children in rural communities by connecting traditionally separated sectors and engaging doctoral psychology interns in the continuum of care. This article articulates lessons learned in practice, provides a case study and community outcomes; universal screening data, graduation rates and juvenile arrest rates suggest efforts are yielding positive results. Considerations for implementation in other rural communities are discussed.

Keywords:

• Rural
• integrated behavioural health
• children’s mental health
• multi-tiered service delivery
• interdisciplinary collaboration

Acknowledgement

Funding for this project was provided by a grant from Illinois Children’s Healthcare Foundation (ILCHF) to Illinois State University (B. Huber, PI); views expressed here are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of ILCHF.