2 minute read
RURAL HELP
GRAVEL ROADS ANDINROADS
By Christine Nessler ‘02
When Thad Shunkwiler came to academia from years in a clinical practice, he had one main objective—to address how to support and sustain mental health services in rural Minnesota.
Now, through his role as the Director of the center for Rural Behavioral Health, he is developing real-world solutions to the growing problem of shortages in behavioral health professionals. As a licensed mental health professional, Shunkwiler provided therapy throughout the Mankato region to individuals, couples, and children. He identified a growing need for mental health services combined with shortages counselors in outstate Minnesota. “We’re on the verge of a workforce crisis in behavioral health,” Shunkwiler said.
These shortages come at a time of high turnover rates, a large percent of clinicians reaching the age of retirement and a disproportionate number of clinicians working in the Twin Cities compared to outstate Minnesota.
As a professor in the University’s health science department, Shunkwiler sees a greater opportunity to impact people affected by the clinician shortages in mental health services. “As a clinician practicing, my reach was only to the patients I served. But by training the next generation of clinicians I could reach literally thousands,” Shunkwiler said. The breadth of his impact will continue to increase with the opening of the center, an academic research program opened this fall at the University. Through research, workforce development and continuing education, the center will work to improve access to behavioral healthcare for residents of outstate Minnesota to include recognized reservations. The center’s objectives include recruiting more students to behavioral health programs such as counseling, substance abuse, social work, nursing, and psychology; conducting research that helps patients use telehealth more effectively; and implementing retention strategies to support current clinicians. His next idea is to create the Maverick Community Mental Health center, which would serve the Mankato community with behavioral healthcare as well as providing a training opportunity for students and faculty. Shunkwiler sees the center for Rural Behavioral Health as an opportunity to address the issue nationwide as well by sharing the center’s research. “We’re starting here, helping Minnesota, helping our community, but the goal is to help the country,” Shunkwiler said. “It’s a real unique opportunity for the University to lead the way in that space.” Looking toward the challenging future of the behavioral health workforce, Shunkwiler and a team of 22 faculty members across various programs at the University are dedicated to putting in the hard work of ensuring all Minnesotans have access to behavioral healthcare. “It takes four to eight years to get a behavioral health professional trained, licensed and seeing patients,” Shunkwiler said. “This takes time. If we start the real hard work of building up that behavioral workforce now, it will be less challenging in the future.”
Psychologist and instructor Thad Shunkwiler is heading the new center that will address mental health needs in rural areas of the state. Ideally the model will catch on nationwide.
