NHSC Clinicians Wrap Rural Community in Good Mental Health

For the last 15 years, Crookston, Minnesota, has had more than its fair share of floods, droughts, and other natural disasters. As a result, the hardy and resilient population of farming families finds itself struggling under the burden of foreclosures, financial crisis, and the resulting emotional, mental, and stress-related problems.

A team of dedicated National Health Service Corps (NHSC) clinicians helps residents address their problems using an interdisciplinary and interagency approach to mental health care. At the Northwestern Mental Health Center (NMHC), NHSC Loan Repayors Brenda Anderson, L.I. C.S.W.; Diana Hall, M.S.W., L.I.C.S.W.; and Mike Anderson, L.I.C.S.W.; and NHSC Scholar Paul Michels, M.D., collaborate with community groups to bring support and treatment to families in crisis.

NMHC's closely knit team of mental health care professionals tackles complex family-based crises through a process called Farm Wrap. This involves wrapping all of the community's social, economic, spiritual, and medical resources around the family in crisis. The way this happens is defined by the family and facilitated by the mental health care coordinator and team.

For Mike Anderson, the key to his success with his colleagues as well as his patients can be summed up in the phrase, informal collaboration. Keeping the lines of communication open with his colleagues at the health center and relying on their instincts are the natural results of the friendship and trust he has developed with them by working side-by-side and living in the close-knit environment of a rural community.

All but one of the clinicians are nearing the end of their NHSC commitments, and all of them have chosen to stay at NMHC and in the communities where what they do ensures the survival and quality of life of rural America.

Learn about other NHSC success stories.