Pandemic brings accessible mental health care to rural Texas

The COVID‐19 pandemic has created widespread fear and economic anxiety across Texas, and mental health experts and advocates say rural areas — which already had fewer providers and higher rates of suicide and drug overdoses — could see more severe mental health impacts than the state's urban areas. They are predicting a lingering wave of trauma and depression even after the pandemic's immediate effects recede and lockdowns lift, the Fort Worth Business Press reported June 9. “There's a lot of bad things happening right now because of COVID‐19,” said Andy Keller, president and CEO of the Texas‐based Meadows Mental Health Policy Institute. “But in some ways, people in rural Texas have better access to health care than they'd ever had before. All the barriers to them accessing physicians across the state have been lifted.” In April, Gov. Greg Abbott temporarily waived restrictions on telehealth, allowing mental health care providers and local mental health authorities to broadly expand services and collect reimbursement for online appointments more easily. The state also implemented a mental health hotline in March that offers free over‐the‐phone support and provides resources and information to callers who need help.