Mental Health Care by Video Fills Gaps in Rural Nursing Homes

A rural Texas county is using a free digital platform to connect residents to mental health resources. Bastrop County's new public health department partnered with CredibleMind to launch an online hub offering mental health assessments, self-guided tools, and a local services directory in English and Spanish. In its first six months, the platform reached nearly 1,900 unique users and achieved a 43% assessment completion rate.

Sonar Mental Health, the developer of the AI-powered “wellbeing companion” named Sonny, is offering its services to schools that struggle to meet students’ demand for mental health services. Sonny’s algorithm also has trained humans working behind the scenes to ensure students receive proper care. The hybrid bot is available in more than 4,500 public middle and high schools across the country, many of which are in rural and low-income areas.

After the pandemic, many teens are still opting for telehealth therapy rather than in-office care. Telehealth makes therapy more accessible for those who need it, particularly through collaboration with mental health platforms like Daybreak that partner with school districts across the U.S. to provide access to virtual therapy in schools. Daybreak’s data shows that 92% of families see behavioral improvements and 80% of school staff see attendance and grade improvements in students who participate in therapy.

Instead of calling 911, people experiencing a mental health crisis can contact new crisis response teams, like the Virtual Crisis Care program, to receive a visit from a mental health professional rather than a law enforcement officer. The service is free and the goal is to stabilize people at home instead of admitting them to a crowded psychiatric units or jailing them for behaviors stemming from mental illness.

She Writes Woman, provides safe spaces for those in need to receive mental healthcare services. As of this year, She Writes Woman receives about 200 calls on its toll-free helpline each day, serving a community of about 45,000 people.

In rural parts of Wyoming, many people have trouble accessing mental health care resources, but telemedicine is changing that. Employing graduate students as counselors, people can access a telehealth clinic in order to obtain support in the form of specialized trauma care.

As many struggle to access mental health care, AI-powered chatbots, called “psychobots,” are emerging as a response to limited access to traditional psychotherapy. While they may not be a replacement for human connection, these chatbots offer affordable, convenient and anonymous psychological support, using techniques such as cognitive-behavioral therapy and advanced conversational AI algorithms to communicate.

A partnership between Hazel Health and the local school district is bridging the gap between students and mental and physical healthcare by providing therapy and telehealth resources before, during and after the school day. Care is provided without any necessary out-of-pocket costs and from November 2023 to June 2024, Hazel Health provided 630 therapy sessions to students across 25 schools.

The Ant, or Action Northeast Trust, is a rural development organization that provides low-cost psychological support and treatments to those in need. The Ant works with psychiatrists who provide their services at discounted rates and sources generic drugs from a non-profit to provide care on a monthly basis at 25 locations throughout the region. Since it began in 2007, The Any has treated more than 8,000 patients.

In a statewide, multi-business effort, California is working to identify a way to use technology to intervene in mental crises through the use of psychiatric apps. Acting as an early warning system, the piloting of these apps has allowed for collaboration between state officials, the app engineers and the users themselves.