Bischoff named chair of CYAF

14 Feb 2013    

Richard Bischoff has been a faculty member at UNL since 1998. He moved to Nebraska from San Diego, California where he taught at the University of San Diego and worked as a Marriage and Family Therapist in a primary care medical clinic. It was there that he developed an interest and expertise in collaborative healthcare and Medical Family Therapy. At Nebraska, Bischoff has been able to apply collaborative care principles to work in rural medical settings and to do this through the innovative use of videoconferencing as a primary treatment delivery medium. This work has increased access to mental health care for underserved rural residents.

The blending of clinical care interests and the innovative use of technology has been exciting, Bischoff remarks. He sees an impact that this work has on rural communities and on students. "People who would not have had access to mental health care, now have access to culturally sensitive, state-of-the-art treatment. We appear to be having a positive impact on community members’ perceptions of mental health problems and mental healthcare, in that the negative attributions associated with these appear to be decreasing. My students are having rich experiential learning opportunities working with rural patients and care providers, thereby increasing their appreciation of the care culture in rural communities. They are also having one-of-a-kind opportunities to be trained in the use of videoconferencing and other technologies in delivering mental health care to underserved populations."