Who will step up to meet the challenge of the next rural crisis?
Rural practice presents important yet challenging issues for psychology,
especially given uneven population distribution, high levels of need,
limited availability of rural services, and ongoing migration to urban
centers. It is critical that mental health professionals and first
responders in rural areas become aware of recent research, training and
approaches to crisis intervention, traumatology, compassion fatigue,
disaster mental health, critical incident stress management,
post-traumatic stress and related areas in rural environments. Critical
issues facing rural areas include:
Physical issues such as land, air, and water resources, cheap food
policy, chemicals and pesticides, animal rights, corruption in food
marketing and distribution, and land appropriation for energy
development.
Quality of life issues such as rural America's declining share of
national wealth, problems of hunger, education, and rural poverty among
rural populations of farmers and ranchers.
Direct service issues include the need to accommodate a wide variety of
mental health difficulties, client privacy and boundaries, and practical
challenges.
Indirect service issues include the greater need for diverse
professional activities, collaborative work with professionals having
different orientations and beliefs, program development and evaluation,
and conducting research with few mentors or peer collaborators.
Professional training and development issues include lack of specialized
relevant courses and placements.
Personal issues include limited opportunities for recreation, culture,
and lack of privacy.
Doherty's first volume in this new series Crisis in the American
Heartland explores these and many other issues. Social Science:
Disasters & Disaster Relief
For more information please visit www.RMRInstitute.org
