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WVU Professor Discusses Mental Health Resources For Rural Communities

Youth in rural communities are just as likely to exhibit risky behaviors as their urban and suburban peers, but may have less access to help.

Youth in rural communities are just as likely to exhibit risky behaviors as their urban and suburban peers but may have less access to help.

Kristine Ramsay-Seaner, West Virginia University assistant professor of counseling, spoke with reporter Chris Schulz about a coalition developing resources to change that nationwide.

This interview was edited for length and clarity.

Schulz: What constitutes risky behavior?

Ramsay-Seaner: Risky behavior can be such a broad term. When we typically think of risky behaviors, I do think our minds go to substance use. But what we are talking about, we’re trying to expand risky behaviors to behaviors that really do just put youth at risk. Whether that’s using pornography at a really early age or engaging in what’s known in the counseling field as non-suicidal self-injury, but we often refer to as self-harm. We even plan to talk about mental health. Mental health, in and of itself, is not a risky behavior. But there are risky behaviors that can go along with mental health, you know, whether that’s, again, the self-harm you may see going along with something like anxiety and depression, or even self-medicating.

Schulz: Can you tell me about the particular or unique need for addressing this issue in rural communities?

Ramsay-Seaner: Rural communities often struggle with being underserved. In a rural community, they may be sharing their 4-H agent with another county. They might even be sharing their school counselor with another school. And what that means is youth development professionals who work in rural communities, they see a lot, and they’re often asked to respond to a lot, but often due to the rurality, they may not be able to go to the same conferences, the same workshops. They may not be getting the same level of support, they may not even have the same amount of peers to consult with. So when we see these risky behaviors happening in rural communities, they often can just carry higher risk, in the sense of maybe this individual does need to be hospitalized, or needs to at least be evaluated for hospitalization, but the closest hospital could be a significant distance away. And I’m a youth development professional who wasn’t even trained in identifying suicidal behavior, or while I was trained to identify it, it’s very different to be trained and now to practice it.

So when we think about youth living in rural communities, they’re going to spend often, potentially more time online, because right, that’s where we can connect with people, that’s where we can reach out with people. But we may also just feel more isolated in our problems, because we may not feel like we have the same outlets to go to, that our urban peers have. And just for reference, nationally, we have just a significant mental health shortage. But in particular, we have a youth mental health provider shortage. All over the country, youth are existing on these wait lists just trying to get providers to see them. And there’s that’s no more relevant than in rural communities.

Schulz: Can you tell me a little bit about the collaboration between WVU and I believe it was Georgia and the Dakotas?

Ramsay-Seaner: Transparently, I moved to West Virginia University from South Dakota State University about a year ago. In terms of the University of Georgia, my colleague down there, whose name is Dr. Amanda Giordano, she’s also a counselor educator. And Dr. Giordano has done, actually, a lot of work in what we call process addictions or behavioral addictions. As opposed to substances, these are behaviors, think about like gambling. Dr. Giordano and I will bring the more mental health provider knowledge as two people who have been trained to be clinicians. And then in terms of South Dakota State University and North Dakota State University, they’re really bringing that adolescent piece, that extension piece, and that youth development professional piece. We’re putting together this knowledge of, I know what it means to train counselors, and you know what it means to either be a youth development professional or train a youth development professional. How can we all work together to make sure that this training meets the needs of a wide variety of providers who exist in these rural communities?

Schulz: Why is it so important to focus these resources on younger people?

Ramsay-Seaner: I think about what research shows is that early intervention prevention is really beneficial to long term prognosis. The earlier we can respond, the earlier we can provide services. Again, maybe we can even prevent some of these behaviors, or we can prevent them before they maybe increase in severity and concern. So if I can step in and sort of help you at 16, maybe I’m providing you with some of the skills and knowledge and some of the foundational pieces to help you so that when you’re 18 and you go away to college, maybe you are just more aware of binge drinking. Again. It’s not to say that an individual is not going to binge drink, but maybe now they understand even safer ways, if you are going to engage in some of these behaviors, how can I engage in them as safely as possible? That’s why we call it safety first, we really think about safety skills.

Schulz: What kind of resources are you developing? I know that you’ve discussed training, but what exactly are the resources that you’re developing?

