The Rural Communities
It is well documented that rural
America lags far behind its urban counterparts in the availability of mental
health care. In fact, in some rural communities, mental health care is
simply unavailable. Yet the need for mental health services is as critical
in rural communities as it is in urban regions.
Throughout rural America, there are nearly 50 million people who face challenges in receiving mental health care. Difficulty accessing high quality care can lead to deteriorating mental health among this large segment of the population. Nevertheless, rural mental health concerns have not been adequately addressed over time.
Access to Therapy Network (ATTN) focuses on reducing the barriers to affordable, high quality mental health care for rural populations. Using the best in video conference technology, ATTN provides individual, couples and family therapy in homes, health care and community centers, schools, residential group homes and long-term care facilities.
The benefits are numerous. They include the elimination of travel time and costs, greater selection of expert mental health care providers, confidentiality within small communities known for knowing everybody's business, the transcendence of some small-town cultural taboos associated with seeking mental health treatment, and consistency with environment-friendly initiatives to reduce carbon emissions.
ATTN is playing a major role in reforming health care by eliminating geographic barriers. Benefiting rural America along with the rest of the nation, equal access to excellent mental health services is a big part of our mission.
