APA began paying closer attention to rural issues in the 1980s. At the time, Michael Enright, PhD, a private practitioner in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, was working with APA on Capitol Hill to advocate for psychologists' ability to gain hospital privileges — a strong need in rural states, where mental health practitioners are few and physicians are not necessarily trained in mental health issues. His state representatives welcomed his input, and Enright forged a quick bond with then-Republican minority whip Sen. Alan Simpson, of Wyoming.
That synergy led them to work together on broader issues, including enabling psychologists to participate in the National Health Service Corps, the federal program that supports health-care providers in rural or other underserved areas.
APA built on this work by launching a task force to study how psychology and behavioral health could play more prominent roles in rural health. Among the achievements was the creation of a training curriculum to help psychologists and others gain expertise in rural care.
A second push for rural psychology came in the early 2000s when APA established the permanent Committee on Rural Health. To better connect APA members who worked in rural areas, the committee appointed rural health coordinators to develop relationships with agencies, programs and institutions in their local communities and regions. About 30 state and provincial associations agreed to create these roles, and the rural committee rapidly launched a listserv that allowed members to feed information to the new advocacy volunteers.
"All of a sudden there was this new framework for rural health interest stuff going on, for connecting people who knew each other and supported each other," says Rick McGraw, PhD, a former rural health committee chair.
The network turned into a pipeline for rural psychology leadership, and today, both McGraw and another former committee chair, Diana L. Prescott, PhD, of Hamden, Maine, sit on the APA Board of Directors, where they keep APA's rural constituency informed about relevant activities, issues and actions.
— Tori DeAngelis