Problems Faced By Consumers Of Mental Health Services Out In A Frontier Community

While there is considerable information about how consumers of mental health services in rural areas cope with stigma, feelings of isolation, lack of relevant services, and the trauma of having a mental illness, little is known about such issues for consumers who live in frontier areas. Also little is known for frontier consumers about the role of work, the importance of hope, self-control of psychotic mechanisms, and emerging recovery paradigms. Bases on a focus group of nine consumers, two of which were case managers in a frontier areas of a western state, information about these problems in frontier areas are explicated. In addition, problems related to distances, lack of transportation, lack of caregiver choice, overlapping roles in the community, lack of any anonymity, lack of peer consumer groups, and scarcity of work opportunities in frontier areas are explored.