This webinar provides practitioners with tools to identify rural-specific risk factors and address substance use-related disparities in rural settings. Behavioral health disparities are differences in substance use or mental health outcomes linked to social, economic, and/or environmental disadvantage. These disparities adversely affect a sub-population or group. It is the work of prevention professionals and their partners to identify, plan, and implement strategies that reduce the burden of substance use on rural communities.
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John Gale is a Senior Research Associate and Director of Policy Engagement at the Maine Rural Health Research Center. John is past-President of the National Rural Health Association, completing his term in January 2022. He was awarded the Calico Leadership Award in 2020 by the National Rural Health Resource Center's Technical Assistance and Services Center (TASC), which annually presents the award to an outstanding rural health leader.
John's work focuses on leveraging resources to improve the rural healthcare infrastructure and develop rural systems of care. He serves as the principal investigator for several rural health studies as well as for the Center's work on the National Flex Monitoring Team and the Frontier Community Health Integration Project Demonstration. He recently served as a lead consultant to develop a toolkit for policymakers in developing countries on rural substance use treatment, prevention, and recovery for the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. Mr. Gale received his Master of Science degree from the Muskie School of Public Service's graduate program in public health.
