4. PROJECT ABSTRACT

Project R&R offers a solution to the critical need for mental health and substance abuse services in a high-risk, multi-cultural frontier community. Project R&R will increase the direct mental health and substance abuse services available locally. The 900 square mile service area spans the villages served by the Peñasco Independent School District, and includes all of southern Taos County, the entire Picuris Pueblo reservation, and the southeastern section of Rio Arriba County in north central New Mexico. Project R&R is designed by a talented consortium of agencies with a track record of working together, each agency has made a serious staff, cash and in-kind contribution to assure the success of the project.

Although the economic and health status data paint a picture of a very troubled community, that is only a part of the picture. Picuris Pueblo, a federally-recognized Indian tribe, and the small traditional Hispanic agricultural villages that make up the target community have long and proud histories. Still existing among the elders is a tremendous amount of knowledge. Their wisdom is not only about the natural world - the wild plants and herbs (remedios) that sustained the communities before any health care was available locally - but also about the very concept of neighborliness and community. It is important to keep the presence of this knowledge and community in mind.

The data presented, makes a compelling case for the need for Project R&R and shows why the demonstrated community support is so high. Families are losing their children at unacceptable rates and an immediate intervention is needed. Any prior interagency turf issues were put aside years ago, replaced by agencies working together try to bring needed services into the community. The consortium members, guided by the community, have developed a strong plan and partnership to improve both individual lives and the community as a whole.

The two foci of Project R&R are to address mental health and substance abuse and to build resiliency among the youth. Why is history important to a project to build a mental health and substance abuse services program in this community?

In discussions with the Rural Psychiatry Outreach Program at the University of New Mexico, the "diagnosis" of the community included Historical Trauma. Historical Trauma is a clinical diagnosis of an ongoing psychiatric disorder related to loss of land, relocation, economic disarray and dislocation, which presents with symptomology and negative behaviors including alcoholism, substance abuse and difficult, often violent, interpersonal relationships. The current part-time mental health provider, Harry Linneman, PhD Clinical Psychologist, identified the need for immediate action to improve resiliency, stating that the youth in the Picuris-Peñasco community currently have the fewest resiliency factors he has seen anywhere.

Planning for this project began more than 6 years ago when Picuris Pueblo's health plan identified the need for mental health and substance abuse services and also recognized the need to collaborate with the non-Pueblo community. Most of the consortium members have been involved from the initial planning stages 6 years ago when the Picuris-Peñasco Community Coalition (the Coalition) was formed and made a commitment to work together to address regional health needs. Some of the members could not commit resources to a direct services project and therefore for this grant a serious, dedicated group from within the Coalition has evolved into the Consortium and Project R&R. The Consortium members have requested the Frontier Education Center to serve as the applicant because all members trust the Center for its leadership in the Coalition and Consortium, its administrative expertise, and its 30-year commitment to the community.