Roughly 27 percent of the U.S. population lives in rural regions of the country. These citizens face challenges that city-dwellers and surburbanites do not. Geographic isolation, lack of available resources and activities, and a relative absence of anonymity lead many rural residents to turn to alcohol and other drugs. This guide includes a host of resources that we believe will help prevention specialists, teachers, health care providers, and others like you in a mutual quest for drug-free neighborhoods.

A comprehensive single-source book about rural mental health and substance abuse. Provides the latest information and results from research concerning these two topics. Covers: mental disorders in rural areas; alcohol and other drug abuse in rural areas: a review of epidemiologic evidence; mental health service delivery in rural areas: organizational and clinical issues; human resource issues for rural mental health; the future of mental health and rural America; and a comprehensive annotated resource guide to rural mental health-related information.

This book provides a comprehensive overview of mental health in rural America, with the goal of fostering urgently needed research and honest conversations about providing accessible, culturally competent mental health care to rural populations. Grounding the work is an explanation of the history and structure of rural mental health care, the culture of rural living among diverse groups, and the crucial "A’s" and "S": accountability, accessibility, acceptability, affordability, and stigma. The book then examines poverty, disaster mental health, ethics in rural mental health, and school counseling. It ends with practical information and treatments for two of the most common problems, suicide and substance abuse, and a brief exploration of collaborative possibilities in rural mental health care.