Ramsay-Seaner: One of the things that we’re developing is a podcast, and Dr. Amanda Giordano is actually going to take the lead on that. The podcasts are going to be about 30-minute episodes, and they will focus on how to respond to some of these behaviors, with expert feedback included. So Dr. Giordano plans to interview a wide variety of individuals related to some of the things that we’re going to talk about in our training. One of the places she’s identified is she really hopes to talk to someone from the FBI related to sextortion.

And then the training that we will actually develop will involve sort of a foundational overview of everything. It’s two hours. Maybe it’s the only one that you get to go to, but it provides you maybe just a wide variety of foundational information. And then we’ll have a training that’s focused specifically more on what we’re calling health risks, and then one that we are focused more on digital risks. And then the final piece that we’re really excited about is developing a training that provides just more skills. So like, yes, now you’ve learned about this. How do you actually respond to this? What’s the right way to ask some of these questions? What are things that we want to avoid? How do we get more comfortable as the individuals who often are being asked to respond to things that we maybe even weren’t trained in?

Think about the responsibilities placed on youth development professionals are just increasing as society changes, right? I’m of the “Truth” generation. I really remember those anti-smoking campaigns. But we were talking about vaping, and now we’re talking about Zyns (nicotine pouches). So these things are changing so rapidly. How do we prepare you to respond to some of these things that you’ve maybe even never thought of before?

Schulz: If there’s anything that I haven’t given you a chance to discuss with me, or something that we have discussed that you’d like to highlight, please do so now.

Ramsay-Seaner: I think that it’s really important to provide more universal based trainings. And what I mean by that is a training that doesn’t target just a certain population. So we’re not just thinking about the kids who are already doing in-school suspension, or we’re not just thinking about the kids who maybe are involved in a juvenile drug court. We really want to think about all kids, and that’s why we really want to train a wide variety of youth development professionals and even potentially caregivers, because risky behaviors are not unique to one group.

If you use the internet, the reality is risky behaviors then exist, whether it’s even the fact that youth are often targeted for scams And I think you made this point of, so much of what we’re talking about is not just behaviors that youth could fall into, or youth could be at risk for. But the reality is, we as adults, I think, are sometimes prepared differently than we prepare youth, because we’re often caught off guard that youth are even experiencing some of these things. So we’re really excited to hopefully help professionals just feel like I feel a little bit more confident in doing this job. I feel a little bit more confident in serving the youth that I’m serving in my community.

Addressing Risky Behavior And The Logistics Of Search & Rescue, This West Virginia Morning

On this West Virginia Morning, mental health resources for rural communities and what it takes to pull off wilderness rescues.

On this West Virginia Morning, a hiker was rescued earlier this month after going missing in Kentucky’s Red River Gorge for two weeks. Shepherd Snyder has more on what it takes to pull off these rescues.

Also, young people in rural communities are just as likely to exhibit risky behaviors as their urban and suburban peers but may have less access to help. West Virginia University is part of a coalition developing resources to change that nationwide.

West Virginia Morning is a production of West Virginia Public Broadcasting, which is solely responsible for its content.

Support for our news bureaus comes from Shepherd University and Marshall University School of Journalism and Mass Communications.

Maria Young produced this episode.

Listen to West Virginia Morning weekdays at 7:43 a.m. on WVPB Radio or subscribe to the podcast and never miss an episode. #WVMorning

New Microcredentials Being Offered For Educators

Applications are now being accepted for a new West Virginia University microcredential program designed to boost support for state educators and their students via an innovative teaching method.

Microcredentials are a series of short courses that certify knowledge in a particular area.

The program teaches the Competent Learner Model, a teaching framework that enhances learning outcomes for all students — especially those with learning and behavioral challenges.

Claire St. Peter, chair of the Department of Psychology at WVU said the framework is particularly useful for educators in West Virginia where attrition and burnout have led to teacher shortages.

“Whenever we can, we need to push more resources into our education systems so teachers feel supported and have a strong sense of how to make their students successful in the learning environment,” St. Peter said.

Each microcredential takes about a semester to earn.

WVU faculty, staff and students interested in pursuing the CLM credential can find more information through WVU Badges. Professionals outside the WVU network can register through the new WVU Mountaineer Micro Academy.

WVU Developing Resources To Prevent Risky Behaviors In Youth

Youth in rural communities are just as likely to exhibit risky behaviors as their urban and suburban peers, but may have less access to help. A coalition of universities is developing resources to change that nationwide.

Youth in rural communities are just as likely to exhibit risky behaviors as their urban and suburban peers but may have less access to help. A coalition of universities is developing resources to change that nationwide.

