Supporting the Behavioral Health System in Rural New Mexico

The Center for Rural and Community Behavioral Health or CRCBH is part of UNM Health Sciences Center's Department of Psychiatry.  It partners with communities, state agencies, and other UNMHSC departments---including important collaborations with the Institute for Community Health Sciences---in providing community-oriented psychiatric and behavioral health services, systems consultation, services research, and workforce development and training throughout New Mexico.

 Native American Behavioral Health training activities work to create a culturally informed behavioral health system and culturally competent providers who are prepared to work in tribal communities.  Technical assistance activities focus on collaborating with tribes to identify behavioral health strengths and needs and to assist in service development and expansion through grant writing and evaluation. Direct clinical services are also provided through the Center's collaboration with IHS and tribal entities.

 CRCBH provides multiple training opportunities for providers, students and community members from a variety of professions including psychiatry, psychology, and social work. The program includes clinical rotations in rural and underserved communities as well as training in topics including public behavioral health system and policy development, services research, and culturally competent service provision.

 CRCBH is also part of the Consortium for Behavioral Health Training and Research which is a partnership between New Mexico colleges and universities, the Department of Higher Education and the State's Behavioral Health Purchasing Collaborative that strives to improve behavioral health services in New Mexico through training, evaluation and research.

 Telebehavioral Health programs not only provide direct clinical services in adult, child, adolescent and addictions psychiatry, but also provide consultation to primary care and behavioral health providers working in rural federally qualified health centers and school based health centers.

 Research and evaluation efforts focus on many important issues facing the state including access to care, health disparities, and service expansion.

 All of our programs aim to facilitate collaborative efforts between consumers, families, providers, educators, and other community members to develop projects that enhance our community's health.  In this, we see our work as offering important and meaningful contributions to the realization of Vision2020's goals. We look forward to letting you know more about us in future editions of the Vision2020 Newsletter!