Developing an Intergroup Dialogue Curriculum to Improve Mental Health System Capacity for Farmers and Agricultural Communities

The purpose of this study is to present the development of an intergroup dialogue curriculum for faith leaders and behavioral health providers to expand rural behavioral health care systems. The Clergy Outreach and Professional Engagement model and intergroup dialogue technique formed the basis of the curriculum. A discussion of the adaptation of an intergroup dialogue intervention developed for use in rural communities is presented. The curriculum was designed to build trust and familiarity among trusted faith leaders, behavioral health providers, and Extension agents to expand the system of care for vulnerable farming populations. Challenges and opportunities regarding the implementation of the intergroup dialogue intervention are explored. Assessing the feasibility of scaling this approach up to other communities has the potential to improve the network providing behavioral health care in rural communities.