The West Virginia University College of Applied Human Sciences will oversee the development of training and other resources to prevent risky behaviors, like substance abuse and self-harm, among rural youth. WVU is working in collaboration with the University of Georgia, South Dakota State University and North Dakota State University.

Kristine Ramsay-Seaner, an assistant professor of counseling at WVU, said early intervention can be key to ensuring access to resources and stopping harmful behaviors, especially in rural communities with limited resources.

“Maybe we can even prevent some of these behaviors, or we can prevent them before they maybe increase in severity and concern,” she said.

Ramsay-Seaner said youth development professionals will benefit from these resources amidst a broader mental health shortage and ever-shifting societal changes.

“In particular, we have a youth mental health provider shortage,” she said. “All over the country, youth are existing on these wait lists just trying to get providers to see them. And that’s no more relevant than in rural communities.”

WVU Student Looks At Return Of State Film Office

As part of his capstone project Max Bruce, a recent graduate from West Virginia University, took a look at the effects of the state’s new film office on the state’s burgeoning entertainment industry.

The West Virginia Film Office has had a bumpy ride to get to where it is today.

As part of his capstone project Max Bruce, a recent graduate from West Virginia University (WVU), took a look at the new film office’s effect on the state’s burgeoning entertainment industry. He spoke with Chris Schulz about his reporting, which you can read here.

This interview was edited for length and clarity.

Schulz: What is the film office?

Bruce: The film office is an organization set up by the government under the Department of Economic Development. It acts as an all encompassing resource for filmmakers and creatives in the state to get films, music videos, TV shows and anything in a visual medium created and supported.

Schulz: What attracted you to report on this office and their work?

Bruce: For me, it was because originally I shifted into media from civil engineering in college. I wanted to get more involved in media and make people laugh and do something creative. Unfortunately, we didn’t have a film program at WVU, so the closest I could get was working with media, working with camera equipment, editing software, took me down the route of journalism. My professor brought up the idea when I was scratching my head for topics for this. And it just made sense as someone who had such a passion for film growing up to bring it back around and do this ultimately, really, really fun project.

Schulz: The film office has kind of had a bumpy road to get to where they are today. The West Virginia Legislature approved them and then unapproved them and then re-approved them recently. Can you tell us a little bit about that process?

Bruce: The original film office was dissolved actually by the legislature in 2018. They didn’t see it as bringing in sufficient economic gains, apparently, they were minimal. The tax credits were capped instead of being uncapped, and the benefits that they were seeing were not substantive enough to warrant keeping them around. So there was a vote in both the House and the Senate. They dissolved it, they brought it back four years later in 2022. That passed overwhelmingly with major sweeping changes and they’ve been on fire ever since, they’ve just been on a roll, doing some really great stuff. Really, really good people over there.

Schulz: Can you tell me a little bit about how the film office is actually making these changes to foment a film industry here in the Mountain State?

Bruce: Some of the major changes, like I mentioned, we now have really, really robust tax credits. You can get up to 27 percent back on major productions if there are over a certain amount, I believe the amount is $50,000. And that is uncapped. So we will be able to provide you with more services that are available. Plus, there’s an additional 4 percent that you can get back totaling up to 31 percent total if you have a certain amount of crew members that are from Appalachia, and are from the region.

Schulz: How is the film office helping people who are working in this industry? If I understand correctly, you hope to be one of them. How are they being helped?

Bruce: You’re very much correct. And I do hope to be one of them. The film office has actually been doing some really interesting things by creating a service on their website, a catalog of sorts, of people working in the industry. Say, for example, you’re working on a production and you need another accountant or you need a grip or something along those lines, there’s actually a resource that people can go through, that are in the process of making productions, are in the very early stages of productions, and find those people and match them. So it’s a good way of connecting local West Virginians, and Appalachians, for that matter, to productions and allowing them to expand and work on these productions. It’s a phenomenal resource, and it’s surprisingly robust as well.

Schulz: Tell me a little bit about some of the people that you spoke with for this story, who are the filmmakers in West Virginia?

Bruce: There’s quite a few really cool people that I had the pleasure of talking to. Obviously I spoke to a gentleman over at the film office who’s spearheading this endeavor. His name is Dave Lavender. Everyone I talked to in my reporting had told me like, ‘You need to talk to Dave, you need to talk to him.’ Yeah, after speaking with him, he is the coolest guy you could possibly talk to, and he’s exactly the kind of person you want. Just really passionate about films in West Virginia and getting things done. He’s a real, ‘Yeah, let’s do it. Let’s have some fun. Let’s get this taken care of’ kind of guy.

