100190: Aging, Mental Illness, and the Frontier

About the Course:

This course provides a brief overview of services available and those that are lacking for aging Americans living in rural areas. Issues addressed include access to mental health care, costs of care, ideas for improving service accessibility, and consumer-operated services.

Author

By James W. Stockdill, M.A. and James A. Ciarlo, Ph.D.,

About the Author:

The Frontier Mental Health Services Resource Network (FMHSRN), under a contract with the Center for Mental Health Services (CMHS) of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), was created to gather, analyze and disseminate information about mental health needs and services in “frontier” areas.

Course Objectives:

1. to become more aware of the sate of mental health services in rural areas

2. to learn about issues that the aging rural population consider most important in regard to mental health services

3. to investigate and examine ways to improve services for the aging rural population