School of Social Welfare professor of practice remains dedicated to rural areas

There’s no perfect line to defeat the stigma surrounding behavior health, even for Christina Boyd. Her 23 years as a social worker and 28 years in Behavioral Health in rural areas of Kansas have yet to deliver a clear answer to defeating the negative connotations of health issues like substance use disorders.  

But she does have a story she leans on.  

Boyd, an associate professor of practice at the University of Kansas School of Social Welfare, was doing a training session when a mom in the audience shared an experience. A neighbor’s son got cancer, and the community responded by showing up with casseroles and words of support. Boyd called them the “casserole brigade.” An endearing sign of togetherness in a rural community.  

But when the mom’s son went into treatment for a substance abuse disorder, the casserole brigade didn’t show up.  

“So, they got to suffer and all that in silence. Nobody asked,” Boyd said. “It was very hush-hush that he was even going to treatment. That stigma is alive and well in our rural areas.” 

This kind of story is exactly what made Boyd want to be a social worker in the first place. In June, Boyd was elected to co-chair the Governor’s Behavioral Health Services Planning Council-Rural and Frontier Subcommittee. She will hold a chair position for two years, which will help her look at the needs of rural communities when it comes to behavioral health.  

Boyd stressed that most counties in Kansas are rural. What seems like wild wind speeds are normal in places like Dodge City. One of the routes to get to the airport is a dirt road. 

Places like this are dear to Boyd. These are also places that need social workers.  

Boyd’s passion for social work began with her dad, who was a counselor and went to the University of Kansas to get his Master of Social Work while Boyd was an undergraduate at Kansas State.  

She started with the School of Social Welfare in June 2015. She works remotely from Dodge City because it’s important for her to feel truly integrated in the communities she is trying to help. She said the issues around behavioral health have become complex. These include stigma or access to care.  

“We can have the best care available, but there's still a stigma around accessing care for mental health and substance use disorders,” Boyd said. “I think we often wait way too long because of that. And then again, when people show up to treatment the intensity of their needs is so high.” 

Along with being an associate professor of practice, Boyd serves as the workforce development coordinator with the School of Social Welfare’s Center for Community Engagement & Collaboration (CCEC). Boyd has other community engagement activities she remains involved in dating back to 2016 such as the Clinical Consultant-Integrated Health Scholar’s Program with the School of Social Welfare.  

She’s a facilitator and expert panel member for several ECHO series presented by KU Medical Center. Boyd is also part of an interprofessional advisor group with KU Rural Health Education and a BSRB addictions counselor advisory committee member. 

Heavy involvement is nothing new to Boyd.  

She was the only clinical social worker providing direct care in a 50-mile radius at one time. Boyd considers her work of the utmost importance, even if she doesn’t currently have that $1 million answer to the stigmas in behavioral health.  

So, how does Boyd respond to people who don’t share her understanding of behavioral health? She seeks to understand. She speaks from the experience of having family members with mental health conditions or substance use disorders. She talks about diabetes – something that can’t be cured but can be managed, as a way to highlight how differently we talk about other health conditions.  

Boyd also serves on other committees, including the (SAMHSA) Rural Opioid Technical Assistance Regional Center (ROTA-R) and the Kansas Rural Health Association-Behavioral Health Sub-committee.  

Social work can be as complex as the problems the industry tackles. Boyd continues to embrace that.  

“I often say that my profession is that I'm a social worker,” Boyd said. “But my role has been many different things.”