{"id":47522,"date":"2001-03-22T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2001-03-22T06:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2001\/03\/22\/there-are-shortages-of-mental-health-practitionersin-87-of-nebraskas-93-counties\/"},"modified":"2022-08-29T10:52:53","modified_gmt":"2022-08-29T15:52:53","slug":"there-are-shortages-of-mental-health-practitionersin-87-of-nebraskas-93-counties","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2001\/03\/22\/there-are-shortages-of-mental-health-practitionersin-87-of-nebraskas-93-counties\/","title":{"rendered":"There are shortages of mental health practitioners\n\nin 87 of Nebraska’s 93 counties"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/u><\/i><\/p>\n

Munroe-Meyer Institute Responds to Pediatric Mental<\/p>\n

Health Needs in Rural Nebraska<\/p>\n

If two adolescents in Nebraska are having mental health-related problems<\/p>\n

— for example, behavior disorders, anxiety disorders, adolescent depression,<\/p>\n

attention deficit disorders — and one youth is from Omaha, while the other<\/p>\n

from Greater Nebraska, which youth has the greater access to the professional<\/p>\n

resources necessary to handle such issues?  Up to now, the answer<\/p>\n

would overwhelmingly favor “Omaha.”<\/p>\n

But thanks to an innovative new program administered by the UNMC Munroe-Meyer<\/p>\n

Institute, a growing number of rural youths now have access to behavioral<\/p>\n

health expertise right in their own pediatrician=s office.  Even more<\/p>\n

promising, some of these same MMI doctoral students serving these adolescents<\/p>\n

are opting to return to those communities for further professional development<\/p>\n

and practice.<\/p>\n

“The family practice physician and pediatrician are still the primary<\/p>\n

mental health resource for adolescents in rural communities, and their<\/p>\n

need for behavioral health support services is now extraordinary, said<\/p>\n

Joe Evans, Ph.D., Project Director and Chief of the Pediatric Psychology<\/p>\n

Department at Munroe-Meyer. ASeventy-five percent of all mental health<\/p>\n

practitioners live in the Omaha\/Lincoln area, leaving shortages in 87 of<\/p>\n

Nebraska’s 93 counties.”<\/p>\n

In October 1999, MMI initiated the first year of the three-year, $463,000<\/p>\n

Quentin N. Burdick Rural Interdisciplinary Training grant funded by the<\/p>\n

federal Health Resources and Services Administration, to train pediatric<\/p>\n

behavioral health specialists to work in rural communities.  In the<\/p>\n

program, doctoral and masters level students work with MMI Psychology and<\/p>\n

Social Work faculty in providing treatment for patients in Columbus, Hastings,<\/p>\n

Fremont, and Plattsmouth.<\/p>\n

MMI specialists are providing the equivalent of 40 hours of patient<\/p>\n

care per week in Hastings, 24 hours in Columbus, 16 hours in Fremont, and<\/p>\n

8 hours in Plattsmouth.  There is currently a waiting list of more<\/p>\n

than 50 patients in Hastings, 30 families in Columbus and more calls arrive<\/p>\n

weekly from other rural Nebraska towns surrounding these Greater Nebraska<\/p>\n

communities.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

“In all these sites, the patients are referred by their pediatrician,<\/p>\n

family physician, school, or parents,” Dr. Evans said. “Our clinic visits<\/p>\n

to Hastings draw patients from a 100-mile radius. We even have people driving<\/p>\n

up from Kansas to see a pediatric behavioral specialist.”<\/p>\n

“The reality is that child adolescent behavior problems are everywhere. <\/p>\n

Some studies indicate that as high as forty percent of pediatric patients’<\/p>\n

issues are for school-related problems, Attention Deficit-Hyperactivity<\/p>\n

Disorder, problems at home, or other mental health disorders.<\/p>\n

Munroe-Meyer students not only get exposure to working in rural areas,<\/p>\n

but they receive invaluable experience working in a primary care practice,<\/p>\n

Dr. Evans said.  They pick up many tools that will enable them to<\/p>\n

function well after they graduate.<\/p>\n

“And from the patient’s perspective, our presence in the pediatrician’s<\/p>\n

office is much more acceptable,” Dr. Evans said. “There is still a significant<\/p>\n

stigma attached to seeking mental health services in small communities.<\/p>\n

Local parents are more comfortable bringing their children to see a behavior<\/p>\n

specialist in their primary physician’s office as opposed to visiting an<\/p>\n

identified mental health clinic where other community members might see<\/p>\n

them and begin to speculate.”<\/p>\n

Students in the program have come from UNMC, UNO, Doane College, Mississippi<\/p>\n

State, UN-L, UN-K, and the University of Southern Mississippi.  Their<\/p>\n

training is in areas including psychology, social work, counseling and<\/p>\n

marriage and family therapy. During the first year of the program, MMI<\/p>\n

mental health specialists provided more than 2,000 patient visits to families<\/p>\n

from 47 Nebraska communities.<\/p>\n

“There is no mystery as to what is likely to befall rural adolescents<\/p>\n

with mental health needs that are not treated, Dr. Evans said. “Just as<\/p>\n

in the largest urban environments, we see outcomes of school failure, delinquency,<\/p>\n

involvements with substance abuse, depression and anxiety.”<\/p>\n

“The Burdick grant is a direct response to the legislature’s challenge<\/p>\n

to UNMC to find ways to get more health care practitioners to train, and<\/p>\n

ultimately practice, in Nebraska’s rural communities. With the changing<\/p>\n

economics of many of our farming communities and the fact that “big city”<\/p>\n

problems are now showing up in rural towns, the child and adolescent mental<\/p>\n

health patient base is only going to grow and Munroe-Meyer is trying to<\/p>\n

meet these needs.<\/p>\n

“We have four Ph.D. students who will receive their doctorates in July<\/p>\n

and 4 of the 8 have requested additional post-doctoral training and supervision<\/p>\n

rotations in rural Nebraska. We anticipate seeing more students opt for<\/p>\n

rural behavioral health training as the grant progresses.”<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Munroe-Meyer Institute Responds to Pediatric Mental Health Needs in Rural Nebraska If two adolescents in Nebraska are having mental health-related problems — for example, behavior disorders, anxiety disorders, adolescent depression, attention deficit disorders — and one youth is from Omaha, while the other from Greater Nebraska, which youth has the greater access to the professional […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":79,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-47522","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","department-press-release"],"yoast_head":"\nThere are shortages of mental health practitioners in 87 of Nebraska's 93 counties<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Munroe-Meyer Institute Responds to Pediatric Mental Health Needs in Rural Nebraska If two adolescents in 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