The WICHE Behavioral Health Program serves the behavioral health needs and priorities of 16 member states and territories in varied ways. Select a state on the map for individual highlights reflecting WICHE’s engagement in that state.
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WICHE Behavioral Health Initiatives
Serving the behavioral health needs and priorities of the West
State Engagement
In FocusEXPLORE
Psychology Internship Consortia
WICHE BHP works with partners in several Western states to help them offer accredited psychology internships that will enable them to grow their own workforce capacity, particularly in rural or remote areas.
Multistate Projects
Mountain Plains Rural Opioid Technical Assistance Center (Mountain Plains ROTAC)
The WICHE BHP, under a grant from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), operates the Mountain Plains Rural Opioid Technical Assistance Center (Mountain Plains ROTAC). Mountain Plains ROTAC provides publicly accessible training and technical assistance to address the misuse of opiates and stimulants across the behavioral health continuum of care in HHS Region 8, covering Colorado, Utah, Wyoming, South Dakota, North Dakota, and Montana. Through training, webinars on evidence-based practices, supporting a Regional Advisory Workgroup, and providing robust Community of Practice learning opportunities, Mountain Plains ROTAC aims to reach populations impacted by health disparities in rural, tribal, and frontier communities to reduce morbidity and mortality associated with opioid and/or stimulant use in rural communities.
Rural Veterans Suicide Prevention
Together With Veterans (TWV) enlists rural Veterans and local partners to join forces to reduce Veteran suicide in communities across the Western region. WICHE continues its collaboration with the Veterans Administration (VA) Rocky Mountain Mental Illness Research, Education, and Clinical Center (MIRECC) for Veteran suicide prevention, to implement this enterprise-wide initiative, which is funded by the VA Office of Rural Health. WICHE also provides training and technical assistance to rural sites interested in pursuing this Veteran-driven, evidence-informed approach to assessing community needs and creating a community-centered action plan grounded in the public health model for suicide prevention. TWV practices are in alignment with the VA National Strategy for Preventing Veteran Suicide, and the SAMHSA/VA partnership implemented through the Governor’s Challenge and the Mayor’s Challenge to Prevent Suicide among Service Members, Veterans, and their Families.
Rural Communities Opioid Response Program – Technical Assistance Project
JBS International, a professional services company, received a cooperative agreement from the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) to support the Rural Communities Opioid Response Program – Technical Assistance Project. WICHE BHP, in turn, is working with JBS International, the National Academy for State Health Policy (NASHP), and the National Rural Health Association as the technical assistance lead for 16 of the 95 rural planning sites identified by HRSA. This project supports grantees in reducing morbidity and mortality associated with opioid use in their communities, which relies upon evidence-based and sustainable interventions.
Suicide Prevention ToolkitRural Mental Health in the United States
This guide for primary care providers and medical practice managers contains information and tools to implement state-of-the-art suicide prevention practices, and to help overcome the significant hurdles this life-saving work faces in primary care practices. Download for free or order a hard copy.
This volume, Rural Mental Health in the United States: 2006–2022, is the fourth in a series, first published in 1979, intended to provide an over- view of the field of rural mental health and access to its literature through an annotated bibliography.Like rural America itself, where much remains the same, but much is also changing, this volume is both similar to and different from earlier volumes. Hardcopies available for purchase.
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Past projects
See a selection of projects the WICHE Behavioral Health Program has undertaken in recent years:
