PUBH X793 - Providing Mental Health Support to Rural Communities
Description
*This Public Health Institute course will be online via Zoom and Canvas and will not be meeting in-person.
Jeffery Bender, DVM, MS
Professor, School of Public Health
Director, Upper Midwest Agricultural Safety and Health Center
Co-Director, USAID One Health Workforce Project
Adjunct, College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Minnesota
Health care access and health promotion in rural health areas is an important and emerging issue in the U.S. This is exemplified with recent hospital closures, the extent and severity of the opioid crisis, and limited health care access to rural residents. One particular population deeply affected by these issues is our agricultural community including farmers, farm workers, and their families. Acutely, this is demonstrated by the reported increased suicides and calls to mental health crisis centers.
This course will summarize efforts to reach rural communities and address mental health issues summarizing recent efforts. This includes identifying resources, synergizing coordinated efforts, and creating outreach to vulnerable populations in rural areas. Students will help identify populations at risk, create potential solutions, and consider how to obtain funding to support these efforts.
This course is intended for public health, policy administrators, health care professionals, veterinarians, and agricultural industry professionals.
This non-credit course meets with the academic course PubH 7200-116 as part of the 2024 Public Health Institute.
Enrollment for this course will open on February 22, 2024.
For more information: z.umn.edu/PHI.
Objectives
The goal of this course is to raise an awareness of the mental health challenges of agricultural communities and provide examples of efforts to ameliorate this crisis.
Class objectives include:
- review recent efforts to reach farmers, workers, and farm families
- provide students and opportunity to identify an at-risk group and come up with some strategies on how to reach that community
- develop tools to develop and evaluate public health interventions.
Registration & Cancellation
The registration fee for this course is $595. You will receive an email letter outlining program logistics two weeks prior to the start of the course.
Requests for refunds will be honored in full if a written cancellation request is received prior to the course start date. An administration fee of $50 will be charged to all refund requests received after the first day of class. The University of Minnesota School of Public Health (SPH) reserves the right to cancel any course. In the event of a course cancellation, registrants will receive a full refund of the program registration fee. SPH is not responsible for refund of travel or other costs incurred by registrants.
SPH will provide a certificate of attendance verifying 1.5 CEUs (15 contact hours) offered for this program. This course is eligible for 15 CPH recertification credits.
All courses are approved for CPH Recertification Credits by the National Board of Public Health Examiners.