Fran Rieken was looking to work in western Nebraska.
A master’s-level trainee at the Munroe-Meyer Institute, Rieken was training in York, Neb., when she came to a meeting at Great Plains Health with MMI’s Joe Evans, Ph.D., and Holly Roberts, Ph.D. There, Drs. Evans and Roberts explained MMI’s integrative behavioral health care model, part of MMI’s efforts to provide behavioral health care to underserved rural Nebraska communities.
Rieken left the meeting excited.
“I always wanted to serve in a rural community,” Rieken said. “I had no desire to serve in a larger community.”
At the time, she was also working for Western Nebraska Behavioral Health under Catherine Jones-Hazledine, Ph.D., but she was so excited about the model proposed by Drs. Evans and Roberts that Rieken was willing to move her behavioral health outreach services to North Platte.
“Everything is going beyond my expectations,” she said. “It’s so smooth, and everybody’s been so welcoming — the community is great, the staff is great, the doctors and nurses as well.”
Rieken said patients have been very accepting as pediatric physicians introduce her and, when necessary, refer families to her in what is known as a “warm handoff.”
Rieken and her clinic manager also have met with the leaders of the North Platte Public School District.
“When we finished speaking on our services, they asked me to do trainings at the school,” she said.
The MMI Department of Psychology, which has placed providers in outstate communities such as Kearney, Norfolk, Columbus, Rushville, Hastings and Nebraska City, had tried several times to place a behavioral health provider in North Platte, said Dr. Allen, but a bit of serendipity helped in this case.
Dr. Allen was presenting on the department’s rural outreach efforts to members of UNMC Chancellor Jeffrey P. Gold’s Board of Counselors, and counselor Judy Pederson, a businesswoman from North Platte, told him that she knew of a medical home that might welcome a behavioral health provider.
With Peterson’s help, Dr. Allen reached out to Mel McNea, CEO of Great Plains Health, and found that he was, indeed, interested in integrating a behavioral health provider into their pediatric clinic.
“We have tried on several occasions to get somebody situated there, but this is the first time we’ve really had a good match,” Dr. Allen said. “Everything has to align.”
“I’m glad that everything is going so well.”