Community mental health services in rural areas: some practical issues.

Several critical issues involved in successfully initiating and maintaining a community mental health center program in a rural setting are discussed. These include the necessity of accurately assessing the existing social, cultural, and political system, and of fitting the mental health center program into these systems as smoothly as possible; the special problems faced in maintaining confidentiality; and the importance of recognizing and dealing with the front-line pressures on professional staff that are peculiar to the rural setting. Advantages as well as disadvantages of working in a rural program are considered.