GRAND Mental Health takes its resources on the road in rural Oklahoma

PAWNEE, Okla. — GRAND Mental Health is taking its resources on the road this week to smaller Oklahoma communities.

The GRAND Mental Health Care-A-Van is a new way the nonprofit is providing mobile mental health access.

Melanie Skidgel said she’s been meaning to get help for her bipolar disorder for years, but has just never been able to. Tuesday morning, she met GRAND Mental Health in her hometown through the Care-A-Van.

“When you live a life as long as I have doing what I was doing, you can't change overnight, it takes time,” Skidgel said.

Skidgel said her mom saw GRAND Mental Health’s Care-A-Van and tent in front of the Pawnee courthouse and told her. She believes this was a turning point in her life.

“There’s a lot of mental illness out there, there’s a lot of addicts out there, I want people to get help, I want people to be better, because it's killing people,” Skidgel said.

Laura Brock with GRAND Mental Health said a lot of people in smaller towns struggle to get connected with counselors or therapists, and this is their effort to fix that.

“Public transportation is definitely a barrier and challenge in rural Oklahoma, we don’t have a lot of ability to get around and there are limited resources because of the small populations,” Brock said.

Brock said they’re helping people sign up for Medicaid, fill out applications, and create plans to get them services. One thing they’re using a lot in these towns is their telehealth services.

“If somebody is having a moment, a crisis, they can get ahold of a counselor immediately and it doesn’t matter that they’re out here in rural Oklahoma,” Brock said.

GRAND Mental Health wants more people to feel encouraged to reach out and ask for help when needed.

The Care-A-Van launched Monday in Cushing. It's in Pawnee Tuesday, and will make it's way through Newkirk, Tonkawa and Perkins on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, respectively.

For more information, click here .