Bringing Mental Health Care Home Through Telehealth

by Karrah Peterson

December 2025

Everyone experiences times when thoughts or feelings become hard to handle, when someone feels worn down, worries seem endless, and sleep either doesn't happen or doesn't fully rejuvenate us in the morning. When these symptoms are recognized, talking with someone who understands feelings like stress, sadness, and fear can help bring some balance back to daily life. Who is that "someone"? Sometimes that person is a primary care provider, and sometimes that person is a mental health provider.

What is mental health, and what are mental health providers? Mental health is often understood as brain health and focuses on human behaviors, emotions, and feelings. It's also a specialty with its own professionals who are trained to care for conditions linked to brain function or emotions that make doing one's job or maintaining relationships with family and friends difficult. Primary care providers have basic mental health training but sometimes refer people to mental health specialists who provide counseling or talk therapy. Care might also involve visiting a psychiatrist, a medical doctor that can help with medications and treatment.

As with other specialists – like heart doctors or cancer doctors – mental health providers often have offices farther away, making face-to-face appointments a challenge due to time, travel costs, or even weather for Walsh County residents. That's where telehealth comes in. A North Dakota state health department report shared that in recent years more North Dakotans are using telehealth for their mental health care. It allows people to connect with a counselor or doctor over the phone or on a video call. No long drive. No waiting room. Just a quiet spot at home. For rural people, telehealth care is sometimes covered by government and private insurance plans for needed talk therapy, medication check-ins, and follow-up visits.

However, because of costs or other reasons, some Walsh County residents might not have access to the internet connections needed for telehealth visits. To meet this challenge, some local clinics offer rooms dedicated to telehealth visits. Those rooms are private spaces, sometimes even more private than having a telehealth visit at home where others share the same living space – although talking from home might be the easiest, safest, and most comfortable option.

Although telehealth can make it easier to keep up with care, it doesn't replace every type of mental health need. One example is someone experiencing physical danger due to a mental health condition or is considering suicide. Primary care providers can help with immediate needs and assist with any needed appointments.

Life in rural Walsh County is tightly linked with conditions outside human control: crop and livestock prices, long winters, and personal challenges linked to finances, jobs, and family – all of which can trigger troublesome emotions that impact brain health. Sometimes just saying things out loud to another person who happens to be a mental health provider during a telehealth visit can be the first step to taking care of the mind.

About the Author

Karrah Peterson is a 3rd-year medical student at the University of North Dakota School of Medicine & Health Sciences. In addition to her Indians Into Medicine Program (INMED) participation, she was also selected as Grafton's participant for the school's ROME program, or Rural Opportunities in Medical Education. This program teaches student doctors the importance of rural newspapers in sharing community health information. The information is not for diagnosis or treatment and should not be used in place of previous medical advice provided by a licensed practitioner.