Utah is in need of expanded access to mental health and substance use disorder treatment. A third of adults in the state report symptoms of anxiety or depression and Utah had the seventh-highest age-adjusted suicide rate in 2022. Improving Utahns’ mental health requires expanding access to services and Utah’s mental health workforce.

To address these issues, the Commonwealth Fund awarded a $150,000 grant to the University of Utah to examine barriers to mental health care experienced by low-income populations. The research will be conducted at U of U Health’s South Main Clinic in South Salt Lake over at least a year. Researchers from the College of Social & Behavioral Science and the Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute will evaluate ways to sustain clinics that provide both mental and physical health services by lowering barriers to reimbursements and expanding access to graduate student trainees and psychiatry residents and fellows.

Psychology professor Brian Baucom is the director of clinical training for the U’s Department of Psychology and co-director of the Behavioral Health Innovation and Dissemination Center.

“I am excited to lead this cross-disciplinary team to improve access to mental health and substance use disorder treatment in Utah,” he said. “The findings from the South Main Clinic can lead to improvements across the University of Utah Health system, the state, and the country.”

Founded in 1995, the South Main Clinic focuses on underserved, low-income, high-risk populations that have difficulties accessing the traditional health care systems due to issues relating to lack of insurance, financial means, or language and cultural barriers. The clinic serves more than 12,000 visits a year to patients who speak more than 40 languages.

The Utah research project aligns with the Commonwealth Fund’s mission to address challenges in accessing mental health and substance use disorder services, treatments and support. The Commonwealth Fund supports independent research on health care issues and makes grants to promote equitable, accessible, affordable health care for everyone, particularly for society’s most vulnerable, including people of color, low-income earners and those without health insurance.