Rural Behavioral Health Institute
Rural Behavioral Health Institute (RBHI) supports rural American youth struggling with mental health conditions who lack access to the care they need. Their program identifies students facing mental health challenges and connects them to same-day support, along with ongoing care navigation. RBHI solves the access barriers rural youth face by providing support where they already are: at school. Since piloting in 2021, RBHI has served more than 61,000 students across Montana, Georgia, Illinois, and Oregon, resulting in a threefold year-over-year reduction in suicidality.
The Problem
Rural youth in America are experiencing a mental health crisis. Over 2 million children and teens in rural areas struggle with treatable mental health conditions, yet fewer than half receive the care they need. Suicide, the second leading cause of death for rural youth, occurs at a rate 61% higher than that of their urban peers. In states like Montana, where youth suicide rates are more than triple the national average, severe provider shortages and long travel distances leave families without support. This is not just a crisis of access — it’s a matter of impaired life trajectories and lives lost. Millions of rural children are being left behind.
The Solution
Rural Behavioral Health Institute offers a transformative solution to the rural youth mental health crisis by addressing critical gaps in care delivery and workforce shortages. Designed for rural communities, their fully virtual Screening Linked to Care (SLTC) program delivers bi-annual universal mental health screenings, same-day care for high-risk students, care navigation support, targeted violence prevention, and short-term psychiatric services right to students at their schools. RBHI’s comprehensive approach ensures that no child or adolescent will have to suffer the dire consequences of untreated mental health conditions because of geography.
Since 2021, RBHI has rapidly scaled to more than 150 schools across 71% of Montana’s counties, serving over 18,000 students in the 2024-2025 academic year. RBHI is piloting similar programs in Illinois and Georgia, with plans to expand to rural regions of other states. By combining an innovative care delivery model with school-driven program development, RBHI is poised to change the landscape of mental health care for rural and youth and screen over 150,000 students annually by 2028.
Impact
- In just 4 years, RBHI has delivered over 61,000 screenings in 150 rural schools across Montana, Georgia, Illinois, and Oregon.
- Same-day care was provided to more than 4,000 students with elevated suicide risk.
- Among repeat SLTC student participants, new suicidality rates have decreased more than threefold annually.
- Severe depression and anxiety symptoms, risk factors for suicide, have dropped over 29% year-over-year.
Leadership
Janet Lindow
Janet, co-founder and CEO, is dedicated to improving healthcare in rural America. With a diverse background, including a PhD in Biology from MIT and two postdoctoral fellowships studying infectious diseases in the US and abroad, she brings over a decade of hands-on expertise in mental health interventions and innovative healthcare delivery to RBHI. She has served as junior faculty at Yale, worked in Botswana and Brazil, and is currently a Volunteer Associate Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Kansas Medical Center.