Profiles

Taking Mental Health Services on the Road

The ARMS Reach Program (Access to Rural Mental Health Services) takes mental health services “on the road” to low income, uninsured patients.  This program sends post-graduate Fellows to rural, often isolated areas to provide counseling services in homes, doctors’ offices, schools and other locations.  Transportation and stigma barriers are removed for patients, and the “Fellows” receive the training needed for licensure.

In a single year, ARMS Reach provided more than 2,100 hours of counseling. As a result, there was a 66% reduction in ER visits by the program’s patients during this time, saving the local hospital over $1 million in charity care costs.

VHCF recognized the tremendous impact the Central Virginia Health Services ARMS Reach program has made by awarding it the 2006 Alumna Achievement Award.