Recruiting, Training, and Sustaining Rural Mental Health Therapist

The purpose of this dissertation is to explore what is necessary to recruit and maintain well-trained therapists to work in rural areas from the experiences of the rural therapists themselves. The need to attract and maintain competent therapists for rural areas of America is not a new issue. However, much previous research focused on the client and the community. Researchers have yet to understand the perspective of the rural therapist in order to gain a more detailed description of their lived experiences working in a rural area. The present phenomenological study involved the lived experiences and perspectives of therapists who work in rural areas. There were two methods of data collection used for this study. The first was an Internet questionnaire that allowed therapists in rural areas to describe their experiences. The second method utilized detailed personal interviews of 10 rural therapists, expanding on information gained from the questionnaires. Data from the questionnaires and interviews were reviewed for content, broken down to significant statements, then compared and reduced down to emerging themes of both professional and personal life. The three prominent themes were the need to truly understand rural culture, the awareness of vast travel distances involved, and the effects of isolation from urban areas. This study is an important contribution to the existing literature and enhances social change initiatives by providing information about the unique experiences of rural therapists and what they feel is needed to recruit, maintain, and sustain them. It offers the profession insights into how to build on rural therapists' expertise, and support this often overlooked and misunderstood segment of the therapist population.