This document reports on the findings of a project to understand issues in mental and substance use disorder services in rural areas. It covers barriers to mental health and substance use disorder service delivery, model programs and policy strategies, and the roles of telehealth and state and local organizations in service delivery in rural communities.

This report describes a study to identify promising practices for rural mental health and substance use-related programs across the United States. The report explains the importance of promising practices, defines and describes promising practices, and presents in Appendix C the programs included in the study.

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, many services offered to people who use drugs moved to a telehealth model. The National Council for Mental Wellbeing developed a resource with five strategies on how to continue to provide services in this environment.