Current Center Projects
Tough Call Protocol and Resilient Responders Program
Principal Investigator: Tracie Rutherford Self - College of Education
Minnesota Mental Health Professional Licensure Study
Principal Investigator: Roy Kammer - Department of Health Science and Center Affiliated Faculty
Co-Investigators: Amherst Wilder Foundation Research
MDH Health Professionals Clinical Training Expansion Grant - Embedding Behavioral Health: Expanding Rural Clinical Training and Access to Care
Principal Investigator: Darcie Davis-Gage
Rural communities across Minnesota continue to face a growing mental health workforce crisis, marked by persistent shortages of licensed behavioral health professionals, long waitlists for care, and limited access to integrated behavioral health services. Windom Hospital and Healthcare, a critical access hospital serving a largely rural population, exemplifies this challenge: despite maintaining a psychiatric nurse practitioner on site, the organization only has a half-time therapist position, significantly limiting mental health service capacity in the region.
The project seeks to expand the reach of the Rural Behavioral Health Clinic and expose trainees to an integrated system in rural Minnesota. We recently partnered with Windom Hospital and Healthcare to establish a clinical training site at their mental health walk in clinic. They currently have a psychiatric nurse practitioner on site, but their therapist resigned last year, and they have not been able to fill the position. This program will help in three ways. First student interns will be able to provide much needed mental health services under the clinical supervision of one of the licensed clinicians from the Rural Behavioral Health Clinic. Second, students will be able to learn and gain experience in integrated behavioral health located within a primary care model. Lastly, the hospital will benefit from having multiple students exposed to their setting and have an opportunity to recruit these students for some of their full-time openings in behavioral health.
Funding for this project is being provided through the MDH FY26 Healthcare Health Professional Clinical Expansion Grant Program.
For more information contact Darcie Davis-Gage at darcie.davisgage@mnsu.edu
Upper Midwest Agricultural Safety and Health Center (UMASH) - Crisis Incident Stress Management (CISM) Group for Rural Agricultural Communities Following Farm Accidents
Principal Investigator: Darcie Davis-Gage
Agricultural communities in the Upper Midwest experience disproportionately high rates of farm-related accidents, which often result in trauma for farmers, farm workers, individuals working in agribusinesses, emergency responders, healthcare staff and community members. Despite the severity of these incidents, rural areas frequently lack access to evidence-based crisis responses regarding these accidents and incidents that support emotional recovery. This gap in care affects both individual well-being and community resilience.
This project consists of training an interdisciplinary team of mental health professionals and students, agricultural advocates, and community leaders in rural communities. The purpose of this team will be to provide care to the agricultural communities after farming and agricultural accidents and incidents of traumatic events within the agribusinesses and agricultural adjacent activities in rural communities. This team will respond to these events using evidence-based crisis responses for individuals and groups tailored to the needs of these communities.
The project addresses a critical gap in rural behavioral health by offering structured group debriefings to individuals impacted by agricultural accidents, farmers, families, community leaders, volunteer first responders, and ER staff, who often face trauma without adequate support. It is a collaboration between the Minnesota Department of Agriculture, South Central Minnesota EMS Regional System CISM team, and the Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota Center for Rural Behavioral Health at Minnesota State University, Mankato.
Funding for this project is being provided through a grant from Upper Midwest Agricultural Safety and Health Center (UMASH).
For more information contact Darcie Davis-Gage at darcie.davisgage@mnsu.edu
Published Center Projects
Identifying Bottlenecks and Roadblocks in the Rural Mental Health Career Pipeline
Completed in collaboration with the Center for Rural Policy and Development
Authors: Marnie Werner, VP Research- Center for Rural Policy and Development, Thad Shunkwiler, Director- Center for Rural Behavioral Health, Tracie Rutherford Self- Center Affiliated Faculty
February 2023
Retaining Rural Healthcare Professionals: Strategies to Reduce Burnout
Completed in collaboration with the National Rural Health Association's Rural Health Fellows Program
Authors: Thad Shunkwiler, Director- Center for Rural Behavioral Health, Victoria Reid, Michael Seward
