With the help of community and industry partners, and federal grants, Idaho State University is using advanced distance learning technology to bring both higher education and mental health care to rural high school students and communities statewide.
Through ISU’s INCLUDE project, students in 28 rural school districts across Idaho have access to dual enrollment University classes previously only available to students who lived close to Idaho State’s campuses. Using both federal grant money and funding from organizations such as Direct Communications and Bayer Technologies, state-of-the-art technology was installed at the schools, allowing students to take courses and interact, in real-time, with in-person college students and professors. The program has grown from 12 students in 2017 to 245 students who completed 556 classes during the 2023-2024 school year.
Today, Idaho State is using the same technology to help provide mental health care to some of Idaho’s most underserved areas. The newest project, INCLUDE II, focuses on providing mental telehealth services and health education to nearly 10,000 high school students in rural areas, along with educators and residents in each community, particularly addressing opioid and substance use, and suicide prevention in rural areas facing economic challenges and high unemployment.
“ISU is developing relationships with rural high schools,” said College of Arts and Letters Dean, Kandi Turley Ames. “Together we can prepare Idaho’s youth for college, and with local high schools, support Idaho’s desire to increase the go-on rate. We are passionate about increasing student confidence and access to education for these young people, building a path to a brighter future.”
INCLUDE is among many ISU programs designed to improve mental health outcomes for Idahoans.
INCLUDE maintains a map of locations throughout Idaho