Developing an Early Childhood Mental Health Needs Assessment in a Rural Region

This presentation will discuss the differences in urban and rural mental health issues as they relate to improving service infrastructure, practice, and policy for young children (0-8) and their families. This discussion will be framed through the context of the Indiana Project LAUNCH (Linking Actions for Unmet Needs in Children’s Health) needs assessment development. Indiana Project LAUNCH uses a public health approach to implement and enhance services in a rural, medically underserved pilot community in Southeastern Indiana.

Implementing a public health approach to improving behavioral health outcomes while balancing the needs of a rural community, the existing resources in that community, and the capacity and support of state agencies is a complex endeavor with multi-faceted barriers. This is particularly evident when the majority of state funded programs are geared toward urban populations and are either not physically located in the rural area or are insufficient to meet the needs of the rural community. Many of the existing barriers to service utilization are compounded in a rural context, such as lack of personal and/or public transportation.

Through the development of a community-based, participatory needs assessment that incorporated stakeholder perspectives of state and local agencies, as well as families, Indiana Project LAUNCH was able to strategically focus the project towards the identified gaps in services and imminent needs in Southeastern Indiana. This presentation will describe the needs assessment development and will demonstrate that these processes are critical to creating a comprehensive framework for implementing a public health model in a rural region.