The National Association for Rural Mental Health (NARMH) is a professional organization that serves the field of rural mental health. NARMH is composed of organizations and individuals from across the United States (including Alaska and Hawaii) and a few foreign countries. NARMH’s membership includes the entire spectrum of the rural mental health community: consumers, family members, practitioners, administrators, educators, researchers, policy makers, and the general public. A unifying force for NARMH has been a focus on rural which includes a commitment to rural people and those that serve them. This belief that rural comes first has allowed NARMH to concentrate its efforts to improve access, availability, acceptability of mental health and substance abuse services and research in rural and frontier areas. NARMH, since its inception, has had a strong commitment to rural people and rural providers. This commitment has allowed NARMH to be focused on what it takes to provide quality services and meaningful research for rural consumers and providers alike. NARMH also has several core functions that include:
*Supplying high quality training opportunities for members and non-members through our annual conferences,
*Serving as an advocate for members and rural consumers,
*Articulating policy recommendations to improve accessibility, availability, and acceptability of mental health services,
*Providing a forum for practitioners, researchers and consumers to network and dialogue,
*Disseminating best practices and rsearch finds through our publication (Rural Mental Health) and through the website and social networking platforms,
*Offering leadership opportunities for the next generation of rural providers and researchers
