Stories

President Barack Obama is expected to sign an agriculture appropriations bill this week that contains millions in direct aide to the nation’s dairy farmers.

Facing increased demand for behavioral health services, agencies in at least 28 states have been looking to Iowa for advice on the problem. A federal program designed to address the rural mental health crisis nationwide has been authorized by Congress, but hasn’t been funded.

Legislation requiring the Iowa Department of Health and Human Services to submit a proposal to close one state mental health facility was mostly overlooked when it passed, but, now that a task force has been established to craft a proposal, at least four Iowa communities that could be impacted are taking notice.

There are four mental health institutions that serve Iowa through the state Department of Human Services, all built during the late 1800s when most advocates believed in a “moral treatment” philosophy of care made famous by Philadelphia psychiatrist Thomas Story Kirkbride. Each of the facilities — Mount Pleasant, Independence, Clarinda and Cherokee — have distinct [...]

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. — An audible and collective groan of disbelief and frustration emanated from rural behavioral health professionals gathered here earlier this week for a regional conference, when they learned that both houses of Congress passed agriculture appropriations bills that did not include funding for a stress assistance network geared toward farm and ranch families.

It was one of those things that happen when two strangers discover a piece of common ground and strike up a conversation.
Dr. Jeffrey Leichner, a psychologist and a founding member of the Minnesota Consortium for Advanced Rural Psychology Training, recently attended a National Association of Rural Mental Health conference in New Mexico and by chance [...]

In northern Minnesota, a small group of local behavioral health specialists have created a post-doctorate program that is not only establishing a pipeline of providers to rural communities; it is enhancing the way existing agencies and providers interact for the betterment of an entire region.

Because mental health care is hard to access in rural parts of the country, the few behavioral health professionals serving rural populations are testing and utilizing more technological tools for outreach.

The psychological attachment farm families feel for their land and livestock is one of the lessons of the 1980s farm crisis — a time when farmer suicides and rural violence made front page news across the nation. Back then, Iowa and Nebraska, two states severely impacted by the farm crisis, developed crisis hotlines designed specifically to serve the needs of agricultural workers. Today, in the wake of natural disasters and in the midst of economic uncertainty, the hotlines are experiencing a spike in activity, likely helping to prevent more tragedies.

The Iowa Department of Human Services announced this week that those affected by the 2008 natural disasters can receive no-cost professional mental health services.
The Ticket to Hope Program, funded through a social services emergency disaster relief appropriation by the 2009 legislature, provides services to people who are uninsured, whose insurance does not cover mental health [...]