1/18/2024 0 Comments Mental strife definition![]() Seeking help for mental illness should never be stigmatized,” says McGinnis. ![]() “I think something that’s often forgotten is substance use disorder and opioid use disorder is mental illness. Increased stigma around substance use further isolates people in rural communities in need of help, says DorisAnn McGinnis, doctoral student in counseling psychology. The Iowa Department of Public Health reported that fentanyl and other synthetic drugs have been implicated in 87% of all opioid overdose deaths. While deaths related to prescription opioid overdose has leveled off, deaths from heroin and synthetic opioids have increased. Many rural Iowa communities face substance use issues, economic strife, loss of opportunity, and more, all while lacking access to the critical mental health services of urban and suburban communities.Īccording to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in 2020, Iowa saw a nearly 20% increase in deaths resulting from drug overdoses. ![]() That’s where we are really able to provide something from here at the University of Iowa to the larger state.” “Across the state there is a shortage of psychologists, but there are towns and communities across Iowa who might not have any services or providers. “One of the big goals of this work is to recruit and train diverse students who are underrepresented in our field, and then to be able to shine the spotlight on what rural spaces look like,” says Kivlighan. The goal of the TPTC is two-fold: attract diverse students from underrepresented backgrounds and train them in high-quality, ethical, telemedicine and address the lack of mental health services in rural Iowa. Increasing diversity, addressing lack of mental health services We can’t always send our students to rural communities and have them driving all over Iowa,” says Saba Ali, associate research dean and professor in Counseling Psychology. “We knew pre-pandemic that telepsychology was going to be big and we started thinking about how we can give training experiences for our students and serve rural communities. While COVID made telepsychology common, the TPTC still provides unique training in virtual mental health counseling for rural Iowans. The TPTC partners with the University of Iowa Mobile Clinic, the University of Iowa Hospitals & Clinics Opioid Addiction Clinic, and several other community partners to provide free mental health care to uninsured and underinsured rural clients.Ĭreated by Kivlighan and fellow counseling psychology faculty members Saba Ali, and Charles Bermingham prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, the TPTC set out to become one of the few telepsychology training clinics in the country. We can’t serve all Iowans if we’re not seeing all Iowans.” With this training, it helps broaden our scope of who is an Iowan and who has been rendered invisible. “We have a problem with who we inherently see as an Iowan.
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