Committee on Rural Health vision and mission

The vision of the APA Committee on Rural Health is to achieve the full and optimal benefit of the science, education, practice, and advocacy of psychology for all rural and remote populations. To this end, the Committee envisions the equal protection and respect of the human rights of all people, including the residents of rural and remote regions, the integration of rural perspectives in APA policy and the removal of barriers to comprehensive health care for rural and remote populations.

The mission of the APA Committee on Rural Health is achieving optimal health and well-being for rural and remote populations by:

• Advocating to ensure availability of behavioral health for rural and remote populations and the parity of behavioral care with physical health services;
  
• Improving the recruitment, retention, distribution and professional supports of psychologists to ensure the adequacy of access to behavioral healthcare services for rural and remote populations;
  
• Disseminating evidence-based behavioral health practices at community levels that address the high prevalence and unique aspects of behavioral health issues in all rural communities;
  
• Encouraging collaborative and interprofessional models of care, that may include traditional and non-traditional healing practices, to reduce behavioral health care stigma and to meet the diverse multicultural and linguistic needs of rural and remote populations, respecting diverse and intersecting identities;
  
• Promoting and participating in technological innovations in behavioral health care delivery in order to improve access, to facilitate consultation services, and to increase training opportunities, for rural and remote providers and consumers;
  
• Encouraging APA and state, territorial, and provincial initiatives to acquire prescriptive authority for properly trained psychologists to provide a full range of behavioral health care to rural and remote populations; and
  
• Contributing to a culture of civility and professionalism that holds central to the protection of human rights.