Rural mental health - this project is designed to increase capacity to serve additional individuals and families in western wisconsin that face challenges because of mental health and substance use

In rural wisconsin, the complexities of mental health are increased because of the lack of services available, the distance to those services, and the wait time to receive services. The funds obtained from this grant will allow an additional 100 individuals ranging from 3 to 100 to receive the help they need. The population to be served is located in LA crosse, vernon, monroe, jackson, and crawford counties in western wisconsin. The individuals and families seen face mental health struggles such as anxiety, depression, BI-polar disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, suicide prevention, substance use, and many other complex issues. During this project, clinicians will work with evidence based practices of motivational interviewing, cognitive behavioral therapy, eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR), play therapy, matrix model for addiction treatment, to name a few. Nonprofit mental health agencies in rural areas struggle with client transportation barriers as well as hiring challenges due to better wages in the private systems and larger cities. There continues to also be a concern of increased criminal activity from those with mental health concerns. Many times, potential clients are unaware of available resources for them and their families. In order to serve the community better and increase access to services, the project will hire additional staff, provide evidence based practice training, and conduct education and awareness of services available for those seeking mental health and/or substance use treatments. The project will focus on serving an additional 100 clients within the year of the project and will have the following goals: -increase staff knowledge of evidence based practices. -increase community awareness on available resources. -help at least 66% of the clients meet their treatment goals when discharged from services. -increase staff capacity in order to schedule clients within 2 weeks of being referred to services. The funding will allow the project to develop lasting strategies, continued community support, and increased awareness of mental health and substance use concerns.