The Colorado AgrAbility Project has had a busy summer! Ashley Buchanan, CAP's rural rehabilitation specialist, is back from maternity leave and has met with 20 clients and opened 9 new cases in the last three months. She also received an iBot training and gained hands-on experience with the new mobility device. Ashley is excited to offer this as an option to clients in need of mobility support. Natalie Bachmeier (AgrAbility coordinator) and Ashley spent the day at the Colorado State Fair on Friday, August 23rd to promote AgrAbility and CSU Extension resources. They are now getting ready and for Winter Workshops.
CAP's behavioral health specialists have been busy providing trainings and support for mental health across rural Colorado. Jim Kummerle, eastern region behavioral health specialist, received funding from the Boetcher Foundation to create an eastern Colorado strategic plan to address behavioral health workforce shortages; and Kirsten Wulfsberg, mountain region behavioral health specialist, provided an art therapy workshop to rural female veterans. Watch a brief video about this event here!
Colorado AgrAbility CSU campus-based faculty Melissa Fenton, Ph.D., and Paula Yuma, Ph.D., recently completed a comprehensive needs assessment with over 300 rural-serving behavioral health providers. This assessment included a survey and three focus groups aimed at understanding the specific needs and challenges faced by these professionals. The survey received an outstanding response, meeting the target of 300 responses within just 24 hours. Additionally, focus groups were conducted in Morgan, Chaffee, and Mesa counties, engaging 17 rural behavioral health providers in in-depth listening sessions. The valuable information gathered from this assessment will inform AgrAbility's dissemination of future training programs tailored to the needs of behavioral health providers serving rural communities.
Submitted by Natalie Bachmeier