I spoke with Tijah Bumgarner, who is a professor now at Marshall University. She grew up in West Virginia, and moved out to California at a certain point to pursue a career in film, bounced around for a tiny bit and then settled back down. She is now creating, or helping to create with the film office, the first filmmaking program in the state of West Virginia at Marshall University.

[Joe Stretchay’s] not quite in West Virginia anymore, he’ll come back and work on productions, but one of the other people I spoke to that really stuck out to me was Stretchay, who is legally blind. He’s been a consultant for film and TV in different projects. His most recent project was working on the Apple TV series See, with Jason Momoa. But he’s also famous as being the coordinator for Charlie Cox on the Netflix series Daredevil. He told me that, ‘Yeah, unfortunately, I didn’t get to do a lot of fun stuff with punching and fighting in the Daredevil stuff. But I helped Matt Murdock move around and brought that character to life.’ He said it was a great experience. He’s a wonderful fellow as well. He’s based out of New York now, I believe.

Schulz: What exactly is the timeline for seeing some progress and maybe some productions here in the state?

Bruce: I think the big thing to acknowledge is that there’s already productions that are happening, I don’t think that ever went away. A lot of it is fostering the current crop of people that are in the state, but then also bring people in from outside. It’s not quite that productions haven’t been going on, we’ve seen that they’ve happened in the past, and there’s been a steady stream. It’s just, unfortunately, not as widely publicized. You’ll see actors all the time from all over the state and all over the region. I mean, I was watching Mad Men a couple of nights ago, and I saw one of the guys on there, I pulled his IMDB page, and he was from Huntington, West Virginia. The guy who played Cole Phelps, in the video game LA Noire. He was from Huntington. So you see it all the time, you just don’t realize it. I mean, we know the famous ones. We know the really prolific people like Don Knotts and Jennifer Garner, and so on. But it’s more common than you think, it just takes a sort of trained eye to look for it.

Schulz: What has your reporting told you about the future of film in West Virginia?

Bruce: That it seems incredibly bright. It seems like we’re moving in a very good direction. Anecdotally, I’ve heard from a lot of the people I interviewed and talked with that they’re interested in coming around here. They’re interested in seeing what we can do and making more films. There’s been Lifetime movies that have been filmed here. There’s been a couple actually, music videos are still popping up. There’s a lot of buzz and interest in it, especially because of how competitive the tax credits are, but also how versatile the state is. There’s a beauty to it. That’s, I feel like in some cases, overshadowed for the stereotypes of West Virginia that I don’t want to even mention because everyone’s already rolling their eyes.

Schulz: Is there anything that I haven’t given you an opportunity to discuss about your reporting about this industry? Or something that you’d like to highlight that we already discussed?

Bruce: Yeah, again, I want to make it clear that the main takeaway I wanted from this is that the industry in West Virginia is very hopeful. And for someone growing up, regardless of where you are, regardless of what part of the state you’re in, or even that you’re from West Virginia in general, there are opportunities for you to be creative, there are opportunities for you to be successful. And there’s opportunities to tell the stories you didn’t think would ever get told, like your stories and people that are like you.

It’s an amazing time to be a filmmaker in West Virginia and to be a creative in this state. And I only see that flourishing as time goes on. I only see that growing more and more as people start coming towards the state and as we revitalize the industry here. I mean, towns in Georgia when The Walking Dead were coming on blew up overnight by being tourist attractions and bringing money and people into the state and bringing more attention to it. And I think given enough time and given certain productions and given the strong backbone that the industry has now, I can see that easily happening.

Marshall, WVU Receive Funding To Support Student Success

The National Science Foundation has awarded West Virginia’s two largest universities funds to improve student success.

The National Science Foundation has awarded West Virginia’s two largest universities $656,814 for research initiatives to improve student success.

Marshall University will receive $352,310 for a ten-week interactive research program to engage STEM students with career workshops and hands-on learning opportunities.

The rest of the funds -$304,504 – will support research at West Virginia University to assess obstacles faced by socioeconomically disadvantaged graduate students and the effect that these disadvantages have on student retention.

The National Science Foundation was established in 1950 by Congress to promote the progress of science and according to their website, their grants account for about 25 percent of federal support to America’s colleges and universities for basic research.