Idaho State University INCLUDE II Project Receives $30,000 to Provide Telehealth Services to Rural Idaho Students

In 2020, the College of Arts and Letters received a Distance Learning grant, INCLUDE I, with which it built partnerships with 29 rural high schools, and established a distance learning network. 

INCLUDE I is a College of Arts and Letters initiative that focuses on distance education. INCLUDE II is campus-wide, and builds on the infrastructure provided by INCLUDE I to focus on providing clinical mental and physical health care and education to rural students, and opioid and health education to faculty, parents, and community members.

A long-term outcome of the INCLUDE II project is to help prevent opioid abuse, elevate the overall health of rural students, and decrease suicides. 

Idaho State University is heavily invested in education and medical outreach, with multiple colleges in the university system providing community services across the state and region. INCLUDE II is supported by various departments throughout the university. 

Telehealth services will be supported by faculty and students in the health sciences at ISU. The Master of Social Work Program will educate and train up to four MSW students annually to deliver Telemental Health services to the participating school districts. 

Fredi Giesler, MSW Program Director and Assistant Professor of Social Work at ISU says that “students will use state of the art technology to provide individual and group services to students, teachers, administrators, and parents in these rural school districts.” 

She explains that MSW students will partner with school personnel and other ISU health care providers to offer collaborative and integrated mental health and substance abuse intervention services using telehealth technology. 

Administrative oversight is provided by Kandi Jo Turley-Ames, Founding Dean of the College of Arts and Letters, and Michele R. Brumley, Associate Dean, Social and Behavioral Sciences for the College of Arts and Letters.

The grant was provided by the Steele-Reese Foundation, which focuses on funding projects that help people build healthy, successful, and sustainable communities.