Global Collaboration for Rural Mental Health
About Us
The Global Collaboration for Rural Mental Health (GCfRMH) is a membership network open to anyone with an interest in mental health and wellbeing within remote and rural areas.
GCfRMH was launched in August 2019 in Inverness, Scotland, by its founding members: the University of the Highlands and Islands (UHI), the Scottish Rural Health Partnership (SRHP), and Texas A&M University-Kingsville (TAMUK).
The purpose of GCfRMH is to provide an international platform for research, advocacy, and collaboration in the field of rural mental health and wellbeing.
We have five overarching objectives.
Objectives
Identifying global needs. To identify and highlight mental health needs in rural and remote areas across the globe.
Collaboration. To encourage and emphasise international collaboration while assessing the need for comparative work on rural mental health, encompassing notions of definition, differentiation of experience, services and access, migration, culture, stigma, and rural experience.
Advocacy. To advocate for the mental health of rural and remote populations across the globe as well as accentuate and safeguard human dignity for rural populations.
What works? For whom? Where? Why? To define and determine efficacious practice that can be modelled on an international scale while maintaining sensitivity toward cultural diversity.
Evidence & tools for local, regional, national & international policy & practice. To establish an international forum through conferences and publications which will serve as an educative tool and inform governmental policies on mental health issues within rural/remote populations and communities worldwide.
Second International Rural Mental Health Conference
Venue: Texas A&M University, Kingsville, USA.
Dates: February 23rd and 24th 2023.
Hosted by the Global Collaboration for Rural Mental Health, in partnership with Texas A&M University, Kingsville and the University of the Highlands and Islands (Scotland), this year's conference is on the theme of rural mental health - supporting rural communities post-pandemic.
Join us for a series of plenary speakers and breakout sessions. We will be welcoming rural community experts, scholars and mental health professionals from across the globe.
To submit an application for poster or oral presentation, please complete this form: https://forms.gle/78XynBP1huTxufgF9
The call for proposals is open until 31st December, 2022. Successful applicants will be notified by 13th January 2023. All successful applicants must register for the conference.
To register for the conference, please use this Eventbrite link: The Global Collaboration for Rural Mental Health Conference Tickets, Thu, Feb 23, 2023 at 9:00 AM | Eventbrite
Overview of Programme
Day One: Plenary presentations from Dr. Steve Bain, Director of TAMUK Institute for Mental Health Initiatives; Prof. Sarah-Anne Munoz, Professor of Rural Health, UHI and others. Break-out sessions on student work; trauma informed care in the rural context; rural child and adolescent mental health; and technology and remote delivery.
Day Two: Plenary presentations; break-out sessions on underserved and minority populations; community and non-clinical interventions; agricultural families and communities; rural mental health in the global south.
Travel: the nearest international airport is Corpus Christi, Texas.
Accommodation: local hotel options will be given.
Join us
Organisational Membership: £30 per annum. As an organisational member, you will be listed on our website as a supporter of the GCRMH. You will have advance notice of our conference themes, call for papers and opportunities for sponsorship. You will be entitled to nominate one member of your organisation for election to sit on the secretariat and one person to sit on the advisory committee (the first open elections for these posts were held in February 2021). GCRMH Organisation application
Individual Membership: £15 per annum (£10 if you work or volunteer for an organisation that is already a member) As a member, you will receive free access to our webinar series on rural mental health and our newsletter. GCRMH Personal application
Please complete a membership form and return to gcfrmh@uhi.ac.uk. You will then be given a code to complete payment via the UHI website.