The Mountain Plains Leadership Academy staff and trainers collaborated to produce a white paper, Lessons in Rural Leadership, that summarizes lessons learned from conducting the Mountain Plains MHTTC Leadership Academy for the past four years.
Currently, there does not exist a specialized leadership program tailored to the unique needs of individual rural behavioral health leaders. Lessons in Rural Leadership provides an insightful commentary on the complex nature of leadership in rural communities. The paper presents a treatise on internal and external challenges individuals face when taking on a leadership role and the strategies the Academy staff have developed to address these challenges and support new and emerging leaders in rural communities.
The key challenges identified include resources and access to resources, staffing, and “battlefield commissions” or rapid promotion without formal preparation or training. Understanding these challenges was critical to developing a program that delivered needed support rapidly. The paper also includes several program components participants identified as instrumental in supporting their leadership development. The paper concludes with two stories from Leadership Academy participants who have become facilitators at the Leadership Academy.
